This evening, he messed up. I finally caught up with my ghost deer. He had been invading my dreams and robbing me of sleep for a good month and tonight I can finally rest without wondering if someone else had shot him or he'd been hit by a car. I've had him on camera for weeks now but only 1 time in the daylight. I caught about a 5 second glimpse of him a week ago as he was chasing a doe and that did nothing but make me crazier. Tonight, a pretty little doe led to his demise.
\ I was hunting a wheat field and hadn't seen much until 5:40 or so. A lonesome doe came walking out into the field and this guy appeared out of nowhere behind her. I knew it was my deer and it was getting dark so I didn't waste any time in taking my shot. I shot and he ran ... and ran... and ran... and made it all the way across the wheat field and stopped to look at me before hopping a fence. I began to question every choice I had made in my life that led to this point. Long story short, he had a giant hole in both lungs and I don't know how he ran as far as he did. He died about 50 yards off the edge of the field and I found him easily after a tense 30 minute wait.
The good part was he scored 148 2/8 which is a great buck. The bad part was that he had broken off 2 tines in the last week that would have added at least another 10 inches, which would have made him an even greater buck. I'm proud of him, I'm proud of myself for getting him and I'm also pretty sad that the chase is over.
So long Mr. Ghost Buck.
