I'm curious to get our opinions on augers in the BWCA. I know that you need to use manual augers only but with all of the new electric augers hitting the market I'm wondering if you think they should be made legal to use.

For example I've got a kdrill auger that I put on the end of my Milwaukee cordless drill. It makes no noise, no emissions, no fuel to spill, no waste to be left behind, and if you didn't see me using it you'd never know it was ever there.

I know anything mechanical is banned in the BWCA but you could argue a manual auger is mechanical as it uses a screw and crank which are by nature mechanical. Adding a cordless drill just replaces one cranking method for another.

I understand banning gasoline powered augers due to the noise, emissions, and potential for gas/oil to leak and remain in the lakes but none of those issues exist with some of these new electric augers.

Personally I'd like to see them allowed but of course its for purely selfish reasons. They cut through ice like butter and weigh about the same as a manual auger so would be a real treat to use in the BWCA.

It makes no sense why they don’t allow the use of a battery powered ice Auger. When this law was made battery powered augers were not even invented. I think this law needs to be reviewed by the people in charge. Times change, rules and laws change.

My Ion X is certainly not going to wake up a crowd across the lake, but it is anything but silent. Yes, we use batteries in locators and headlamps and (gasp!) radios, but powering an auger somehow seems like the line has been crossed.

Also, they're (comparatively) light, but why carry a 22-lb auger into the wild anyway?

Hand augering keeps the wimps, wussies, and weaklings out.

bobbernumber3: "Hand augering keeps the wimps, wussies, and weaklings out.
"

LOL

schweady: "My Ion X is certainly not going to wake up a crowd across the lake, but it is anything but silent. Yes, we use batteries in locators and headlamps and (gasp!) radios, but powering an auger somehow seems like the line has been crossed.


Also, they're (comparatively) light, but why carry a 22-lb auger into the wild anyway?
"

My kdrill with auger and cordless drill combined weighs in at about 9 lbs add in an extra battery and total weight is maybe 10 lbs at most. I wonder what the average weight of a hand auger is?

The only significant difference in the sound of a kdrill/cordless drill and the sound of drilling by hand is the speed at which you hear the hole being drilled. You'll hear the sound of the blades cutting, the kdrill just cuts faster plus you'll have the small amount of sound created by a cordless drill motor which is negligible.

bobbernumber3: "Hand augering keeps the wimps, wussies, and weaklings out.
"

Agree,never had and still don't have a problem cutting holes with a hand augar at age 68. The rule as is i good we don't need to mess with it. Also the modern hand augars have improved so much some of them you don't even know your cutting a hole. Love my Nils.

No doubt technology advances have and will continue to cause us to question gray areas in the rules. In this case I'd argue the spirit of the rules have less to do with noise and spilling fuel, and more to do with displacing the use of muscle power for electric power. If battery powered augers are allowed, then can I bring my lithium powered reciprocating saw to process firewood, and bring a car battery to hook up to my trolling motor?

Jaywalker: "No doubt technology advances have and will continue to cause us to question gray areas in the rules. In this case I'd argue the spirit of the rules have less to do with noise and spilling fuel, and more to do with displacing the use of muscle power for electric power. If battery powered augers are allowed, then can I bring my lithium powered reciprocating saw to process firewood, and bring a car battery to hook up to my trolling motor? "

Well said.

bobbernumber3: "Hand augering keeps the wimps, wussies, and weaklings out.
"

Ha!

"Back in the day"................we used to ice fish on the weekends and I was not very patient. No bites, time to move. I remember one year in the 70's we used to have to get on our knees to finish a hole. Didn't drill to many that year ;-)

I also liked night fishing for crappie on the ice, that was always fun.

Really miss it.........seems like it would be the ultimate to ice fish in canoe country. I would be interested in pan fishing in some of the back bays on the larger lakes.

Be happy with any auger you use, when I was much younger(ok a long long long time ago, my grandkids refer to them as the olden days), we used a spud, in some ares referred to as a chisel, and chopped a hole in the ice. If you had fifteen to twenty inches of ice you chose carefully where you were going to fish because it was just too much work to change spots.

mutz: "Be happy with any auger you use, when I was much younger(ok a long long long time ago, my grandkids refer to them as the olden days), we used a spud, in some ares referred to as a chisel, and chopped a hole in the ice. If you had fifteen to twenty inches of ice you chose carefully where you were going to fish because it was just too much work to change spots."

I use to chisel thru 30 inches of ice and a 30 x 30 inch spear hole for northern pike. We would end up with a big block of ice we pushed under the ice or removed with ice tongs.
To have all that energy again would be worth all the gold in the world. But those were fun days full of adventure. Those were the days my Friend.

Pinetree: "

mutz: "Be happy with any auger you use, when I was much younger(ok a long long long time ago, my grandkids refer to them as the olden days), we used a spud, in some ares referred to as a chisel, and chopped a hole in the ice. If you had fifteen to twenty inches of ice you chose carefully where you were going to fish because it was just too much work to change spots."

I use to chisel thru 30 inches of ice and a 30 x 30 inch spear hole for northern pike. We would end up with a big block of ice we pushed under the ice or removed with ice tongs.
To have all that energy again would be worth all the gold in the world. But those were fun days full of adventure. Those were the days my Friend."

Yes they were. How many others remember those fun days?