As stated in the title, November 4th become one of my most favorite days on the calendar! H Sunday evening about 5pm, I was blessed to put an arrow into my biggest traditional archery buck and biggest typical to date on a buck I called "Ghost" that has given me fits for FOUR YEARS! Here's the run down on a day that will go down in my memory for the rest of my life...
I usually don't name deer, but all the pictures I ever got of him were all at night, so rightfully so, he got named what he was to me, a Ghost! When I first got this lease, this buck was my #1. He had a big typical frame, but was missing a browtine and G4 on one side making him a 5x3. The season passed and I never saw him. Second season on the place, he returned and was a big clean 10 point. Same as the season before, all night pictures, but instead of toying with me by sticking around all season like he did the first, he disappeared the first week after archery season started never to be seen again. Last year, not a single picture of him and I had him wrote off as being poached due to the area he lived in.
Ghost 2016
Fast forward to Nov. 1, 2018 and I sat finding myself looking at a crappy trailcam picture of a big 10pt that I had not seen before, but didn't give much thought to it thinking it was just a buck passing through. The next day, I had good pictures of the 10 pt again, and this time it clicked in my brain, I was looking at Ghost!! Part of me wanted to think it was just another buck that looked similar, but when I was able to get home and compare pictures, all doubt was erased as it was him! I was beyond shocked at what I was seeing. What was even crazier, one of the pictures I had of him was just a couple minutes before shooting light. The next morning (Saturday) after my morning sit, I snuck in and pulled the card again and low and behold he was back through the area again just before shooting light!
Sunday rolled around and the wind wasn't great for that particular setup as bad as I wanted to be in it, so I went to another area to chase after a buck that had been giving me fits the last couple weeks. With it being the last day of muzzleloader season here in OK, I carried my smokepole and was lucky enough to take a great 8 pt that I honestly didn't know if I'd shoot if I saw him based off a few pictures I'd gotten of him as I was after another giant 8pt in the same area. Once I laid eyes on him though, the thoughts of passing him went right out the window and I dropped the hammer on the muzzleloader and was more than happy I did as the buck was bigger than I expected! What made it more special was I was able to have the whole family there for the recovery!
Traeger and his pup Beau
After we got my buck loaded, I snuck back into my camera and checked my card again. Once again, Ghost had appeared again during the night, but also at 8:10am in broad daylight!!! I called my wife and told her I was going back that night sit in that spot and see if I could pull a dozen rabbits out of the hat and maybe get a shot at him with my longbow. As always, I could tell in her voice she was shaking her head at me as always and said "go for it!".
I usually don't name deer, but all the pictures I ever got of him were all at night, so rightfully so, he got named what he was to me, a Ghost! When I first got this lease, this buck was my #1. He had a big typical frame, but was missing a browtine and G4 on one side making him a 5x3. The season passed and I never saw him. Second season on the place, he returned and was a big clean 10 point. Same as the season before, all night pictures, but instead of toying with me by sticking around all season like he did the first, he disappeared the first week after archery season started never to be seen again. Last year, not a single picture of him and I had him wrote off as being poached due to the area he lived in.
Ghost 2016
Fast forward to Nov. 1, 2018 and I sat finding myself looking at a crappy trailcam picture of a big 10pt that I had not seen before, but didn't give much thought to it thinking it was just a buck passing through. The next day, I had good pictures of the 10 pt again, and this time it clicked in my brain, I was looking at Ghost!! Part of me wanted to think it was just another buck that looked similar, but when I was able to get home and compare pictures, all doubt was erased as it was him! I was beyond shocked at what I was seeing. What was even crazier, one of the pictures I had of him was just a couple minutes before shooting light. The next morning (Saturday) after my morning sit, I snuck in and pulled the card again and low and behold he was back through the area again just before shooting light!
Sunday rolled around and the wind wasn't great for that particular setup as bad as I wanted to be in it, so I went to another area to chase after a buck that had been giving me fits the last couple weeks. With it being the last day of muzzleloader season here in OK, I carried my smokepole and was lucky enough to take a great 8 pt that I honestly didn't know if I'd shoot if I saw him based off a few pictures I'd gotten of him as I was after another giant 8pt in the same area. Once I laid eyes on him though, the thoughts of passing him went right out the window and I dropped the hammer on the muzzleloader and was more than happy I did as the buck was bigger than I expected! What made it more special was I was able to have the whole family there for the recovery!
Traeger and his pup Beau
After we got my buck loaded, I snuck back into my camera and checked my card again. Once again, Ghost had appeared again during the night, but also at 8:10am in broad daylight!!! I called my wife and told her I was going back that night sit in that spot and see if I could pull a dozen rabbits out of the hat and maybe get a shot at him with my longbow. As always, I could tell in her voice she was shaking her head at me as always and said "go for it!".
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