buck – The Outdoors Guy

October 18, 2013

Return of Garfield – local buck lives on!

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!

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!

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

November 9, 2012

The Farmer's Deer – by Maple

Thanks to our pal ‘Maple’ for sending in this awesome story of his experience during the shotgun season. Man, some guys have all the luck!!

The Farmer’s Deer – by Maple

Last Monday was the start of shotgun season in our neck of the woods. As I was too comfy to get up before dawn, I only got to the farm about 9AM and started stripping bark off cedar logs for a wood-client of the farmer.

The temps had dropped to -8 C overnight, up to zero during the day, and sunny. I worked at that ’till 2:30 then drove back to the wood’s edge before walking to my stand. Wouldn’t ya know it, now that turkey season is over, they’re all over the place.

While we were trimming trees, the farmer had mentioned that he’d bought a new chest freezer and was expecting delivery next week. He quipped that it’d be filled with venison soon. Now, I didn’t know if he was joking or not, but I took it as a suggestion. He doesn’t hunt much at all and his wife doesn’t care for venison. She added that he’d be eating a lot of raw venison if that were the case ’cause she wasn’t going to cook it for him. Go figure. Guess she’s a beef and potatoes girl.

Monday as I was walking in I saw three deer in a group with no guaranteed shot (I’m a lousy free-hand shooter), so I let them scamper into the trees hoping they would return later.
No such luck as that was all I saw for the day.

Tuesday morning I was back working with the farmer, bucking up and splitting wood; sugar maple, yellow birch and black cherry. I hate splitting yellow birch. We managed about 4 cords. Come 2:30 we quit and suited up in hunter orange. His was pretty faded. I headed into the back stand again while he went to a slight ridge he said he had not hunted on since he was a teenager. I was still, cool, and I took it all in.

(Note the laneway from the right)

About 4:10, I closed my eyes for a few minutes. Don’t know how often I did that, but the last time I eased one eye open a slit, there was a deer!

No telling quite what, but he was slinking up the side of the lane to the right with spruce and such between he and I. Every once in a while I caught the glint of bone on his head. He was a good one! Whatever scent he was following was most certainly that of gas and bar oil from my boots while walking in.

He took forever!! I had the time to take my pounding pulse (110) and calm my breathing somewhat. What was he doing!!?? What was he smelling? Why didn’t he walk? I could have taken a 50 yard facing shot through twigs, but waited. I knew he had to turn even if he was going to leave…as long as I didn’t spook him. I didn’t want that!

Finally, he decided on something with his cervid mind, and plodded to the right to skirt some low spruce. I was ready. At the shot I saw his side ripple and he stumbled. He circled back into the bush and I saw him falter 40 yards away, carrying some serious headgear with him.

I called the farmer and he came over to put his tag on the deer. He said the deer weren’t this big when he was a teenager. Heck, my deer weren’t this big ever! Field dressed at 218.

I hope his freezer arrives on time.

November 3, 2011

Pursuit of ghost buck continues

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!!

(Ghost buck as he appeared in 2009)

(Ghost buck as he appeared in 2010)

(Ghost buck as he appeared last week (2011)

July 21, 2011

Deer fever setting in early

(Me and ‘Old Toothless’ 1996)

Man, deer fever has really set-in early this year!

Yesterday before work I spent 15 minutes staring at a young buck in my back field. This guy is a nice looking 2-year old with what appears to be an 8-point rack in the making.

The fact that I’ve seen this buck probably a hundred times over the past two years didn’t seem to matter. I was running late yet I watched his every move until he disappeared from view – a sure sign that deer fever is starting to set in!

(Old toothless was estimated to be 7.5 years old)

Recently my Dad and I have been discussing our ‘plan of attack’ for opening morning of deer season – where to set up the men and where to start first, it all needs to hashed out (and sometimes rehashed) until we get it just right.

(Great teamwork with great results)

Yup deer season is on the way; all the signs are there.

But it’s only July?

I guess you can never really put a date on this sort of thing. Some years ‘the fever’ arrives in September and other years its July. Deer fever is a curious ailment with symptoms being the only thing you can count on.

(Notice the tag is affixed and plainly visible)

My guess is I’m not the only one starting to think about it. What about you folks? Anyone else out there suffering from deer fever early this year?

Therapist’s believe the best way to deal with an ongoing condition is to talk it out, so here we go. Let me know how deer fever has affected you.

Together we should be able to get through this.

Outdoorsguy