I felt real good when I got up that Thursday morning something telling me that today was the day. It was a real cold, clear morning and after it was light enough to hunt I made my way to the portable stand and let out a couple of calls. I called from that portable until 7:15 a.m. and after absolutely nothing, I decided to head for my permanent stand. As I walked by the rut hole, I rubbed my feet in it to get rid of any human smell on my boots. When I was about 150 yards from my stand I heard something. I listened and there it was again - a bull calling like he was coming and he sounded close, too close. I still had quite a distance to go to get to my stand. Silently, I asked him to please let me get to my stand first. I got there and let out my cow call and immediately got an answer. He sounded big.
For the next three quarters of an hour we kept up this ‘talking’ and I knew he was coming in. I could now hear him breaking the odd tree and he was still answering. At about 50 yards, I spotted him. All I saw was the left palm of his antler,"Holy shit is he ever big!". At this point, he quit calling and was not making any noise but I knew he was coming slowly and cautiously. I turned my back to the way he was coming and gave two short calls and he was on his way.
I had nocked an arrow when I first saw him so I was ready and I had "talked" to him now for close to an hour so I had lots of time to calm down.
I had worked it out well because he had to come real close to get by me. Suddenly, he was there beside me at twenty yards but I had not cleared a shooting lane on that side. I spotted a place in the brush I could shoot through and when he reached the small opening I came to full draw and grunted. He stopped immediately with his heart and lung area wide open and his left front leg forward. My heart was pounding. I settled my 20 yard pin on his boiler room and released. I lost sight of the arrow completely and he wheeled around on his hind feet and took off. As he was running, I saw the arrow sticking out of his side bobbing back and forth and then again I lost sight of it.
I called again and he stopped. And that’s when I knew I had a good hit because I had been told this sort of erratic behavior probably meant a lung hit.
I was excited. I knew I had him and he was a big one. I lit a cigarette. After ten minutes, I decided to head to camp and get my three wheeler and my equipment to make a trail to the moose. There had not been any noise from him for a couple of minutes so I knew he was down but I never go near a downed moose for at least an hour in case I spook him if he is not down for the count.
When I went back, I found half of the arrow laying there but no blood trail. Then I found where he had stood when I had called after he was hit and I saw the blood - lots of it and with bubbles in it so I knew it was indeed a lung hit. Now I had a blood trail to follow but it was only spotty. Then I saw it, an antler sticking up about thirty yards away. And one big, beautiful bull. I couldn’t believe the size of him so big and his horns were perfect. The guys from the camp spent the rest of the day with me getting him out.
Later that evening, Fred Law, a Pope and Young scorer, roughly green-scored him at 208 points. He was later officially panel scored by Pope and Young at 201-2/8, just shy of the then current world record.
Fred Robinson
Fred’s moose is world class any way you look at it. The greatest spread is 60-4/8 inches . The palms are 42 and 40-3/8 inches long and both are 11-1/8 wide. Deductions total only 3-0/8 inches. This is the largest moose taken by any method to come out of Sudbury District.
The Foundation for the Recognition of Ontario Wildlife
1217 Division Rd Indian River, ON, CAN K0L 2B0
phone: 1-705-742-0148 e-mail: inquiry@frow.ca