Quebec Provincial Record Whitetail

The story of the now infamous ‘Hotel Buck’ all started back in November 1959, in southern Quebec when hotel owner Rathwell Morrison and three of the local boys choose to hunt Rathwell’s family farm.

The men planned a small deer drive on a recently logged piece of bush. It had then grown into thick raspberry brush, small poplar and balsam trees.  They figured with the dry conditions at the time, deer would hear them coming a mile away and a chase would be just the ticket to push out a big buck.  Well, that’s just what they did and Rathwell’s good friend Arthur (Arch) Dobie was rewarded with a ‘once in a lifetime’ whitetail that tipped the scales at 255 pounds field-dressed, and sported an incredible 20-point non-typical crown.

The news of the great deer spread throughout the local communities.  Everyone wanted to get a glimpse of the deer, "avec le gros panaches"(with the big antlers). Even with all the acclaim it received, it never phased Arch too much.  Rathwell approached Arch about selling the head to him for mounting, which Arch quickly agreed upon for 30 dollars.  He explained that it was just a deer head, and that he didn't need another one on the wall.  Rathwell had the big buck mounted and hung it on the wall of his hotel; The Maplewood Inn.  The head adorned on the hotel wall from 1959 to 1970, where many customers came and went; marvelling at the buck's impressive but peculiar rack. 

After the Hotel was sold in 1975, the head was stored in Rathwell's shed, and its primitive mounted job was starting to show its age.  Still unrecognised for trophy status, the big buck was moved from the hotel shed to the Morrison's new home down the road. There it was stored in a large, two story garage, piled under old camp stoves and lanterns until December, 1995.  I had returned home from College, where I was taking Fish & Wildlife Biology, and pursued an interest in not only deer hunting but the scoring of antlers. 

Sitting down in the garage with an old measuring tape, a photocopied B&C scoresheet, and the dusty old deer head, I started to put all the measurements together.  On my first attempt, I came up with 200 B&C.  Could the hotel buck actually be the first deer in Quebec to make the B&C minimum?  I ran in the house to tell Dad of my findings. "The hotel buck could be largest buck ever taken in the province!!” my voice cracked.  

A few weeks’ later we made the 5 hour trip to Rutland, Vermont, where we finally had it measured officially, and given its rightful place in the record book after 37 years.  The Hotel Buck’s final score now registered in the Records of North American Big Game is 207 5/8” non-typical.  Unfortunately, Arthur Dobie has since passed away and would never know that his unique deer remains the highest scoring whitetail the province has ever seen. Not bad for a country boy!