With a doable new Ontario report whitetail, it looks like a very good time to revisit the story of Hugh Reehill’s deer — which was shot in 1958, however not acknowledged as a report till 1996.
The Lindsay resident was looking within the Parry Sound space with members of the Peterborough-Lakefield Hunt Membership as a part of an meeting of kin and pals that included Elmer Flynn, who would grow to be his greatest buddy. Members needed to apply to affix, and if accepted, solely bought a spot when an present member dropped out. It took 4 consecutive hunts to attain full membership.
Peterborough-Lakefield Hunt Membership
Reehill’s first 12 months was 1958. Not figuring out the lay of the land, he requested camp captain Wallace Thurston to decide on a look ahead to him. After a 20-minute stroll, he settled right into a swail in a clearing with a small ridge to the north, basic Canadian bush to the east and south, and within the west, a thicket of four-foot spruce bushes.
They have been looking with canine and Reehill quickly heard barking steadily growing in quantity to the purpose the place he bought himself able to shoot.
The canine saved shifting previous his watch, nevertheless, and their excited barks started to fade.
Disillusioned, he relaxed till he heard a twig snap from the spruce thicket. Glancing up, he may see — simply above the tree tops — a set of antlers shifting his means.
Because the animal superior, the unfold of the rack indicated it was a moose, not a deer. Let down once more, and with nobody in camp holding a moose licence, Reehill sat again to look at the moose come via, but it surely by no means did seem. As a substitute, a powerful whitetail buck trotted into the swail and was downed with one shot.
Again at camp, the remainder of the looking occasion weren’t that impressed with the deer. They identified that Reehill had really shot a bigger deer the day earlier than. The truth is, nobody had any second ideas about together with it within the conventional “draw for deer” the place everybody took residence an animal, although not essentially the one they shot.
Happily, Reehill drew his personal quantity, and if he hadn’t, what would grow to be an Ontario report may need gone unrecognized.
Dad’s trophy mount
Quick ahead to 1993. Nick Flynn, the 35-year-old son of Elmer Flynn, has grown up seeing, and listening to the story of, his dad’s buddy’s trophy. He makes certainly one of his common visits to Reehill’s residence to speak about looking and the night wraps up with Reehill telling him — as he ceaselessly did — that he needs him to have the mount. Extra exactly, he informed him to “get it the hell out of right here” since “you by no means know what would possibly occur to it.”
Flynn sensed an urgency in his voice this time, and took the deer head, studying later Reehill had been identified with congestive coronary heart failure.
The mount was put in at Flynn’s home close to Buckhorn to start impressing any hunter who noticed it. Now, nevertheless, nobody was referring to the actually massive deer shot the day earlier than. The enthusiastic, unbiased responses of individuals seeing it for the primary time affirmed the opinion he held for it since he was a youngster…this was an enormous deer.
Precisely how massive can be confirmed three years later at a Basis for the Recognition of Ontario’s Wildlife (FROW) Large Buck Evening. It eclipsed the earlier report by 10 inches, largely on the power of its exceptional symmetry. No deductions have been made for variations in most important beam size. Each measured 27 6⁄8 inches in size, and it totalled 1882 ⁄ 8 inches.
Mount survives shut calls
Extremely, the mount survived two shut calls.
Reehill had the deer on show in a Lindsay-area fishing lodge that was damaged into. Thieves made off with a dozen or so bass and muskie mounts however didn’t hassle with the deer.
After that occasion, Reehill thought of retaining it on the distant camp. Happily, he didn’t as a result of in 1970, the Ontario authorities purchased a number of camps close to Reehill’s and burned them to facilitate building of a brand new freeway. Though the Peterborough-Lakefield membership was not bought, it was mistakenly razed by staff.
Initially revealed within the Jan.-Feb. 2024 subject of Ontario OUT of DOORS
