Pursuit of ghost buck continues

November 3, 2011 31d Comments

Well, the search for my ghost buck continues……

As this saga enters its forth year I find myself no further ahead in locating a deer we have appropriately called ‘Ghost buck’.

Most of you know I am an avid trail camera aficionado. I find them to be perhaps the most useful scouting tool ever invented. On the other side of the coin, they can also frustrate the hell out of you!

Every hunter should know it is somewhat unrealistic to think you’ll harvest every big buck that appears on your camera, and that locating a particular wily beast will be an easy task.

Although I have seen several bucks over the years during the hunting season and matched them up to photos on my camera, such has never been the case with my old pal the ghost buck.

The first year I captured an image of old ghosty was back  in 2009 – 3 days prior to the Quebec rifle season. Although my camera had been in place since Sep that year, ghosty appeared on only one particular evening around 11:00 PM and was never seen again that season.

Until the fall of 2010, of course, when he returned for a visit. You guessed it, he was there again exactly 3 days before the opening of rifle season! This year he was bigger again; sporting a handsome looking 10-point rack with a distinctive forked tine. Well, we never saw ghosty that year and did not capture any more images of him.

The 2011 deer rifle season arrived this past weekend with great anticipation. I couldn’t wait to get into camp and check the camera for my old ghost friend.

After scrolling through several hundred photos of does, fawns and a smaller buck, WHAM! There he was in all his glory and man he was looking better than ever!

This year he mixed up his visit a little and arrived 4 days prior to the season instead of 3.
 

And as with previous years, we hunted his suspected hang-out spots for 5 days to no avail. The ghost buck was nowhere to be seen and I was starting to develop mixed feelings about the elusive bad boy.

I was certainly pleased that he had made it through at least 4 hunting seasons, but miffed that I still never got a chance to see him in the flesh.
 

I am beginning to think this old boy may eventually die of old age and I suppose, in a way, he will have earned that right.

Here are photos of my ghost buck starting from 2009 season running through to 2011…Enjoy!!
 
   Ghost09a

(Ghost buck as he appeared in 2009)

Ghost09b

(Ghost buck as he appeared in 2009)

Ghost10b

(Ghost buck as he appeared in 2010)

Ghost10a

(Ghost buck as he appeared in 2010)

Ghost11a

(Ghost buck as he appeared last week (2011)

Ghost11b

(Ghost buck as he appeared last week (2011)

Ghost11d

(Ghost buck as he appeared last week (2011)


31 thoughts on “Pursuit of ghost buck continues”

    1. Thanks sureshot, I’ll let you know if I need some help.

      Best of luck to you and your gang on the rifle hunt!

      Outdoorsguy

  2. thats one this the trail cameras are bad for… they show you the big guys and most times you never see them… and it tears my heart out

  3. Nice post! Funny how those big boys know how to stay safe 🙂

    i say you take a bow up next year.

    3 or 4 days prior to the rifle season! 🙂

    Hope you had a grande time.

    I leave Sunday for 2 weeks and man oh man, I can barely keep contained 🙂

    1. Even if I did bowhunt Keebler, the bow season up there closes two week prior to rilfe, and doesn’t open again.

      Enjoy your two weeks of deer and come back with some stories!

      Outdoorsguy

  4. off tomorrow with my son for a week of deer hunting, running after dogs and BSing in camp. can’t wait

  6. things have been crazy around my house Jeff . hoping to get out monday. had the camera out and no deer . moved it the other day and got a nice 6 or 8 pointer … went out today and just found where they are crossing river.. going out monday to watch for a hour or so then with the “shotgun gang” for a few days … we usually do good if the guys can shoot straight

    1. Ok CHessy, keep us posted on how you guys make out.

      Hey, maybe those deer crossing the river and looking for salmon to eat..hehe

      Outdoorsguy

  7. Unfortunately both me and my wife where laid off the friday before opening morning, so it looks like ill be job hunting instead of deer hunting. You guys better bring me back some good stories.
    Thank you

    1. Savage, I’m very sorry to hear that. I hope you can come-up with something quickly as that is a real kick in the ass especially this time of year.

      Hey, you could always go live with McDan…hehe

      Outdoorsguy

  9. Well if there’s any openings to become a professional hunter or retire at 21 ill be happy, there doesn’t seem to be a lot for a construction worker this time of year…or a lot for the aspiring photography graduate. I’m going hunting at somepoint next week regardless!

  10. well my luck changed for the better . not because i shot a big buck but because the wife has one more treatment for her cancer and the doctor said it should be her last. looks like they have got it. so that is one more monkey off my back now for the big buck… shot him opening morning at 7 ish as it finished crossing the river after it was looking for salmon as jeff suggested, first it was the big buck on monday then wife on tuesday evening they say things come in threes so i hope the daughter is the one to get a big one or i will lotto max .

    1. Holy crap Chess, when your luck turns it really turns!!

      Great news on your wife and the treatments..finally nice to hear some positive news..and then there’s the big buck!

      You better be sending me pics and story details asap…Im off on my second rifle hunt on the QC side tomorrow, but will be looking for that when I return..(hopefully
      with a big buck of my own)

      Once again congrats man..thats awesome news and I dont mean the deer!

      Outdoorsguy

    1. Sorry SJ, I can’t say..otherwise everyone will know, but I can tell you that you’re on the right track.

      Outdoorsguy

  12. Wow what a nice buck ! Its very intresting to see how that old boy gets a bigger rack from year to year. I agree with the trail camera use to track and time the big bucks. Hunters best friend. I myself have been doing the same with a nice 10 and 8 point. Looking forward to the muzzle load hunt and late season bow hunt. Good luck on you pursuit of the “ghost buck “.

  13. Very easy question on the moose
    just back from the hunt on Saturday, threw all my stuff in the garage and ran up to the cottage in Quebec and dogged for them. I hurt EVERYWHERE
    But then again, I have 51 weeks to get it all back together

    1. So Iggs..how’d you make out with the deer…both ON & QC??

      I can tell you that my freezer will be no fuller this year..although I was pleased to see a lot of deer in Montebello..numbers there are on the increase big time!!

      Outdoorsguy

  14. young Iggy Jr and Iggy both got deer and the fellow who caught the spec in the Ottawa River shot a beauty 10 pointer, picture to follow. On the QC side the ended up with 8 bucks, no real big ones but still not bad

    BTW, Bob The Butcher also got a trail cam pic of a deer right close to our camp (he’s in the next camp) and the rack looks like a moose rack, pretty neat

    1. Sounds great Iggs..congrats to both you and your son!!

      Just a question, though, was there any talk about perhaps passing-up on a few of those smaller QC bucks – just to help manage the herd? Are the numbers over there really that strong again that they can take 8 deer from one camp and not have an effect on the herd?

      Sorry man..I’m just saying.

      Outdoorsguy

      P.S. Love to see those pics, Iggs!

  15. well you have to understand that they hunt on 1000’s of acres of land, farm land with bush lots. It makes it easy to push and if you saw how many deer come out in the fields at night you’d wonder why more doe tags aren’t issued. We say over 20 deer yesterday and only one identifiable buck
    That provinces games laws are all @#$%ed up, there are really too many deer, but all you can shoot is bucks, once you’ve shot one, you can’t hunt any more, so they want me to buy a $270.00 license to potentially hunt one day. Not a chance, but for the last two days I was out looking for my Cocker Spaniel named Woodie, walking around the bush with blaze orange on so the odd hunter I ran into wouldn’t mistake me for a deer. 😉

    1. Iggs, I didnt realize that most of the hunters around your cottage were from ON-side…sounds like they have a lot more deer there than in the big mountains where we hunt…I’m envious!

      Over in our zone, we’re complaining that they’re issuing too many doe tags and should shut it down for a few years.as you’ll see in my next post we have issues up there.

      Outdoorsguy

  16. I didn’t think I said most of the hunters were from Ontario, there is only a couple that I know of, one owns a farm up there but lives in Ontario, the other, well he’s just a squatter

  17. see a big problem is the zones are so large, in one section it could be farm area flooded with deer and the other section bush with one tenth the population

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