Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Group Forum: Canoeing with kids :: best animal encounter
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paddlefamily |
our kids make so much noise that we could leave the food bags out the entire trip (however we don't). |
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ducks |
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mogos |
on this most recent trip with my second son, we saw a young bear swimming between two islands on sawbill—about 20 minutes from the ep. that was the first bear i've seen in the northwoods! i guess the berry crops have been bad this year, driving the bears to travel more for food. in both cases, it was a highlight of the trip to see a big mammal! when anyone asks son #2 about his trip, his stock response starts with a list of wildlife: we saw a bear, a snake, a crayfish with blue claws, a mouse, a red squirrel, and like 10 loons. kids dig animals! |
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CrookedPaddler1 |
Several hours later, another fishermen came in and said there was an injured eagle in the bay next to the rsort. I went back and sure enough it was sitting on a small island in the bay. I tried to call the game wardens and the ornithologist from the college. Eventually I got a hold of of the wardens. He told me to go catch it in a big net and put it in a dog kennel and he would be out in the morning to look. So my wife and I took a big fish net and an extra dog kennel and caught the eagle in the net, then used vet wrap to hold the wings in toward its body and put it in the kennel. We got it back to the resort and it spent the night in our living room! The next morning everyone came out and tried to release it. It flew a few feet and we had to go catch it again. Once we caught it they took it to the vet clinic where it was discovered that it had a huge cut that was infected on its chest. At the time, Northwest Airlines was still running a flight to ely, so they rushed it to the airport and had it flown down to the raptor center at the U. Unfortunately it died in route. But it was pretty amazing to see these majestic birds that close! |
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paddlefamily |
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BWPaddler |
We did have a loon accidentally surface maybe 3' off the bow once... and in our metro lake, a loon preened for 30+ minutes while we swam maybe 20' away. Saw otters playing when eldest was almost 1 (BW trip), but she doesn't remember that. That was cool for me... I do recall seeing moose near the BW with kids - the kids were SLEEPING in the car at the time, ha! And a wolf crossed the road and ran alongside our car once on Hwy 1 headed toward Ely. Oh, I know! Last fall there was a bear in camp when oldest dd and I and her friend were sleeping (tent/BWCA). Oldest kept waking us up about the bear, but we other two were too sleepy to care. Finally we shouted about how there were three strong women in the tent and the bear should go somewhere else. Bear rolled some kitchen logs, but didn't get any food or do any damage. Makes for a good story, but not as exciting as seeing one somewhere more "natural". |
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CrookedPaddler1 |
My other really cool thing that I saw and heard was when I was guiding a party on Jackfish Lake in the BWCA. It was late afternoon and we were startled by a ripping noise coming from high above us. We both looked skyward and could not see anything. A few seconds later, we could see 2 small dots that where getting bigger and bigger. Eventually we could recognize them as bald eagles with their wings tucked tight to their body, basically doing a free fall toward the water. When they were about 15 yards directly over the canoe, they spread the wings and missed hitting the canoe by a couple of feet. |
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TuscaroraBorealis |
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luft |
I think it might have something to do with the fact that we are always deep in some sort of discussion while we paddle or hike... deep discussions such as who is the "god" of martial arts... what would you do if you won the lottery... who isn't paddling enough... when is lunch time... are we stopping anytime soon for a bathroom break... This year we will start having quiet periods to try to see some nature! |
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Canoearoo |
We have seen a number of moose with the kids over the years. Saw mamama and calf swimming on Brule. Kids loved that. We got close enough for all to see but not to close to bother the mama I have lots of other stories but the kids weren't with on those |
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fitgers1 |
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paddlefamily |
The only creature encounters we've had with kids are fox, assorted birds (they love whiskey jacks) and grouse. They too, are too noisy for us to encounter much. We spend a lot of time looking for 'signs' of animals. That is by far more successful. :) |
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BWPaddler |
@crooked - WOW, that eagle encounter was amazing. Do you think they thought you were a large pike? Or were they just showing off. Wild. |
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CrookedPaddler1 |
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Canoearoo |
quote CrookedPaddler1: "I wish I knew! It was probably the most amazing sight I have ever seen. It was like watching two meteors appear out of the sky! I thought them might go right through the bottom of the canoe! back when my cat was a kitten (Before kids) I walked down to our river holding him. I sat down by the river and looked up in time to see a huge eagle swooping down with talons showing ready to try and take my kitten right out of my arms! I put him under my shirt and ducked down. That bird came with in feet of me. I now know what an eagle looks like through the eyes of pray. Its wing span was at least 6 feet. |
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Dbor |
So I got up early and went with. There had to be 25 or 30 Bald Eagles waiting patiently for us to spread out their breakfast. Very cool. |