And They're Off (Moose Season!)

[Deleted]

Part I

The day dawned blustery but clear and cold. It was opening day of the moose season in the Elliot Lake region. It would be a busy one alright, with Gerry, my employee pilot, and I flying the 185 and Beaver fast and furious for the first few hours of this Saturday morning. The camps were full this year, something that doesn't often happen for the moose season. I was taking the 185 this time around while Gerry was taking the Beaver. So off we go. This PIREP is told mostly in pictures and is in 3 parts (each one a flight that I did this morning).


The sun is just breaking over the horizon as I close the doors on the 185 for our first trip to Finger Lake (Camp 1). As expected, we were full to the gills on this trip!


The first takeoff is always a bit delayed as we taxi around waiting for the engine to warm up.


Finally, with everything in the green we're off over the north country. I always get a rush on the first takeoff of the day from water and the sun is glinting off the waves below. No life like it!


Given we were pretty heavy and the trip isn't very long, I leveled off at a hair over 2000 ft and set up for cruise.


Beautiful country around here. Lots of rock and pine.


It didn't take long to get to Finger Lake, but took a few minutes to find the camp itself. This isn't one I built, but was left over from the previous air service's camps. They sure went to town on the dock they had here. You could tie the Queen Mary up to this one!


I unloaded my passengers and their gear as quickly as possible as Gerry was right behind me with the Beaver, and headed back to base. We're turning final here over a large rock outcrop, which makes finding home base rather easy.


The trees certainly lost their colour in a hurry the other day!


Down and loading up for the next flight. See Pt II for the continuation of this day.

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Part II

My next trip was up to Salvage Lake (Camp 2). A bit longer a flight this time. This lake would be 90 degrees to the gusty winds we were getting and it's not overly long (not bad though - certainly ok for a 185). Just 2 going into this cabin but with a lot of gear, so again we were heavy on takeoff.


Off Dunlop and climbing before turning north for Salvage.


Once again the lakes look pretty (and cold!) in the weak sun that was shining down this morning.


I decided to approach Salvage from the south, but as I said, it made little difference given the winds were a full 90 degrees off. I could get a bit of an angle on the wind by cutting diagonally across the lake, but there wasn't a whole lot of room to play with. There were shoals on the east side of the lake and two shallow points near the north end, but were mostly weed beds. I hoped to be down off the step by time I got to those.


The best way to approach a dock you are going straight into is to open the door and stick your head out. It's cold in that slipstream, but it makes for a nice, safe docking, even in gusty winds.


Again I hurriedly deposited my customers and beat a hasty retreat from the camp. Since the winds were 90 degrees to my takeoff direction no matter which way I went, I taxied just past the weed beds and let it rip, making sure I was off the water before I got to the shoals.


Nice, relaxing flight back despite the mechanical turbulence enroute.

See Pt III

[Deleted]

Part III

When I got back, I saw Gerry with the Beaver at the dock. He looked a little the worse for wear. Turns out he had just dropped his people off at Army Lake and had fallen into the water as a result of a wee bit of ice that had formed on top of the float. He was soaked and getting hypothermic so I told him to go change and I'd take his next Beaver run to Shoepack (Camp 4) for him. He could then do the rest of his flights when I got back (the remainder of the flights had to be done in the Beaver due to the shortness of the lakes the camps were on).


While Gerry went up to his shack, I got the Beaver prepped and loaded. Unfortunately the pilot's seat was still quite "damp" and it sent a chill through me immediately. Oh well, had to go.


We were off and climbing, albeit at only 250 fpm given we were really loaded, so I kept the cruise altitude to 2200 ft (about 800 ft agl roughly).


I found Shoepack fairly readily and located the camps. You can just make out the dock in the forward part of the pic before the door frame.


In this wind, the lake doesn't offer a very long landing run, but the Beaver can handle it. I still had a pretty significant crosswind on this approach.


Here I am in the flare. Looks like a long way to the far shore but believe me, we used almost all of this run that you see before you. It's a shallow lake with reed beds and shoals in numerous locations, so while other stretches of the lake look longer, you can't really use them.


Again, dropping my people off at the camp to beat a hasty retreat back to base. I had 4 people plus gear on this flight.


It's a nice camp we have here.


As I said before, some stretches of this lake look longer, but the water has a lot of obstructions in it just waiting to tear off a float. I was empty now and this direction afforded me a bit better wind angle, so I opted to take off to the north. Note the trees directly in front of me though. There are shoals that extend across most of the narrows to the shore on the right, so I had to be off the water before them, or else!


No sweat! Well, maybe just a little, but empty it wasn't too tough. Full and we would have been hard pressed to get out of here going this way.


After a relaxing, if "damp" flight back (sure wish Gerry had at least wiped the water off the seat!), I made my approach into base, which would be it for me, for now at least. I'm going to look into getting a Super Cub to do camp checks with though. It's a lot cheaper than running either the 185 or Beaver, and it can get in and out of all the Beaver lakes we have. Might make a lot of sense.

Thanks for reading. We'll have more flights, possibly today and certainly during the week. Later

[scottb]

Excellent PIRPEPs Glenn! I really like the paint on the 185

-Scott

[Deleted]

Many thanks Scott. That paint isn't mine, and I agree - it's a great design. I've always liked that one.

[pivo11]

I stay as far away from moose as possible.  Very dangerous, unpredictable animals.  Especially a cow with a calf. 

[Deleted]

They can be for sure. I've actually been very close to them numerous times but never had a problem, but that sure doesn't mean there can't be! A friend and I were sea kayaking along the coast of Georgian Bay one summer morning. On this particular section of the trip along the North Channel, we were paddling through some tall reeds in the shallows. He was ahead but I was right on his tail. All of a sudden he piled on the brakes right after doing a sharp left turn in the reeds, and I almost nailed his rear end (of the kayak!). His eyes were wide as saucers and he quietly whispered to me to "have a look!" I went around the right side of him and as soon as I could see past him and the reeds I saw that the bow of his kayak was just under the edge of the belly of a cow moose. Her calf was just the other side of her! We were both too afraid to move, but she seemed rather unconcerned about our presence there. I guess we only sat there for about a minute, but it seemed forever. Finally, we figured we'd better back out of there in case she took a sudden dislike to our presence. As soon as we started to backpaddle,, that's when she got kind of pissed and gave us a real dirty look! Once my buddy's kayak had cleared her belly, she and the calf both gave a sudden grunt and took off into the bush. We were both elated, and scared, at the same time. Pretty cool experience but it could have ended badly.

[Bushpounder]

Just act like a flying squirrel and you'll be fine. They get along together. Just don't mention Boris or Natasha

BP;)

[Deleted]

Just call me Rocky

[olderndirt]

Back before Alaskan moose came under such hunting pressure, it was legal to land and shoot the same day so the trick was to troll your favorite area with reduced power and one notch of flap.  If you spotting one on a landable sandbar, the fun part was about over.  Moose are huge and getting them ready for transport can be daunting if you're alone.  Load the meat with restraint - when you can't pick the tail off the ground, that's too much.  Unless you're a certified test pilot (with paid up insurance), don't carry horns on the lift/jury struts.

[Deleted]

Very nice PIREP! Duck, duck, MOOSE.

[Bushpounder]

Oct 4, 2015 15:02:46 GMT -5 @crash said:

Very nice PIREP! Duck, duck, MOOSE.

OH NO!!!!!!!