Big Buck Deer Hunting – Wylie The Educated Ghost Buck
Hello again my hunting friends! As I have mentioned in the first ghost buck story, there were three bucks that gave us the slip over my many years of hunting.
This next buck became to be known as the Wylie Buck, the educated one, was just that.
I swear he went to the library, read every book on how to out smart hunters and then renewed his membership to torment us the next year.
What was most troubling about this fourteen pointer was that he had a knack of catching me with my pants down or crossing the fences…no kidding!
I hunted him hard for five straight years and knew his bailiwick inside and out.
In behind my house in Cavan, there was a great big swamp, called the sinking marsh and it was a haunting place.
One place, that you told your group, you were going into because if you hit the bog, down you went never to be found again. Home of… you guessed it…the Wylie buck.
This is how he got to be so big, he knew just how to use this swamp to escape. We were not the only group that were after him. Tree stands were all over the area, covering every nook and cranny. But old Wylie gave everybody the finger. Yes, that he would always be number one, no matter what.
On the first encounter, I decided to go for a walk after work, it was just getting to be the perfect light. I decided to go directly to a run around the swamp and wanted no part of the swamp. I waited very quietly for a bit and then as nature called, put my Breda shotgun down and was having a nice whizz…when I looked up there he was Wylie, The Educated Ghost Buck!
“Are you kidding me? I thought to myself, Breda not at hand. And off he went…with no shot at all.
Now the second encounter with this ghost beast was with my group of buds, the three of us, Rosie, Ivan, and Jim.
I put them on the runs and I figured he would visit one of us. It was a nice frosty morning with little pressure. We hunted the morning and were able to harvest a doe, to fill one of our tags. I wanted Wylie, he really (pissed) me off after that last meeting.
We had lunch, a nap, and then headed back, deep into our swamp runways. Things were nice and quiet. The perfect setting. Then as nature would have it, no kidding, about two hours in, I would have to visit the forest outhouse, it could not be helped (I remember those long buttoned, red long johns to this day!).Which I burned, I might add after this next run in.
I had set my gun off to the side and was doing my business, when you guessed it…at about twenty yards, Wylie was looking right at me. Off he trotted, as I fumbled to get my long-johns up. What a situation to be in!
When I told the boys, they laughed their heads off.
I was at wit’s end, once again. I decided, as I did many times, to go back into the meadow area of Wylie…the season was almost done.
This particular time I had a beautiful day. Now what happened next took the cake.
As I practice safety, I never cross a fence with gun in hand, not worth it, period. So as I did so many times before, I slid my gun under the fence, off to the side pointing away from me and then got up on the rail wire fence.
I was half way over and you guessed it…there was Wylie looking right at me.
Bye Bye for the last time…off he went, now this time, he had made a mistake.
As I had told you earlier, we had tree stands all over the place. I was supposed to be all alone, but what I did not know was that a young lad, a first time hunter, just so happened to find my honey hole tree stand.
He heard some crashes. When he looked up he saw a big doe looking back. Then you guessed it…fifteen minutes later Wylie steps out at twenty yards and into the local paper he went as a trophy hunt.
I went right over to the lad. Of course, I was not happy.
This Wylie buck had been taken by someone else, in my stand no less. I just happened to know the lad’s father. He was very happy. The young lad was a first year hunter and had only been in the stand for about an hour.
I will never forget what the young lad said next.
“I think he was very smart…he came to me as I was studying for my exam…I gave him an “A” for who he chose to take him!”
How could I not laugh. I then said back to him, “He certainly had his fair share of laughs at me!” as I told the young lad of our many ghostly encounters.
Another big buck hunting tail from the Squirrell’s Nest at Big Bear Outfitters – Nova Scotia from Brian “Bear” Squirrell your hunting and fishing guide for Nova Scotia, Canada. www.bigbearoutfitters.co
Big Bear Outfitters – Nova Scotia, www.bigbearoutfitters.co