What do you do?

I

iluvmy300

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Here's the scenario:

Your moose hunting in an area primarily by boat or canoe. It's usually a few km ride to your hunting spots. Its early/mid October, air temperature is around 0-5deg and water temperature is probably the same. You're dressed for the weather, meaning likely layered clothing, and because you leave camp before sun breaks you have all your layers on. In your boat or canoe you have your day pack, your gun, and of course your life jacket. For whatever reason, canoe flips or boat is going down fast - either way you are going to get wet right now. Assume as well your on a lake and shore is a few hundred yards away at minimum.

What do you do?

I ask this question because this is typically the scenario in which we hunt (except fot the sinking part, haven't had the pleasure yet), and its also something I have thought of many times.

Have this happen to you? Please share.
 
Your wearing a life jacket, what's the problem? Leave everything, gun it for shore, get as close as you can or if time fire 3 shots in succession, or bail asap if you have to and swim as fast as you can. If you can swim with your gun, take it, if not leave it, if you swim with your pack and survive, take it too, if not, leave it. There is no other option
 
I swim to shore, get naked, get in sleeping bag, and start a fire.

been there before I have. sucks it does. sucks much canoe'n with rookies does.

you NEVER wear your pack while canoing. and you unbuckle ALL clips/staps when crossing a river.

mind you , outside of white water i haven't flipped a canoe in over 10yrs.... i'ts pretty hard to flip a canoe lightly packed as you describe, in even in the roughest water on a lake (excluding the great ones). I would recomend the person in this scenario get lessons :D

I have been canoeing for about 15yrs, I taught canoeing for 3yrs in highschool and 4 years after that to outdoor clubs. I've been on many multi day canoe trips, and hunt from them on a regular basis. here is my advice:

and remember, pretend the gunwales are made of razor wire, and you'll never flip ;) the minute you panic and grab the gunwales (as so many rookies do) you shift the center fo gravity to your chest, or above the waterline, making the canew dangerously unstable. learn to keep your hands off the rails! use your hips to correct instability, and in rougher water, kneel, DO NOT SIT. this will keep the weight low, and make the canoe more stable. pad the floor of the canoe with some old blue foamy rests and get used to paddling while kneeling. rest your ass on the seat edge. you will be far more stable in the craft and get a lot more power out of your strokes.

go take a tour of a shop with white water canoes, and look at their outfitting. they have saddles, not seats. these are the openboat paddlers that crave stability, they are the ones to take hints from if you are concerned about tipping your boat. extreme enviroments you'll probably never see, but their form can be used in fla####er environs too with excellent sucess.

(a good pick of propper kneeling form, and the correct positioning/posture when soloing)
parts-of-a-canoe.jpg
 
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Get to shore,strip down and wring out your clothes and put them back on and then get busy getting a fire. Once a decent fire is going get busy gathering lots of wood returning to fire to warm yourself and tend it. Once you have enough wood get some more perhaps double what you think you need . You can begin to dry out your clothes. Once dry you can decide best plan of action to rescue yourself or wait for the posse. Bin and done.
 
First off, I'd be huggin the shore, not "a few hundred yards" from shore. Since I was close to shore, I'd drag everything to shore, and get on starting a fire ASAP! I'd dry everything off, then either continue on, or head home.

If I was "a few hundred yards to shore," I'd swim as fast as I could to shore. Assuming I've lost my rifle and day pack, I'd thank god I'm a smoker and have a lighter in my pocket. I'd get a fire going as fast as possible and dry off. I'd keep busy collecting wood and building a crude shelter while waiting for the rescuers to arrive.

Never had anything like that happen, but thats what I'd like to think I'd do.
 
For the guys who have 'been there done that', did you strip clothes off while in the water to make it easier swimming? How about your boots?

I have carry two fire making kits, one in the pack and one in my pocket because I may not have the pack by the time I get to shore.
 
GET TO SHORE
GET DRY
START FIRE

in that order.

DO NOT:

waste time in water getting your boots/cloths off. GET TO SHORE ASAP.

waste time wringing your clothes off then replacinge. WET IS WET. DAMP IS WET. Water conducts heat 4x faster then air. GET DRY.

...........................

your sleeping bag should be in a dry bag (this will float, and be a wonderful floatation device for your swim to shore). it is an important survival tool, treat it as such. get your wet cloths off and get in your dry, warm, sleeping bag. you can start a fire later. keep a touqe in with your bag. PUT IT ON.

only AFTER you are safely on shore, have removed your wet clothes, and are DRY and WARM in your sleeping bag should you bother starting a fire. fire starting is time consuming. save it to the last. your fire making survival kit should be on your person AND/OR in your dry bag with the sleeping bag. the sparking inserts on bic lighters do not function reliably when wet. keep it in a ziplock if on your person.
 
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Amphibious said:
GET TO SHORE
GET DRY
START FIRE

in that order.

DO NOT:

waste time in water getting your boots/cloths off. GET TO SHORE ASAP.

waste time wringing your clothes off then replacinge. WET IS WET. DAMP IS WET. Water conducts heat 4x faster then air. GET DRY.

...........................

your sleeping bag should be in a dry bag (this will float, and be a wonderful floatation device for your swim to shore). it is an important survival tool, treat it as such. get your wet cloths off and get in your dry, warm, sleeping bag. you can start a fire later. keep a touqe in with your bag. PUT IT ON.

only AFTER you are safely on shore, have removed your wet clothes, and are DRY and WARM in your sleeping bag should you bother starting a fire. fire starting is time consuming. save it to the last. your fire making survival kit should be on your person AND/OR in your dry bag with the sleeping bag. the sparking inserts on bic lighters do not function reliably when wet. keep it in a ziplock if on your person.
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no doubt the correct answer, I also TIE in my rifle and anything I dont want to lose, then tie a rope and float to the end of the boat if it sinks the float will apear providing you have nuff rope and you can recover your lost items, but as Willer says a dry bag, dont be cheap spend the bucks even if you never have to rely on it , it will be that 1 time you didnt that you become a satistic ;)
 
heavy boots can weigh you down and tire you out on your swim to shore, also swimming too fast to shore is usually caused by panic, and you don't want to panic and run out of energy.
When you dump, quickly collect your thoughts, check to see which shoreline is closest and head off to shore with as much of your gear as possible, but if it's a long swim, leave everything and head out. Start a fire a quickly as possible, if possible. Try to gather enough wood to keep the fire going for at least 24 hours. Then sit down on the shore, out of the wind and try to collect your thoughts and figure out a way to get yourself rescued. Never let it happen again.
When we mose hunt (by canoe) we hug the shore line but sometimes you want to cross the lake (1km) and it would take you a day to go around it.
 
I would want to be paddling a pretty substantial freighter under the circumstances you mentioned, weight is always an issue but I'd want atleast 800lbs capacity in the event I actually shot a moose. And do what Amphib said(been there, done that and am alive today becuase I did)
 
Leave your boots and clothes on and get to shore. The incident is as bad as you decide to make it. Don't make those quick decisions. One thing at a time.

And once you are dry and warm, look out over the water where your canoe, gear, and rifle sank and think to yourself: "Some company builds that sh*t everyday"
 
Just how effective are (good) life jackets with full fall hunting gear on?

Whenever we hit the water, my buddy would always switch to his Mustang floater jacket. Fortunately, we have never went in.
 
you have to look at the floatation rating of the jacket. and estimate how much negative bouyancy you need to off set. mustang suits are an excellent choice, but a pain in the ass to swim in (if it has leg floatation).

my choice would be a user-inflated (co2) style jacket. but then again I'm a fish and only where a PFD when I'm doing whitewater.
 
I've been considering a CO2 PFD as it looks like it would be alot less restrictive than a regular PFD. Plus, I find that by the time I've got all my clothing on its damn near impossible to strap on a regular PFD. I'm not fat...I'm just short for my weight.
 
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good choice for you then. make sure wear it on the OUTSIDE of your cloths. a jacket will seriously bugger up inflation (I see it worn under jackets a lot)
 
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