An eagle and 4 geese

[Pat]

These geese (lesser Canadian) nested somewhere around one of our ponds and have been busy raising three goslings (Huey, Duey, and Louie). When in the water the adults take point and drag with the brood in-line between. They have progressed from small balls of fuzz to copies of their parents as we watch. They are getting adult coloration now but still are clearly smaller.

Oh, the eagle? The canoe is a Grumman brand, "Eagle" model. 17 ft, all aluminum, survivor of several white water expeditions and thousand of miles inverted atop a pickup camper.

Pat

Pat

[Pat]

They spend more time on land (eating rye grass I planted on new dams) than on the water. It is hard to approach them very closely as they usually don't spend too much time far from the water. They use it as an escape.

We hope they come back next year (or stay year 'round.) They aren't a nuisence in small numbers and I can disperse any excess.

Pat

[pajoube]

Great photos, thanks.
The Grumman canoe is one of the best. In my younger days I worked for the Boy Scouts of America and did canoe trips using the grumman and also raced in many events.
PJ

[egon]

Start feeding cracked corn Pat. They will come back if they survive the winter. With adaquate feed they might also be encoraged to overwinter. Regina, Saskatewan has some that overwinter. That's sorta like Minot for winters.

Egon

[Pat]

PJ, The Grumman sure lasts if you don't get it sideways against a rock, stump, or... in fast water. Years ago I found it used at 1/2 price. It is the wide (1 meter beam) and flat bottom "high stability" cargo model. Heavier than the miracle material "Tupperware" available now but it works for us. Not the canoe of choice for white water but we have been real lucky so far. We have done some pretty exciting white water with no damage.

One disadvantage of this canoe is the windage. In a good blow it is hard to hold certain arbitrary courses with two paddlers and virtually impossible with one. Of course about 10% of the time you get to go down wind and we have a couple small umbrellas with C-clamps that attach to the gunwhales and can be leaned over for use as down wind sails requiring only the "stern man" (me) to steer.

Pat
Wildlife often is less spooky around folks in a canoe compared to on foot so we have made some good photos from the canoe. I carry a waterproof plastic case lashed to a thwart with a lid sealed with an O-ring to put video cam in when approaching significant rapids. As a result our white water expeditions look like lazy float trips since the camera is tucked away during the max pucker factor porltions of the trip.

I almost got a shot of a snake chasing rats in the flowerbed/wildflower plot yesterday but too many flowers offering too good cover.

[Pat]

Egon, We fed about 25 lbs of whole corn, 50 lbs of cracked (quartered), and have just started on a 50 lb bag of whole. They didn't/couldn't eat about 10-20% of the "fines" in the cracked/quartered but eat 100% of the whole. They really go for the annual rye I planted on the dams for errosion control.

The town of Duncan (about 80 miles SSW of here) has 5 big municipal lakes with an abundant year round population of lesser Canadian geese. So many as to make a fair mess. Lake area residents are inundated with deer and geese. We tourists stop by and feed them and leave.

I realy wouldn't want a large year round goose populaltion and it is with some trepidation that I feed these. I hope attracting a "few" geese isn't like trying to be just a little bit pregnant.

Pat

[Bird]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
One disadvantage of this canoe is the windage

[/ QUOTE ]

Pat, in 1970, I bought a 17' aluminum Ouachita canoe, and when I went fishing alone, sitting in the back of the canoe, a crosswind would really turn me around and make it hard to control. So I got a mushroom anchor, attached my anchor rope, ran it through the "eye" on the front of the canoe, pulled it back and tied if off right in front of me. The weight of the anchor kept the front end down in the water so it wasn't as badly affected by wind, and I could drop and raise the anchor from where I was sitting.

I never did any whitewater rafting, canoeing, or kayaking; I just wanted to fish the nearby lakes and rivers. And since I didn't like either the speed or the effort required to paddle, I didn't have it long before I bought a 2hp Johnson outboard motor for it; made a nice little fishin' rig. [img]/forums/images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

[egon]

Pat:
A nice fat culled bird does more for the pallate than pinfeathers and grissle.

Egon

[Pat]

Bird, I recently saw "training whels" for canoes. Actually two different manufacturers supply clamp-on outrigger floats that when adjusted for it, stabilize the canoe a lot and nearly make it impossible to tip over by accident. They can be adjusted up to provide more realistic canoe action and still prevent tip over. A clever lad like you could easily attach the motor between the canoe and outrigger float.

Canoes are easily driven and the itsy bitsy under two HP gas as well as electric trolling motors should push them real well. Was your canoe a square "transom" stern or did you just mount the kicker toward the back and twist it around?

The dynamics of the canoe are such that with the bow high the center of lateral resistance is way aft while the center of effort (point where wind effect could be assumed to be concentrated, same as center of gravity concept being place where all mass could be considered to be concentrated) is close to the middle. The result is that the bow wants to point downwind. By lowering the bow down to touch the water, you moved the center of lateral resistance up toward the middle, probably nearly ballanced with center of effort. I guess with one occupant and an electric trolling motor, you'd want the battery lashed up forward.

We find that sometimes in a wind it is better for the front paddler to stick their paddle over the side as a lee board and let the rear paddler provide propullsion. A small twist of the front paddle left or right helps steer. I have considered making a leeboard for the canoe similar to that used by sailing dinghies like the wooden shoe but never got to it. More importantly I should make a set of dolly wheels... as the canoe gets a litle heavier every year or so.

I tried my hand at surfing an inflatable kayak. Tried several (too many) times. Same results nearly every time, total wipeout. Just as stern would start to lift and I would start to accelerate down the wave face, paddling for all I was worth to catch the wave, the kayak would fold in the middle from the tremendous forces at work and I would cartwheel and swamp. I'd dump her out and try again. Finally decided it wouldn't work. It felt like being in a front loader washing machine filled with cold salt water and a bucket of sand tossed in at the last. Even less fun than landing an inflatable dingy through the surf.

When my mom was a lot younger (in her late 70's) she went white water rafting with us in Alaska. That same weekend the governor of Alaska went rafting and one of his party drowned when a raft flipped over. I've had about all the white water rafting I need but still enjoy a little white water under the canoe if it isn't too bad for my condition, equipment, and skill.

Pat

[Bird]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
clamp-on outrigger floats

[/ QUOTE ]

Pat, I always wanted to make some, but never came up with a design that would be convenient enough to transport and quick and easy to mount/dismount. A friend, with a welding rig, made me a "ladder rack" for the pickup I had at the time so the canoe was easy to transport and use by myself.

My canoe was a double ended model; no square transom but I found an aluminum "transom" mount, had to drill 3 or 4 holes, then bolted it on the left side (I didn't like the wooden block they had to mount the motor on so I replaced it with with a thicker one). Johnson had been making a 1.5hp outboard and just came out with the 2hp in 1970 (retail $170, but I paid $135 for it). It was a direct drive and could be rotated 360 degrees so reverse was no problem and it would idle so slow that the direct drive was no problem. It had a 1 quart fuel tank, and I always carried an additional 1 quart plastic bottle of fuel, so if I ran out I could simply dump that bottle upside down into the fuel tank without spilling any. Rarely did I use the second quart in one day and there was no way it would use 2 quarts in one day. [img]/forums/images/icons/cool.gif[/img] Marvelous little outboard motor.

Later when we got an RV, I sold the canoe and kept the little motor. Lots of places we went back then rented 14' aluminum boats and I had my own motor. Then after 8 years of use, I bought a bass boat and sold that little Johnson for considerably more than I paid for it new. [img]/forums/images/icons/cool.gif[/img]