A friend and I had 3 1/2 days to get out archery hunting and we decided to work the shoreline of one of Lake Winnipeg's large bays. This bay was approximately 20 miles long and 10 miles wide and can go from reasonably calm to extremely violent in short order.
The general plan was to use the SIB for travel on the big exposed water and the small umiak with an electric trolling motor to check out some of the creeks & marshes that drain into this bay. The empty umiak was to be towed to the mouths of these creeks, load up daypacks, bows & quivers and then work our way along these creeks calling. What we found was that pretty much all of these creeks which looked navigable on the map (and probably were back when the map was printed) had diminished to small trickles. Nonetheless we found a few sheltered bays where we were able to use the umiak.
Within the first 2 hours out, my buddy saw a Bull about 80 yards from us (we were on shore) in a thick cattail swamp. We tried calling it in but with no luck. The next day we spotted a large calf from about a mile or so offshore while in the SIB (the umiak was back at base camp at the time). We landed the boat about 300 yards away. This was within clear few of the moose but was the furthest spot we reasonably could land, give the type of shoreline. We stalked to within about 200 yards, then the moose started moving along the shoreline towards us. There was no really good spot for us to get cover, so we tucked in as best we could in small indentation in the low lying brush.
The moose came to within about 28 yards (it was paced off afterward) and stared intently at us for about 30 seconds. It then started to turn away from us i drew my longbow and I let my shot go. I completely missed judged the distance, which I figured was about 20 yards. The arrow sailed about an inch under it's chest, at which point it turned and fled not to be seen again.
That was the only shot opportunity we got during the hunt, though we cut across alot of tracks. Hoping to get back out at some point next week. Here are the pictures;
The Gemini Dive 470
My friend's fiberglass umiak:
Floorless shelter:
Me posing in my top dollar camo wool sweater (from the local thrift shop). It blends into the landscape there extremely well.:
My collapsible wood stove making tea and drying some clothes:
Obligatory night skyscape picture:
Obligatory daytime shoreline picture. If you look closely you'll se a bald eagle in there. The shorline of the vast majority of this bay was like this - very shallow and hard to findcover. There is maybe about 6 places along both sides of that whole shoreline with high enough ground to pitch a tent without fear of being flooded out if there is a change in wind direction.:
