Fern Blais of Pembroke, Ontario poses with the world class moose he took in that province in 2011. The incredible bull has antlers that are truly one of a kind. Non-typical points are rare on a moose, but Fern s big bull has them in abundance. The 62 3/8 wide bull went into the Ontario record books with a gross score of 217 5/8, but it scored lower because of the nontypical points which score as deductions. As a result, Fern decided to enter it into the SCI record books as well. After being scored, it is now the world record Eastern Canada Moose, with a score of 584 1/8.
Moose BY: FERN BLAIS REDEMPTION I have been hunting all my life, as far back as I can remember. I began with small game, and then became a passionate whitetail deer and wild turkey hunter. I always dreamed of going after the majestic monarch of the Canadian woods, the moose, but I had never had the opportunity. To tell you about my moose hunt, I have to back up one year. I was asked to join a group of dedicated archery hunters, made up of work colleagues and family members. The group had been hunting together for over 15 years in the same general area of northern Ontario. I had never moose hunted, and now my dream was about to come true. I was about to have a chance to hunt the largest member of the deer family! September finally arrived and my friend Derek, and I, hit the road. We were heading to his father s (Bud) place. On route I met some other members of the group. (Dan, Mike, and Leanne). Finally, after arriving at camp, I meet John and his young son. After setting up camp, the group got out the targets and archery gear, to do some practice shooting and make sure everything was still shooting accurately. It didn t take long to hear the friendly banter about shooting a real bow. You see I was the only group member shooting a crossbow. But my arrows didn t have any trouble hitting the bulls-eye at 50 yards. We set out to survey the area and were pleased to see that it held a lot of moose sign. We set up a series of tree stands and ground blinds, ready for the first days hunt. The first morning was cold and frosty, and I watched the sun rise from my tree stand with the rays cascading over the grown up clear cut. Bud had a bull responding, and had a good look at a mature bull, but no arrows were released. Being new at moose hunting, and a new member of the group, I just took in the advice of others and went with the game plan. After four days of asking about hunting a two year old cutover, John finally took me into the area. John knows how to call moose, and has been chasing and killing moose for a long time. We walked in at first light, and setup to call. After a half hour of waiting, he made a soft cow call. Right away two bulls answered. WOW, my heart instantly started to pound like never before. They were already close! Thirty minutes later, after much coaxing from John, a monster bull came walking out of the thick bush, about 200 yards off. He raked a small spruce tree, to let us know he was there. John was talking to him, and the bull was doing the wooahh, wooahh while coming in closer and closer. He was flashing his rack from side to side as he approached. At 50 yards the bull was trying to position himself downwind from the cow call. This brought him into range for me. The bull was majestic and held a 50-inch rack. I was in cover, and had some maple brush between the bull and me. After about ten minutes of him standing and looking for his cow, I decided I should keep behind the brush for cover, but close the gap, to get a clear shot. As I repositioned myself, I did not realize that the bolt on my crossbow had snagged a piece of brush, and had pulled away from the string on the ramp. I stepped out from behind the bush, and ranged the big bull, calculating that he was 37 yards away. He slowly turned until he was
broadside to me, and I squeezed the trigger. I heard an awful whack and saw the bolt flutter to his feet. The bull just stood there, watching this. Then he stood for a while longer! As I panicked to try and reload, he finally had enough and left the scene. I found the bolt broken at the fletching, and learned a valuable lesson that I will never forget. Always make sure the bolt is seated on the string before firing. I did not have another chance at a bull on the trip. All winter long, I had visions of that bull walking away from me. Not a day passed when it didn t cross my mind. By the time the next September moose season finally arrived, I was ready. We were heading out in the archery only moose season. I was hunting with the same great bunch of guys along with two other group members, Mark and Nick. After an eleven-hour drive we finally made it to our camp location in northern Ontario. For the next few days we hunted hard and some of the guys had close calls but nobody was able to connect. Bud had a nice bull swim across a lake to visit his cow but he hung up at 80 yards and went back. The weather was unseasonably warm this year, with daytime temperatures of 20 degrees Celsius. Little did we know it, but on September 26th, things were about to become very interesting. Derek, Leanne, and I returned to a spot we felt good about. We had hunted this lake the previous fall, and the area had lots of moose sign. We got into place for the evening hunt and we were all in our spots around 4 o clock in the afternoon. Derek was setup in the middle, on a point along the lake as the caller and Leanne and I were at opposite sides, for the ambush. Our plan was that the bull would walk the shoreline, to reach the cow call. As I walked toward the area I was going to watch, I noticed fresh moose tracks, and silted water along the shore where a game trail came out to the edge of the lake. I set up a ground blind, on the downwind side of the trail with a good shooting lane up the trail. While sitting there, I started pondering whether I had made a good decision in my choice of a ground blind. I realised that a moose could get down wind of me if he walked the shoreline south of me. So, I decided to move. I followed the edge of the lakeshore to the end of the point; I figured the only way a moose could get down wind was if it were swimming. I found a big blowdown root to sit in and got comfortable. At 6:30pm, I heard it, a couple bull grunts, but they were a long ways off. I
An example of the rugged landscape where Fern and his hunting party anchored the moose. radioed Derek to let him know I just heard a bull about a kilo- sound heading right for me from the thicket. I looked around metre away. About ten minutes later I heard him again, and he for cover, and saw myself surrounded by marsh grass. I had sounded closer! Derek called several times, but the bull never nowhere to go, and it was too late to find cover now! The bull answered. stepped out of the jack pine and spruce, and I could see him Time was quickly ticking by, and with only 30 minutes of for the first time. He stood seven feet at the shoulder with a legal time left, I heard a bull grunt, about 200 yards off. He was rack that topped at least ten feet high! He looked both ways, coming through the dirtiest brush possible. The bull came in for a fight with a bull. He thrashed at a nearby spruce. I put up downwind of Derek, but upwind from me, in the location of my rangefinder and pegged him at 43 yards. But all I had was the game trail that I had left earlier. He came in, grunting and a huge rack and head, so I gave another grunt call. That did it breaking branches to about 80 yards then held up, but I still for the bull, he lunged forward, out of the spruce and into the could not see him. This bull was hot, and grunted a lot. I was tea brush, quartering towards me, but now only at 40 yards. I looking at my watch, and the minutes ticking away. Finally I aimed just behind the front shoulder and I let the bolt fly. The called Derek and told him, Time was not on our side and I bull roared, and bolted forward running directly in front of was going in after the bull. Derek called back, Go for it, it s all me, a mere 20 yards, but heading into the lake. I watched him we got! After hearing that, I jumped up, got my pack on, and stop at the edge of the lake, and he wobbled at the back hips. started charging through the thickest brush heading for the edge of the lake Another view of the rack showing more of the towards this bull. Making all the noise rare, non-typical points the big bull carried. I could, I also grunted while moving. Each time I grunted, the bull responded, whooah, whooah. I could hear him, breaking branches, thrashing the nearby vegetation. I hit the edge of the lake, and started splashing in the marsh grass, all the while closing the gap. I got out past the game trail, into the marsh grass, and rattled an alder branch, up against my crossbow limbs. This got the train engine rolling. I will never forget the noise coming at me, grunting, branches snapping and shear speed of the
I ranged him again; he was only 50 yards away, so I decided to reload, to take another shot. Just as I was about to let my second arrow fly, he spotted me. He had looked my way when he heard the cocking click and loading the bolt, and he started to run back toward the bush. He crashed into the bush, where he had come from. Derek and I met at the location we saw him enter the bush. Both of us couldn t believe the size of the antlers, the size of his neck, and the size of the moose! Derek found GOOD BLOOD first. So we waited in the tea brush on the edge of the lake. My hands started to shake, as the adrenaline rush started to subside. After about ten minutes we heard a loud CRACK, we both looked at each other saying, He just fell over. We put our bows in the cases, and got the headlights on as it got dark. After 45 minutes we followed the blood trail for about 50 yards, but then the blood stopped. We looked as much as we could; we just couldn t find any sign past that last drop. The bush was thick and the ground was covered in thick moss, with lots of moose tracks all over. My mind kept wandering back to last year. I thought Oh no am I going to live through another nightmare winter thinking about missed opportunities?!!. We meet up with Leanne and decided to head for camp for help. I returned with three others in our group, Mike, Mark and John. It was now 10 pm. I back tracked my GPS and followed my track back towards the location I marked at the last blood. I told Mike, who was following me, Mike, we have to move over about ten yards where the last blood is to get on track. Mike looked at me and said Why don t we go this way instead, your moose is laying right here WHOOOOO! The celebration instantly began! By the time the rest of the group arrived it was after midnight and was now September 27, my 53rd birthday. We worked all night, because of the warm temperatures, and got the beast at the butcher the next day. The dressed moose quarters weighed over 800 pounds not including the hide, head, feet, or tenderloins! We measured the antlers to be 62 3/8 wide. After the 60-day required drying time, I got him panel scored by FROW, Foundation for the Recognition of Ontario Wildlife. His score is 217 5/8 GROSS with a NET score of 205 5/8 Boone and Crockett. He lost a lot because of his non-typical antlers, so I also got him measure by SCI. SCI does not deduct score for asymmetry, but scores total mass. My moose has become a new world record Eastern Canada Moose, scored at 584 1/8 inches. This hunt was made possible because of an excellent group of dedicated hunters. I have learned so much from them about moose hunting in two short years. It helps when they know the territory so well, and I thank them for allowing me to share their moose hunting time together.
This young bull has tremendous potential and, given a few years, will almost certainly grow a very unique set of antlers. Shawn Danychuk Photo