How mad would you be?

[Matty_ola]

http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/hunter-and-guide-lock-horns-over-mooses-legendary-antlers/article2397824/?service=mobile

[Steeleco]

Sure I'd be mad, but if I'd shot that beast, the antlers would never have left my sight?

[Tikka270]

After taking a shot at an animal like that, you could not stop me from looking for sign of the animal down. I would have searched for days.

[coach]

Yeah, but.. who got the meat?

[The Dawg]

A Quebec hunter has filed a $97,000 lawsuit against his hunting guide and the
province’s parks agency, claiming that the guide surreptitiously took the
prized, four-legged bounty during a trip in Matane, Que.

The suit, filed in Quebec Superior Court, lifts a curtain into the
high-stakes world of trophy collecting; according to estimates, the Matane
moose’s antlers are so exceptional that they could fetch anywhere from $100,000
to $1-million, probably among trophy collectors in the United States.

“No one has ever seen anything like it,” says Georges Landry, a Quebec
taxidermist and official measurer for the Boone and Crockett Club, a U.S.-based
group founded by Theodore Roosevelt that keeps records for big game. “Getting
those antlers is like winning the Stanley Cup.”

For a time, the Monster of Matane was considered more legend than real. The
world got its first glimpse of the magnificent animal when amateur photographer
Langis Paradis ventured into the Matane Wildlife Reserve in the Gaspé Peninsula
early one morning in 2009 and couldn’t believe his eyes. The antlers on the
animal before him were so expansive, Mr. Paradis thought two moose were standing
one in front of the other.

A Quebec hunting magazine published Mr. Paradis’s photo and the animal’s
reputation spread, along with a sense of skepticism. “For some, that moose was
like a flying saucer,” Mr. Paradis said Tuesday from his home in the Gaspé.
“Unless people could touch it, they didn’t think it was real.”

The skeptics were silenced after another hunter videotaped the beast during a
trip to the Matane reserve a few months later, and the images were posted
online. Word began to spread to hunting forums around the world.

The average adult moose has 16 to 28 points on its antlers; this one had
about 60, according to those familiar with it. Any moose antler span over 50
inches is considered a good trophy; this one measured 55 inches.

In the competitive world of trophy hunting, every detail of an antler is
counted and measured to within a fraction of an inch. Non-typical antlers like
the ones on the Matane moose are so rare, the Boone and Crockett Club – the
reference for trophy records in North America – doesn’t even keep a category for
it.

“It is a very unique trophy,” Justin Spring, assistant director for big game
records at the Boone and Crockett Club, said from the group’s headquarters in
Missoula, Mont., after seeing a photo of the Matane moose. “I’ve never seen
anything that looks like that. For a hunter, it would be the trophy of a
lifetime.”

That could be what pushed Jérémy Boileau, a resident of Quebec’s Laurentians,
to seek damages in court. In his statement of claim, Mr. Boileau says that he
spotted and fired at the Matane moose during a hunting trip last September; the
apparently wounded moose got away. His guide, Claude Lavoie, told Mr. Boileau
that his shot was off, and convinced him to abandon his search, the statement
says.

The lawsuit claims that Mr. Lavoie and three other parks employees then
returned to retrieve the moose later that day, thus “illegally appropriating”
the antlers of Mr. Boileau’s catch.

In the claim, Mr. Boileau says Quebec wildlife protection agents told him in
February that they were investigating an attempted sale of a set of antlers,
obtained at the date and location of Mr. Boileau’s expedition, for $100,000. The
antlers were seized by agents before the sale went through; Mr. Boileau wants
them for himself.

For Mr. Paradis, who first brought renown to the Matane beast, the wrangling
over the bounty is bittersweet. He would have preferred to have the astonishing
antlers be celebrated on the living, breathing animal. “For me he was like a
king, and those antlers were his crown,” Mr. Paradis said of the moose. “It was
a symbol of what makes this area so special.”

[Sasquatch]

After taking a shot at an animal like that, you could not stop me from looking for sign of the animal down. I would have searched for days.

I was thinking the same thing - sounds like he gave up pretty easy after taking a shot that wounded the animal. "Oh well, shot was off, lets find another one"

Sounds like there is enough blame to go around. An unscrupulous guide and a hunter who really didn't care about the animal he shot.

If this is the case, I hope neither of them get the antlers - or the money they could bring.

[IronNoggin]

Check the Vid!! http://www.sentierchassepeche.com//72/video.html?viewkey=bc3dc5eefc89334cacdc

YIKES!!! :mrgreen:

[91Jason91]

Sure I'd be mad, but if I'd shot that beast, the antlers would never have left my sight?

Im with you on that, I would have made sure I dont lose them...

[The Dawg]

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0r3kqo1Mx1rpwttlo1_400.gif


Invite him over for cake!

[CraigOC]

That thing is a beauty, I'd still rather eat it than give a hoot about the antlers tho.

[Call of the Wild]

Here's a video of that bull in 2009.


http://www.sentierchassepeche.com//72/video.html?viewkey=bc3dc5eefc89334cacdc

[gREEn7o0]

After taking a shot, whether I think I hit, or missed, I check the area for signs/trail/animal. If I take a shot it is my responsibility to be 100% sure it was a miss before I walk away. (Even then I would probably see if I could pick up a trail and track him down to try and get another shot at that monster.)

[Big Lew]

After taking a shot, whether I think I hit, or missed, I check the area for signs/trail/animal. If I take a shot it is my responsibility to be 100% sure it was a miss before I walk away. (Even then I would probably see if I could pick up a trail and track him down to try and get another shot at that monster.)

x2! Something sounds a bit fishy to me....

[Spy]

http://www.sentierchassepeche.com//72/video.html?viewkey=bc3dc5eefc89334cacdc

What a gorgeous animal Its sad he got shot ! They should just confiscate the antlers & put them in a museum so that everyone can enjoy them ! Imagine picking up his sheds every year, that would be more rewarding then shooting him!

[525]

To bad for a great looking Moose to go down like that but,I guess thats how they do it in Quebec,all screwed up!

[scoutlt1]

If I was with a guide (not likely), and I got within shooting range of that brute, then took the shot, and the guide tried to convince me that we should move on because the shot was off??? I'd beat him over the head with my rifle, then go get that monster, make the guide drag him out, then find a way to get my money back..... Give up on a moose like that?? Not a chance!

[dragonslayer]

That thing is a beauty, I'd still rather eat it than give a hoot about the antlers tho.

You probably woudn't enjoy it, tough as nails I'm sure! This big boy has been around for a while.

[dragonslayer]

http://www.sentierchassepeche.com//72/video.html?viewkey=bc3dc5eefc89334cacdc

What a gorgeous animal Its sad he got shot ! They should just confiscate the antlers & put them in a museum so that everyone can enjoy them ! Imagine picking up his sheds every year, that would be more rewarding then shooting him!

I agree totally, absolutely unbelievable set of antlers.

[dragonslayer]

To bad for a great looking Moose to go down like that but,I guess thats how they do it in Quebec,all screwed up!

X2 , all to common

[steel_ram]

What a gorgeous animal Its sad he got shot ! They should just confiscate the antlers & put them in a museum so that everyone can enjoy them ! Imagine picking up his sheds every year, that would be more rewarding then shooting him!

I agree being that the critter was already known and documented. However, if he was to pop up in my path randomly, I'd probably try to take him, if I could stop shaking.

[BCRiverBoater]

To put it in perspective. I shot and wounded a kudu bull this March in South Africa. We found blood and bones the first night. The nest day we used the trackers and followed it for 4-5 hours. A huge rain storm blew in and all tracking was over. 5 days later 10 of us pushed the bush and scoured the land. We did not find it. We thought it was dead or would die at some point. The outfitter (Professional Hunter) told me that if it dies they would find it. They find all animals that die on their concession at some point. He even told the taxidermist that I have a kudu they are looking for so they took my info for a mount. I also filled out all export permits encase they found it. I returned home and a month went by. I had written it off as bought, paid for and gone.

Well yesterday morning I got an e-mail from the PH. The tracker found by kudu bull on Sunday. They took pictures of it and sent them to me. The horns were just delivered to the taxidermist today. It is coming home.

So valuable or not I give the outfit I used a lot of credibility. He could have easily told me they never found him as he is 10,000 miles away. He could have sold them and I never would have known. I would recommend this outfit any-day. It was also a 53" kudu which is a very good bull. Not a one in kind like this moose but very valuable non the less.

This outfit in Quebec, if the story proves out, would go under in my eyes. I would never book a hunt with such an outfit if they truly tried to pull this off as accused by the hunter. And I would suspect that no other ethical hunter would either. Credibility is what a hunting outfit is built on. I am sure this will hurt their business either way.

[sawmill]

The "hunter"should get a swift kick in the sack.If it were me I`d never stop looking for that crazy looking beast.The outfitter should just be shot and pissed on.

[silvicon]

Read the article in the grope and wail, a smear-job on hunting, trophies, hunters, guides.
As for the 'loss' of the trophy by the 'hunter': buh-hu!
If that guy wanted a real big moose, he should have booked in the YK or northern BC, not cheap out and go to the frogs.

[Walking Buffalo]

To put it in perspective. I shot and wounded a kudu bull this March in South Africa. We found blood and bones the first night. The nest day we used the trackers and followed it for 4-5 hours. A huge rain storm blew in and all tracking was over. 5 days later 10 of us pushed the bush and scoured the land. We did not find it. We thought it was dead or would die at some point. The outfitter (Professional Hunter) told me that if it dies they would find it. They find all animals that die on their concession at some point. He even told the taxidermist that I have a kudu they are looking for so they took my info for a mount. I also filled out all export permits encase they found it. I returned home and a month went by. I had written it off as bought, paid for and gone.

Well yesterday morning I got an e-mail from the PH. The tracker found by kudu bull on Sunday. They took pictures of it and sent them to me. The horns were just delivered to the taxidermist today. It is coming home.

So valuable or not I give the outfit I used a lot of credibility. He could have easily told me they never found him as he is 10,000 miles away. He could have sold them and I never would have known. I would recommend this outfit any-day. It was also a 53" kudu which is a very good bull. Not a one in kind like this moose but very valuable non the less.

This outfit in Quebec, if the story proves out, would go under in my eyes. I would never book a hunt with such an outfit if they truly tried to pull this off as accused by the hunter. And I would suspect that no other ethical hunter would either. Credibility is what a hunting outfit is built on. I am sure this will hurt their business either way.



Finally, an explanation of how reputable outfitters and guides operate, even here in Canada.

If anyone but those connected to the outfitter operation found the antlers, losers weepers.
Since the guide found an animal that was actively hunted and wounded during his employment, no matter the circumstances of the initial retrieval effort, those antlers should have been passed to the hunter.

[nap]

Thanks IronNoggin for posting the video, WOW!!!!! Its like the pictures of the white moose on the North side of Fraser Lake, an awesome thing nature has built.

[sawmill]

Finally, an explanation of how reputable outfitters and guides operate, even here in Canada.

If anyone but those connected to the outfitter operation found the antlers, losers weepers.
Since the guide found an animal that was actively hunted and wounded during his employment, no matter the circumstances of the initial retrieval effort, those antlers should have been passed to the hunter.

Definatley,except the rack is worth an assload of money.I bet if it was a nice typical he would have gotten it back.I hope the outfitter loses his licsence.

[GreatWhitePopogeebo]

Should of dropped him and if he was sure of hit should of looked harder to bad finders keeper to many iffs

[BULLNUTTS]

It would be nice to have more of the hunt details here.....such as the experience of the hunter-as he was guided.For those with manny moose kills under the belt,[like an well experienced guide ] most times a mortal shot,or at least a good hit is recognized instantly!But the lackie effort told is "fishy" at best!!!One can only gess as to most of it all -except that " lackie" effort to follow up on the shot!!Such a beast of royalty deserves sooo much better than that. BULLNUTTS

[fuzzybiscuit]

Pretty screwed up story...but what isn't in Quebec?

X2 on Sawmill's comments.

[matt420]

i seen this in the paper today and just about had a heart attack

[lovemywinchester]

If its true the poor hunter deserves his rack. Ripped off by your trusted guide. It seems the promise of money will corrupt anyone. It also seems like moose hunting in Quebec is a risky business at the best of times these days.

http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/antler-wars-lock-moose-hunters-against-each-other/article2226611/?service=mobile

[300H&H]

http://m.theglobeandmail.com/image-server/img/rO0ABXQAXmZ7aHR0cDovL2JldGEuaW1hZ2VzLnRoZWdsb2JlYW 5kbWFpbC5jb20vYXJjaGl2ZS8wMTM5NC93ZWItbW9uc3Rlci1t b29fMTM5NDIzMmNsLTguanBnfWYwZjMwMHQ=.jpg

[Whonnock Boy]

I would not be mad because that moose would have been in my freezer, and the rack on the wall. No guide in the world would have stopped me from trying to find it regardless of it size.

I have a forked finger in this one. I blame the hunter for not doing his due diligence in trying to retrieve the animal, and I blame the guide for his greed. In a perfect world neither would get the rack, and both the hunter and guide would be charged with failing to retrieve a fallen animal. What a waste!

[The Dude]

This is only one side of a story. None of us were on the hunt, and none know the hunter or guide. At this point, it's one-sided hearsay.

[The Dude]

And this is the very reason we're so lucky to live and hunt in BC.
A NINE day hunt.



Armed gangs defending their turf. Death threats and torched property. Victims too fearful to go to police.
Sounds like another organized-crime offensive on the streets of Montreal. But the action is playing out in a more improbable setting: the backwoods wilderness of Quebec during hunting season.
Generations of hunters have turned to the rugged forest of the Gaspé Peninsula each fall to bag a moose, but an explosive growth in the number of animals, coupled with growing competition for hunting spots, has turned nature’s idyll into a battleground.



Privacy czar shoots down Tory rationale for destroying gun records (http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/privacy-czar-shoots-down-tory-rationale-for-destroying-gun-records/article2221326/?service=mobile)
Despite Quebec’s demands, Ottawa vows to destroy gun-registry data (http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/despite-quebecs-demands-ottawa-vows-to-destroy-gun-registry-data/article2216428/?service=mobile)
Quebec balks at Ottawa’s law-and-order agenda (http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/quebec-balks-at-ottawas-law-and-order-agenda/article2221192/?service=mobile)




Although Quebec sets aside vast swaths of Crown land for hunting, territory that in theory belongs to everybody, some take matters into their own hands to protect what they regard as their personal hunting spots.
The problem has come to a head on the Gaspé, where some 25,000 permit-holders descend in the forest in a nine-day firearm hunt lasting to late October. During that time, according to several officials and witnesses, a supposedly public playground gives way to roadblocks, armed patrols and less-than-subtle warnings by rival hunting gangs to keep out.
Some hunters are tasting the woods’ frontier justice firsthand. Michel Guénette is a 54-year-old truck driver who has been hunting in the Gaspé since he was a boy. Last year he discovered his family’s six trailers incinerated, with empty canisters of propane lying amid the rubble. When he showed up for the hunt this year, his tree blind was trashed.
“Things have gone too far. It’s gotten to the point where you’re being threatened with rifles,” Mr. Guénette said this week from his home in Granby, Que. One of his brothers stayed away from the family’s annual hunting party this year, prompted by his anxious wife who fears it has become too dangerous.
“There are places where you can’t go any more because there will be 10 guys who consider it theirs and they’re telling you you’re entering at your own risk,” Mr. Guénette said. “It’s no fun. Something’s gone wrong.”
Mr. Guénette is an exception – he went to police, and the matter is now before the courts. Most victims are more discreet, worried about the possibility of retribution by fellow hunters who are, after all, armed, cloaked in camouflage and often fortified by alcohol.
“People have managed to impose a code of silence. It’s practically like the Mafia in the woods,” said Serge Le Roy Audy, president of the Quebec hunters’ federation in the lower St. Lawrence region, which adjoins the Gaspé and where the problem also exists.
“I’d say 95 per cent of people won’t complain. They’re too afraid to have their tires slashed or their trailers burned,” Mr. Le Roy Audy said. “When you’ve got guys doing their own patrols so no one enters their territory, it’s just intimidation. They’re laying down the law.”
Tensions have ratcheted up to the point that the Quebec provincial police have stepped in, staging operations that have uncovered unlawful firearm possession and making eight arrests since October for intimidation, death threats and weapons violations; one involved a hunter who allegedly threatened a woman with a pellet gun because she came too close to his hunting spot. The Sûreté du Québec was back in the Gaspé woods on Thursday afternoon, carrying out car inspections and trying to make its presence felt.

“There are more and more hunters so we had to be more visible,” police spokesman Claude Ross said. “There are tensions. We can’t hide our head in the sand.”
The problem is acute in the Gaspé because the promise of bagging a prized moose burns brightest there. The number of moose has grown sixfold in the region in the past 20 years, the result of ideal forest conditions and deliberate wildlife management policies by Quebec. The public forests of the region have the highest density of moose in the province – nearly one per square kilometre – a seductive lure for hunters seeking a prized catch (things calm down considerably with the arrival of deer hunting in late October).
Some hunters are starting to speak out, and the Quebec newsmagazine L’actualite recently wrote an exposé on the local “antler wars.” Tensions are not limited to the region, however. Quebec game wardens report a proliferation of menacing Keep Out signs on public lands during the moose hunt elsewhere – including one with a skull-and-crossbones around Baie Comeau. Meanwhile, in Quebec’s Lac St. Jean, two game wardens wearing raingear that covered their uniforms were unceremoniously warned by a group of hunters to get lost or else.
Not for nothing are game wardens in Quebec armed with 9 mm handguns and pepper spray – it’s not to subdue the rabbits.
“You get people who have a drink, and they have a firearm. They can get aggressive. That’s what starts to get dangerous, ”said Paul Legault, a veteran Quebec game warden who heads the provincial group’s union.
Quebec law says no one can impede a person trying to hunt legally, but simple math means it’s highly unlikely scofflaws will get caught: The Gaspé has 26 to 45 game wardens, depending on who’s counting, to patrol an area the size of Massachusetts.
But as the big-game hunt shut down in the Gaspé on Friday, hunting federations are trying to get a handle on the problem with a campaign politely inviting users to “share the forest.” Hunters insist the vast majority of sportsmen and women in Quebec’s forests are courteous and law-abiding. But the renegades are disturbing the peace in a place that, by its remote nature, depends on a measure of self-governance.
“When someone threatens to slit your throat, it’s become serious,” said Serge Bélanger, who is Mr. Guénette’s brother-in-law and is a lifelong hunter. “Hunting was always a leisure activity, but now I’m not so sure any more.”

[Fred H]

As the Dude said it is only one side of the story and most details are wrongly translated in the article. I live in Gaspesia about one hour away from Matane Reserve which is operated by a provincial agency not a private outfitter. The hunter was very inexperienced, he gut shot the moose and they looked for it for a few hours before he decided to look for another one which he killed the day after.

For those who like to bash Quebec, BC is not perfect either. I never had a hippies comment about hunting in Quebec in 28 years of hunting whereas I got two notes on my windshield in 10 days in BC. At least hunting is tradition in Quebec, our ancestors survived with it and it is respected. On the west coast, tree hugging seems to be a more prevalent activity. Many years ago I had to kill problem bears in camp because no BC resident seemed to know how to do it, some would even cry when they would see a dead bear... I love BC and read your awesome stories with incredible animals with lots of envy but it gets frustrating to read so much lack of respect for Canadian hunters from Quebec.

[The Dude]

As the Dude said it is only one side of the story and most details are wrongly translated in the article. I live in Gaspesia about one hour away from Matane Reserve which is operated by a provincial agency not a private outfitter. The hunter was very inexperienced, he gut shot the moose and they looked for it for a few hours before he decided to look for another one which he killed the day after.

For those who like to bash Quebec, BC is not perfect either. I never had a hippies comment about hunting in Quebec in 28 years of hunting whereas I got two notes on my windshield in 10 days in BC. At least hunting is tradition in Quebec, our ancestors survived with it and it is respected. On the west coast, tree hugging seems to be a more prevalent activity. Many years ago I had to kill problem bears in camp because no BC resident seemed to know how to do it, some would even cry when they would see a dead bear... I love BC and read your awesome stories with incredible animals with lots of envy but it gets frustrating to read so much lack of respect for Canadian hunters from Quebec.

Kinda suspected that's what happened.....thx Fred.
Sorry for the Anti-Quebec comments. I lived there four years, and never a problem. Folks like to speak from inexperience though.