- Location
- Rockland, ON
I was thinking about this while posting my 2016 moose hunt story in Ardent's moose poll.
I've been lucky enough over my hunting time to have had four double headers. Twice with white tail deer and twice with moose. By Double Header I mean shooting two animals within minutes: same place, same time.
First time was circa 1984, I was hunting alone and shot two does. I was standing behind a tree that had fallen across an old skidder trail on my land in Haliburton County. I was looking out over a beaver pond and dam. I decided to take a break, having a smoke, my rifle was hanging on the tree. A doe walked out on the far side of the dam, 130 yards. Well the freshly lit smoke got tossed in the snow, the 303 E.A.L. came up and one shot I dropped the doe right there. No sense rushing, I hung the rifle back on the tree and lit another smoke. When I looked back up another doe was standing in the same place as the first. Again, smoke in the snow, rifle up, one shot and doe number two was down as well. Well this time I rushed to have a smoke...no such luck. So I finished the smoke and went down across the dam to dress and drag out the deer.
The second time was circa 1989. Moose hunting with the crew. It was our third year in this spot at the top of Onaping Lake NW of Sudbury and we had not previously been successful in the area. Four days into this hunt I'm sitting on a swamp watching a spot where I am certain the moose will come out of. There were lots of ducks splashing around so I wasn't really paying attention to the noises in the big open water swamp behind me. I looked back behind me once and only saw stumps. When I looked back a second time a while later by golly those stumps had moved. About 250 yards off, a cow and calf were feeding. I raised the 1955 Winchester Model 70 Featherweight 30-06 and started shooting. The cow went one way, the calf the other. I kept shooting til they were both down. That included one reload. It was 30 minutes to dark. By the time we got to them it was dark. The cow had fallen in water, the calf at the edge. It was after midnight before both were dressed and dragged out to solid land. We decided to leave them there and get them in the morning. We called the hunt the Trail of Tears.
Third time didn't happen til 2015. Deer hunting in a controlled hunt near Alliston. I'm out at morning dark and get tucked down into a 10 foot spruce tree overlooking an open field. About 07:30 four does come walking out of the treeline 150 yards away heading right for me. I raise the Browning A Bolt 12 gauge shotgun and wait til the lead doe is about 75 yards off. One shot, I know she's hit hard, she runs off out of sight. Well the other three stand there kinda like WTF! I took the next lead animal and repeated. Found them both about 75 yards off just inside the trees. One had crawled into a hole left by a tree spade. A quick dressing and they were loaded into the Kioti and back to camp by 09:00.
Most recently was this year's moose hunt. Opening morning for us, 20 minutes into first light, a bull and cow came out of the trees/brush across the river from me. After a tense for me waiting game I was able to get a shot and dropped them with 3 shots from my Browning BLR 308. Two shots on the cow, one on the bull at 187 and 232 yards respectively. Getting them to the boat turned out to be quite easy after dressing them. We loaded an ATV into the boat and were able to use it to drag them to the shore. Lots of heaving but we got them both in the boat, with the ATV and 4 guys, and were back at camp by noon.
I've experienced lots of memorable big game hunts over the years, and some I'd prefer to forget about, but these four doubles stand out.
The double deer from 2015:
I've been lucky enough over my hunting time to have had four double headers. Twice with white tail deer and twice with moose. By Double Header I mean shooting two animals within minutes: same place, same time.
First time was circa 1984, I was hunting alone and shot two does. I was standing behind a tree that had fallen across an old skidder trail on my land in Haliburton County. I was looking out over a beaver pond and dam. I decided to take a break, having a smoke, my rifle was hanging on the tree. A doe walked out on the far side of the dam, 130 yards. Well the freshly lit smoke got tossed in the snow, the 303 E.A.L. came up and one shot I dropped the doe right there. No sense rushing, I hung the rifle back on the tree and lit another smoke. When I looked back up another doe was standing in the same place as the first. Again, smoke in the snow, rifle up, one shot and doe number two was down as well. Well this time I rushed to have a smoke...no such luck. So I finished the smoke and went down across the dam to dress and drag out the deer.
The second time was circa 1989. Moose hunting with the crew. It was our third year in this spot at the top of Onaping Lake NW of Sudbury and we had not previously been successful in the area. Four days into this hunt I'm sitting on a swamp watching a spot where I am certain the moose will come out of. There were lots of ducks splashing around so I wasn't really paying attention to the noises in the big open water swamp behind me. I looked back behind me once and only saw stumps. When I looked back a second time a while later by golly those stumps had moved. About 250 yards off, a cow and calf were feeding. I raised the 1955 Winchester Model 70 Featherweight 30-06 and started shooting. The cow went one way, the calf the other. I kept shooting til they were both down. That included one reload. It was 30 minutes to dark. By the time we got to them it was dark. The cow had fallen in water, the calf at the edge. It was after midnight before both were dressed and dragged out to solid land. We decided to leave them there and get them in the morning. We called the hunt the Trail of Tears.
Third time didn't happen til 2015. Deer hunting in a controlled hunt near Alliston. I'm out at morning dark and get tucked down into a 10 foot spruce tree overlooking an open field. About 07:30 four does come walking out of the treeline 150 yards away heading right for me. I raise the Browning A Bolt 12 gauge shotgun and wait til the lead doe is about 75 yards off. One shot, I know she's hit hard, she runs off out of sight. Well the other three stand there kinda like WTF! I took the next lead animal and repeated. Found them both about 75 yards off just inside the trees. One had crawled into a hole left by a tree spade. A quick dressing and they were loaded into the Kioti and back to camp by 09:00.
Most recently was this year's moose hunt. Opening morning for us, 20 minutes into first light, a bull and cow came out of the trees/brush across the river from me. After a tense for me waiting game I was able to get a shot and dropped them with 3 shots from my Browning BLR 308. Two shots on the cow, one on the bull at 187 and 232 yards respectively. Getting them to the boat turned out to be quite easy after dressing them. We loaded an ATV into the boat and were able to use it to drag them to the shore. Lots of heaving but we got them both in the boat, with the ATV and 4 guys, and were back at camp by noon.
I've experienced lots of memorable big game hunts over the years, and some I'd prefer to forget about, but these four doubles stand out.
The double deer from 2015:
Dave.
