Return of Garfield – local buck lives on!

October 18, 2013 29d Comments

My old pal Garfield, now an impressive 6 1/2-year old whitetail buck (who was born in my back field) has returned for yet another fall!

 

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The mature buck who has returned to my neck of the woods year after year may not boast the most symmetrical set of antlers in the world, but he is impressive animal none the less.

And toughs as nails too!

 

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It’s always nice to see a familiar face, especially one I have photographed many times with my Bushnell Trophy cams over the past 5 years. I realize you are not supposed to name a wild animal, but this bad boy is more of an old friend than anything.

Of all the whitetails who’ve come and gone in my area, Garfield is the most resilient of the bunch. He’s been chased by coyotes hundreds of times, broken his rack two years in a row, and always had one side of his antlers look slightly different the other.

One time my daughter and I found Garfield lying flat out  like a horse in the back field, we thought for sure he was dead until we walked closer and discovered he was just exhausted and sleeping.

In the daylight, the distinctive brown patches on his hind legs are a give-away to his identity. Besides that, I just never forget a face!

Isn’t the onset of the whitetail rut a magnificent time of year? You just never know who might show up!!

 

Outdoorsguy

29 thoughts on “Return of Garfield – local buck lives on!”

  1. Nice rack! Beauty deer!

    Where do you live again? 😉

    Funny story about him laying there all exhausted. 🙂

    Cheers,
    keebler

    1. Hey Keebler, good to hear from you!

      I actually posted that story a couple of years ago, as it was one the strangest things Id ever seen. When we first
      saw him laying all sprawled out like that, I thought for sure he was dead. Told my daughter we’ll walk over and see him
      but it doesn’t look good. He was all full of perspiration too, and I did discover later he had broken his main beam in
      half that year, so he was probably recovering from a major buck fight!

      Told my Dad about it that day and he explained that horses back on the farm would often sleep that way, but that he (& I)
      had never seen a deer do it. As we all know, a bedded deer tends to curl-up with their nose stuck under their tail.

      Oh well, this Garfield is an original character and has evidently been tough enough to stick around a few years.

      Funny thing is, I’ve seen a lot of his features in other younger bucks so he’s surely spreading his genes in this area.

      Outdoorsguy

      P.S. Oh, and btw…I live in Manitoba.

  2. Thanks for keeping us up to date on Garfield. Great photos.

    I’m curious to know how close you and your daughter were able to get to him when you found him lying down?

    1. Hunting Mom, there’s a path through the backfield we can walk quietly on, and we got to within probably 75 feet of him. I’m glad we weren’t coyotes…of course, as soon as he sensed us being there, his head came up and he was gone like a shot!(which we were glad to see)

      Outdoorsguy

    1. I hear you there Iggs, a lot of the big bucks in our deer woods tend to only travel at night…drag!

      Of course if you push them around, that’s a different story.

      Outdoorsguy

    1. Oh yeah, forgot about that..never done it so would seem foreign at first.

      We don’t see any dogs in our QC deer woods but we hear lots of them..hehe

      Outdoorsguy

  5. jeff great pic there is also a big buck living in the back lot of a certain feed store he is now a 12 pointer the store clerk says good morning to him most mornings as he feed on their products he then crosses the highway and lays near a huge apple tree i hope to get a good shot at him soon he likes to cross the road always around 9am in broad daylight . he is the one that chases away dog walkers and their pets will try to get you a camera shot

    1. Yeah Mike, but you know what’ll happen to that big boy once the season opens…you’ll never see him, till maybe later-on during the rut when he lets his guard down a little.

      Send pics anytime my friend..and best of luck this fall!

      Outdoorsguy

  6. POS camera, man I’m pissed off. All the way back up to camp, camera says, MEMORY FULL
    I pull the card, put in a new card and race home all excited $GB card full

    One #$%^&@# video, of me putting out the Rolling Acres 🙁

    1. Oh man, sounds like you had it on video mode, with a very long vid length with a huge file size. Always use camera setting and lowest file size possible
      which is usually 3..especially if you’re leaving the cam in place for a week or more.

      Drag Iggs..I share your pain!!

      Outdoorsguy

  8. We’ve had similar incidents with our trail cam. Very frustrating. You always wonder about the great shots you missed.

  9. I did have it on video, I like the videos, but only 30 seconds and the card is big enough to hold about 50 of them

    1. I like the vids too, prob is though, you cant review them on a digital camera..you kinda need to have a PC or laptop with you to upload the SD card content. I do vids at home..but at deer camp I always to do camera mode, so I can pull the cards and see the images on a digital camera back at camp.

      So Iggy, your SD card said ‘full’ yet you only had the one vid with you on it??

      Outdoorsguy

  10. I bring my laptop during the hunt, the rest of the time I just wait till I get home

    Hey Jeff, time to finish the shingles on the roof 😉 and write a story about the upcoming deer hunt, it’s only a few days away you know

    1. I hear ya Iggs…I’ll start with my Outdoors Column in Pembroke Daily Observer…which comes out tomorrow (thurs) and its all about the deer hunt, plus
      I have another Blog post to put out this week for those heading off for deer camp soon!

      OH..and dont forget BOUNDER MAGAZINE – Fall 2013 issue..also out this week and trust me, its a beauty!! Going to pick-up mine at Metro tomorrow or Friday.

      Outdoorsguy

  11. It’s out today?
    I’ll head down to the Metro right now
    for anyone who hasn’t yet read Bounder Magazine, make sure you pick one up, it’s a great magazine

    Heading into camp next Wed-Thurs to get a feel for the area, then heading up again on Sunday to stay. My son who is an apprentice electrician got the whole week off this year for the first time. The owner of the company he works for is also a hunter
    Can’t wait

    1. Hold the phone iggs, i stopped at Metro on way into work this am, and they are NOT out yet!

      Brian(Bounder himself) told me yesterday that Autotrader is in charge of distribution now and that they’d be on shelves by end of this week..ie tomorrow.

      Outdoorsguy

    2. Great news about hunt camp Iggy, you will have some good quality time with the young lad…Im going on 33 years with my Dad this year..havent missed a single season since 1980!!

      This cool weather will get those deer moving too I predict.

      Outdoorsguy

    3. Just found out recently that our gang will probably be one less man this year which is very unfortunate..sadly the old gang is getting smaller and smaller. We’re down to 4 fulltime hunters now..down from 8 in the olden days!

      Outdoorsguy

  13. Sorry Jeff, not trying to upstage you
    my wife sent me that and told me to make sure I don’t spend too much time in the outhouse during the deer hunt:)

    1. Dont worry Iggy, cept for the part where the guy gets shot, its pretty damn funny..hehe..if that was my wife, she’d tell me to spend more time in the outhouse this year!!

      Outdoorsguy

        1. Tune-into CHEZ 106 FM’s Doc & Woody Show this Thursday morning at 8:40 AM for my annual “Salute to Deer Season”…if nothing else, it’s good for a few laughs!

          Outdoorsguy

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