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A hunting trip with the boys: the perfect retreat to get away from it all, relax, and be at one with nature. At least that’s what Claude Larose had in mind when he agreed to head out into the wilderness with Jacques Laperriere and a few other Habs teammates in the 1960s.

In preparation for their pending weekend of male bonding, Larose asked veteran hunter Laperriere to pick him up some ammo. After arriving at their final destination, the guys quickly set about bagging some fowl for dinner, a feat which proved pretty easy for all the finely-tuned athletes. All except one, of course.

“Every time Larose shot at a pheasant, the bird just kept soaring away unscathed,” recalled Laperriere with a grin. “He started thinking his gun had to be broken or something.”

So Laperriere grabbed the rifle and reloaded to prove it was the user – not the weapon – that was malfunctioning.

The point was made. Two shots, two direct hits, two birds. While the rest of the gang managed to haul in enough pheasant on which to feast, Larose came back empty-handed and confused. Taking his place beside the campfire later that night, the dejected winger settled in to eat the fruits of his teammates’ labor.

“The guys all tried comforting him, telling him they would take him out hunting again. Only next time, it would be for something a little more his speed… like elephants,” laughed Laperriere.

Meanwhile, the All-Star Canadiens defenseman decided to throw a bone to his perplexed teammate, tipping him off to the reason he couldn’t seem to land a shot all day.

“I decided to play a little prank on him so instead of packing his ammo with gunpowder, I used salt,” recounted Laperriere. “Larose finally figured it out – but not until I suggested using his bullets to season his dinner!”

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