Tom and Trevor Moose 2009

My son Trevor and I recently travelled to the far north of Ontario to moose hunt. We were nearing our final destination and decided to pull into one of the many local gravel pits to do a final sighting check on our rifles. Things went well with our test shots. After stowing our rifles (we thought) we proceeded with the final leg of our trip.

We arrived and began setting up the camp. My son soon discovered his Remington BDL was not with us. He immediately raced back about 45 minutes to our sighting-in location. To his utter dismay, the rifle was not to be found. He proceeded back towards our camp and stopped at every hunting camp along the way. No-one reported seeing his beloved rifle.

He got back to camp and together we proceeded north another 7 or 8 miles stopping every vehicle and stopping at the other camps. Everyone promised to get back to us with any news about the rifle. Dejected, we went back to our camp. When we arrived, Trevor’s father-in-law was quite excited.

Some young fellows had brought news that the rifle had been recovered and could be picked up at a given location. By this time it was about 10:00 P.M.

We raced to their location. They said they did not actually have the rifle in their possession. We needed to go to another small camp to pick it up personally. We proceeded to that camp in the dark of night and raised a friendly, older French gentleman who indeed confirmed that he possessed the rifle and would be glad to return it. He seemed quite dismayed to report that the condition was BAD!

He had collected all the contents of the demolished hard case and the damaged rifle. The stock had been completely broken from the rifle but the overall condition of the rifle and Leupold scope appeared positive.

We took the whole package back to camp after a late night conversation with the old French gentleman and giving him a small reward for his honesty. He was truly a great person and appeared to have limited financial resources.

Well, the story spread through the area and everyone including the conservation officers had heard about the guy with the broken rifle.

Back in Action Remington and Leopold

The next morning we formed a plan to make this rifle useable for this hunt. I had brought along a full tube of “The Magic Putty” two part epoxy putty advertised on TV. We began bonding parts together in stages and finally doing an overall build up of the joined area. On complete hardening it was time for a test.

We took the rifle to a nearby gravel pit and guardedly fired a test shot. To our supreme relief, the Remington BDL and Leupold scope produced a very respectable result. We proceeded to do a short hunt before this day quickly ended. The next morning we were ready for a full day hunt. I proceeded to a great little bay on our lake and Trevor went into a small bay west of me.

It was about 1.5 hours later that I heard a succession of three shots. I was sure the shots came from my son’s location. A radio communication a bit later confirmed that he had indeed shot a young bull moose. The battered Remington BDL and shaken Leupold scope had taken a moose. Word spread  – “the guy with the broken gun” had shot a moose with it.

I have placed pictures of the repaired rifle and the moose it harvested at http://www.tomswebsite.net/Moose-Pictures.html