Dan Christmas: Tracking the Trapline Buck

After several days of rain, wind and snow the sun came out. It was a beautiful day, mid November with 6 inches of soft quiet snow. It was one of those days you remember after a lifetime in the woods. You always  remember the harshest days as well as the most beautiful days if you live in the woods. 

I was checking traps in a remote section of the Tug Hill Plateau called “the Martin Tract.”

I’d just caught a large prime fisher and was walking to my last set when I noticed a very fresh buck track crossing my trail. Why don’t I follow it a little ways just to see how fresh it is? I quickly set down my axe and pack and grabbed my carbine and 4 bullets. 

On the track I hadn’t gone far when I saw the silhouette of a buck--a big woods buck. He was walking through a spruce and birch thicket. I had one quick opening so I fired but the bullet was stopped short by brush. A second snap shot severed a yellow birch sapling. 

The buck disappeared on a fast walk through spruce and fir. I stayed on the track as he moved along a steep finger of heavy cover between two beaver swamps. 

As quickly and quietly as possible I closed the gap as he went into a “sneak” pace. I got one more glimpse at him while he walked a knife edge and fired again. This time he snorted and ran. Sure he was headed toward a beaver dam crossing, I left the track and fast as I could circled ahead. He never crossed, he had to have doubled back on his track to stay in thick cover, I thought. 

I began to circle back just below the knife edge ridge… slow and steady…studying every line. Nearly back on my tracks, there he was laying down just below the ridge watching his backtrack. With one bullet left I shot him in his bed. 

A large old grey-nosed, 8-point buck. What a hunt! Excitement quickly turned to the task ahead of dragging him through swamps and over ridges to my trapping rig. THEN WHAT?

My trapping rig is an old (Safari-like) Land Rover named IMAGENE, packed to the seams with gear and no room for so much as a hat!

After a tough drag that reminded me of my age I made it to a skid trail and IMAGENE. 

Now came a test of strength and imagination as to how this 180-pound buck can be secured for an hour's ride over back roads. 

Using ropes in one hand while lifting with the other, inch by inch I got him off the ground and up the side of the rig. Finally I could go no higher. He hung on the side of old IMA, secured by ropes…and odd looking site for sure. 

The ride home was memorable, many curious looks and laughs from my family as I arrived…. And so is the story of tracking a trapline buck.

- DMC

Dan Christmas has been hunting big bucks in the Tug Hill and Adirondacks his entire life and his company, Christmas & Associates, helps hunters and outdoorspeople find the land and camps of their dreams. They also building hunting camps! Find them online at landandcamps.com or at Facebook.com/Landandcamps