November 2011 – The Outdoors Guy

November 28, 2011

Wasteful act gives hunters bad name

Every once and awhile, a needless and wasteful act involving fish & wildlife comes up and it gives all honest hunters and conservationists a bad name.

This is one such case….

Below are images taken of a deer carcass discovered this past weekend in our very own Marlborough Forest. The disturbing photos clearly show the carcass of a whitetail buck stripped of its antlers, back strap and very little else in my opinion.

The remainder of the animal was then draped over a fence post and left to rot. Both front shoulders remain in tact, and you will clearly see where the backstraps were removed.

One theory put forward is that the carcass was laid out as bait for bears, in the few days of the Ontario bear season that remain.

There is also no indication whether this deer was harvested legally, or even tagged, but the waste of meat in this case is blatant!

Since the MNR – Kemptville office is currently investigating this incident, no names are being released at this time and the term ‘poaching’ will not be used.

I find it very difficult to believe someone would stoop to this; given the fact that whitetail populations in most regions are in rebuild mode….it’s a bloody shame!

Please be warned these images may seem graphic to some:

Outdoorsguy

November 23, 2011

Local hunter bags goliath sized buck

Last year we heard from Barry Scollan with a magnificent buck he harvested, and this year it’s all about his brother, Art!

Art Scollan took what will surely be one of the heaviest grain fed whitetails this region will produce this fall. Art’s 248 pound trophy is what one might describe as one big fat buck!

Rick Poulin is currently scoring the antlers.
Here’s Art’s story as written by the man himself:

Friday Nov. 11th, 2011 proved to be the best morning of the hunt with a good frost. Shortly after 9am a nice doe with her tongue out came running down a corn stubble field and into a swamp. Just then, about 100 yards behind her was a large buck with his horns shining in the sun. He was right on her tail!

The buck would stop with his head down on the ground, and then he would start running on her trail. The closer the buck got to the end of the field, the faster he started to move. I put the scope of my 270 on him and fired. The buck stumbled and disappeared in the tall grass near the swamp.

My step son Rick was at a stand near by and we radioed each other. After waiting for a spell we started looking for him. The buck as buried down head first in a ditch in the tall grass. Radio contacts were made with fellow hunters, my brother Barry and Jamie, who all helped get the buck out.

The buck was a 12 pointer and field dressed 248 whopping pounds! It is the heaviest deer anyone in our gang has ever seen. The buck was full of fat. We took a five gallon pail of fat off of him. It was a great hunt!

Art Scollan

This photo below (Taken by Rick P) shows the serious injury discovered when Art’s buck was skinned-out) Caution…a bit graphic!

November 14, 2011

Wolf pursuing deer caught on film

The following sequence of trail camera photos depicts a scenario which is, no doubt, a daily occurrence in our deer woods, however, it’s the first time I ever captured it on film.

With the recent increase in predators across eastern Ontario and western QC, our white-tailed deer surely need eyes in the back of their head just to stay one step ahead.

When I arrived at our deer camp in the Laurentians a couple of weeks back, I had my work cut out for me reviewing images on the three trail cams I had in place since Labour Day. I was like a child on Christmas morning scrolling through all the images, it was great!

One camera in particular – my ‘invisible’ Bushnell Black LED Trophy Cam – featured a virtual cornucopia of activity from the past two months, at a popular creek crossing. The images including that of a cow moose, bucks, does and fawns, one 300 pound + black bear, and this bold looking bugger below.

Hey, who says timber wolves don’t exist this far south. My camp is only 2 hours north and although I did see a common eastern coyote (brush wolf) during the deer season, I also captured some tell-tail images of this large timber wolf.

I took some measurements in the area where he passed through; and I estimated this wolf to be minimum 90 pounds and probably closer to 100 pounds. It was basically the size of a full grown German Sheppard.

Pay close attention to the ‘time stamp’ in each photograph.

(A doe puts up ‘the flag’ and hightails it down the trail)

(Her tail can still be seen bounding through the trees)

(Doe bounds out of sight on the right side of the photo – time 5:52 & 34 seconds)

(A large white/black timber wolf suddenly appears on the deer’s trail – less than 1.5 minutes later)

(Wolf tears down the same trail in hot pursuit; now 2 minutes behind)

(Wolf just before it disappeared from sight)

(Both deer and wolf disappear out of sight)

Footnote:

The same doe did reappear on camera 2 days later without so much as a hair out of place.

I suppose in this particular battle the deer came out on top, but what about next time?

Outdoorsguy

November 3, 2011

Pursuit of ghost buck continues

Well, the search for my ghost buck continues……

As this saga enters its forth year I find myself no further ahead in locating a deer we have appropriately called ‘Ghost buck’.

Most of you know I am an avid trail camera aficionado. I find them to be perhaps the most useful scouting tool ever invented. On the other side of the coin, they can also frustrate the hell out of you!

Every hunter should know it is somewhat unrealistic to think you’ll harvest every big buck that appears on your camera, and that locating a particular wily beast will be an easy task.

Although I have seen several bucks over the years during the hunting season and matched them up to photos on my camera, such has never been the case with my old pal the ghost buck.

The first year I captured an image of old ghosty was back in 2009 – 3 days prior to the Quebec rifle season. Although my camera had been in place since Sep that year, ghosty appeared on only one particular evening around 11:00 PM and was never seen again that season.

Until the fall of 2010, of course, when he returned for a visit. You guessed it, he was there again exactly 3 days before the opening of rifle season! This year he was bigger again; sporting a handsome looking 10-point rack with a distinctive forked tine. Well, we never saw ghosty that year and did not capture any more images of him.

The 2011 deer rifle season arrived this past weekend with great anticipation. I couldn’t wait to get into camp and check the camera for my old ghost friend.

After scrolling through several hundred photos of does, fawns and a smaller buck, WHAM! There he was in all his glory and man he was looking better than ever!

This year he mixed up his visit a little and arrived 4 days prior to the season instead of 3.

And as with previous years, we hunted his suspected hang-out spots for 5 days to no avail. The ghost buck was nowhere to be seen and I was starting to develop mixed feelings about the elusive bad boy.

I was certainly pleased that he had made it through at least 4 hunting seasons, but miffed that I still never got a chance to see him in the flesh.

I am beginning to think this old boy may eventually die of old age and I suppose, in a way, he will have earned that right.

Here are photos of my ghost buck starting from 2009 season running through to 2011…Enjoy!!

(Ghost buck as he appeared in 2009)

(Ghost buck as he appeared in 2010)

(Ghost buck as he appeared last week (2011)