The Ghost I Could Never See In Person Story

[brandonjp]

                                                  A Very Special Family Hunt

“Oh my god, It`s the G2 buck,” That is the first thing that came out of my mouth when I got close enough to see what I had shot.

  The beginning of this story starts back in August of 2008. To the east of our elevated patio, is a green alfalfa field. On an evening that August, my dad was out on the patio, when some deer started to come into the field to feed. He noticed that one deer was a pretty nice looking buck with a pretty big rack. The buck had long G-2`s with some horizontal kickers coming off of them.  The buck only stayed visible for a few minutes and disappeared. Thus he was named the G2 buck.

  In October 2008, we started to get pictures on the trail cams of the G2 buck on a common scrape. On November 1st my dad saw the buck in another alfalfa field along with several other bucks during bow season. No one else viewed the G2 buck the rest of that season.

  In 2009, we got 2 trail cam pictures of him in late October. My dad saw the buck again on November 7th for several minutes during the bow season getting no closer than 60 yards to him. The deer walked off and no one saw him again the rest that season either.

  That brings us to this season; on September 30th I went out and pulled film cards on the cameras. I uploaded all the cards on my laptop. I started looking threw the pictures, a bunch of does, a few small bucks and then there he was, bigger than ever, the G2 buck. We got a few more pictures of him over the weeks. Bow Season came and on the morning of November 4th my dad saw the buck again at 180 yards passing through a wheat field.

  Now comes the evening of November 30th 2010 my cousin had come down to hunt with us. It was his 3rd time hunting in his life. It was my dad, brother, cousin and myself hunting that night. My brother and I were having a little discussion on where everyone was going to sit. The afternoons weather was overcast, rainy and windy with temperatures in the low 50`s and dropping. We started on our walk out to our hunting spots. My dad broke away from us to hunt in a different part of the woods. My cousin, brother, and I were heading northeast on a lane that runs along the edge of a woods. As we were walking along, my brother was looking into the woods. He suddenly froze in place. “Doesn`t that look like a rack on the other side of those grapevines” He asked. At first I couldn`t see anything. Then, I notice big tines sticking up. The deer was bedding down, and all you could see was his antlers. My brother whispered “You take him”. I said back to him, “No you saw him first.” He said back, “No you have the shotgun.” (Looking back now, he missed a nice 9 pointer, with his muzzleloader the evening before, that’s why he elected me to take the shot) I had my shotgun drawn looking at him in the scope. I noticed the buck was looking east and the wind was out of the south, I knew he wasn’t going to scent us. The buck suddenly turned his head to the north and started standing up. Looking at him in the scope, he turned his head and looked right at us. I knew he was going to run at any second, so I aimed and followed where I thought was down his neck and around his shoulder area. I pulled the trigger and BANG, down he went like a ton of bricks. There I was standing there, shocked and excited. I had just dropped the big buck in his tracks. I looked to the south and seen my dad coming out of the woods. He heard the shot and wondered what was going on. I ran down to him and told him “I just dropped a really big buck”. We hurried back to the spot with my brother and cousin still watching him. The buck still laid there motionless.

  I drew my gun up and started walking in at him with my dad, Brother and cousin right behind me. The closer I got to him and could start to see him clearer and clearer I started thinking “I think it’s the G2 buck “When we got close and I got clear of the grapevines, I could see the buck clearly I yelled with excitement “OH MY GOD IT`S THE G2 BUCK, IT`S THE G2 BUCK” Everyone was stunned, we all could not believe that the G2 buck laid there right in front of us. I walked up to him making sure he was expired. I could not find where the shot was that put him down. Without waiting another second I drew up, aimed behind his shoulder and fired one in him again. He never moved I grabbed a hold of his antlers, lifted his head and there I found my shot that put him down. I started counting 1,2,3;7,8,9;14,15,16,17 points. 15 points turned out to be scoreable. I asked my brother, “Why didn’t you shoot him?” His reply was “That’s what big brothers are for” After staring at the buck for several minutes my brother and cousin split from us to go finish their evening hunt. My dad went to get the 4 wheeler so we could get the buck out of the woods and up to the house. Once we got back to the house with the buck, I started sending pictures from my phone and making calls to all my friends and family members that also hunt. Several family members came down right away to see the deer in person. My dad called our taxidermist who came down right away also. He told us this is one of the largest deer taken in this area. We then locked the buck in our barn cause I didn`t want anyone to steal it. Later in the week we took the buck to a N.Y. Big Buck Club scorer and got a green score on him. A few days after we dropped my deer off to the taxidermist, he called and told us that he aged the deer at 9 ½ years old. I couldn’t believe it. 

  OK I know you all are wondering what he scored. He grossed 200 and netted 190 5/8 non-typical, he grossed 180 and netted 170 7/8`s as a typical. I have to wait for the 60 days dry down period before it becomes official. I am extremely grateful for my brother seeing this deer because of his eagle like eyesight. I would have walked right by and spooked the deer. I am glad that I was able to share this experience with my family. I will never forget it.

[jasons75]

Great story and monster!  Congrats!!

[brandonjp]

Great story and monster!  Congrats!!

Thank You

[Geno C]

nice story, what a true monster!!