Quote:

My understanding of the gull, eagle, osprey eating fishgut pile issue is this: By fisherman leaving remains for these birds (and the occasional bear, weasel,otter etc.) we are changing their natural behavior and likely turning these species into beggars. Think parking lot at Wrigley Field. Feeding the animals in the park is not a good thing especially if it happens over and over and over. It has the end result of habituating animals to people. Same argument can be made for keeping your food pack from bears.
It took me awhile to get comfortable with the idea of sinking the carcasses but it does make some sense. I normally clean fish well away from camps and on the ride back to camp let the remains go in a very deep area.
Alternatively, I believe the USF is recommending burying remains far back in the woods.

Jan,

I guess that makes sense.  I looked around on the web for some data, but couldn't find anything that seemed close.  I know that QP and BWCAW don't have the funds to do proper wildlife surveys and make these decisions on sound scientific data.  I guess that's why it is a "recommendation" and not a "regulation".

Personally, I'm going to continue to put the guts at the shore.  I just plain enjoy watching the seagulls come in, fight, then freak out when the eagle flies over, run away, and then ultimately watch the eagle fly off with the carcass.

lots good ideas regarding fish remains, i guess as long as its a guideline, not mandatory, then I'll probably continue to deposit on shore, down from camp until/if it becomes a law?? I can't see to much of a difference between leaving your fish guts WAY down from camp and burying them way back in the woods?? Unless your digging a real deep hole, the bears will probably find them anyway?? Seems like the different entities would get on the same page and so could we??
I also think group size has a significant impact on turning wild critters into campsite beggars which no one wants
Traveling solo and using just a conservation license, I rarely have two carcass's and if I get a laker, its just one.
However, one year on Quetico L, I passed a party of 8, that had a mess of Pike that they were filleting out and tossing the carcass's on the rocks in front of there camp
I stopped to chat and mentioned it, and they told me that they were hoping to get some Bear pics and acted like that was the norm for them??
I just said I hope you have your packs hung high, and they pointed up to there camp, where they had taken a downed tree(i hope) and lashed it between two other tree's and had there food packs hanging about 6 ft off the ground
I WONDER if they got there Bear pics they so badly wanted

So I thought of 3 more maybe. Are any of these already on the list?

- Keep packs as low as possible in the canoe for better stability and less wind resistance.
- The stern paddler gets out of the canoe first whenever possible.
- Be kind to your canoe. It's your only ride home. When approaching a beaver dam, remember you're not paddling a teeter-totter.

Any more before it gets carved in stone?

Different strokes and it depends on the landing but in general, since the bow seat is closer to the center, the canoe is more stable when the bow paddler is alone in it. It's not such a tipsy weathervane, plus, the stern paddler has a lot more control when approaching shore than the bow paddler. Stern paddler steps out and then moves the canoe into position so the bow paddler can step out. No brace required, the canoe never touches anything but water and doing it is a lot faster then typing it.