The Ghost Buck Of Christmas Eve

After checking his Cuddeback earlier in the week before Christmas, Martin found two pictures of the Ghost Buck.  Both pictures taken right at dusk within 250 yards of his stand.  With only a couple of weeks left in the Virginia deer season, the gang had decided to let the deer walk until next year.  But....all of us knew it would be a hard decision if this buck walked out and presented an easy shot.

On Christmas Eve, while everyone was with family and friends, Martin sat alone in his climber, hung in a crooked cherry tree in the corner of a field.  With shooting light coming to an end, a bright flash caught his eye.  The Cuddeback shot several pictures of deer walking his way.  The next thing Martin knows, the Ghost is standing broadside at 100 yards in the wide open field.  Martin squeezes off a shot, the deer tucks his tail and heads into the timber.  As soon as he hit the wood line, he stumbled 30 yards and expired.

All of us have history with this deer....pictures, the video, of Martin missing and several quick sightings.  Even though he might not be quite as big as we thought he was, he's still a trophy in our books.  Congrats, Martin!

Carrington found this picture and one other on December 7th