The Ghost Buck lived in the mountains and hollows of Wayne National Forest in Lawrence County, Ohio. It was in this rugged backdrop of reclaimed forestland that the buck managed to survive in an area open to public hunting.

Randy's crossbow giant, dubbed the Ghost Buck, featured a wildly unusual rack with a 27 2/8-inch outside spread and a 14 4/8-inch club-like drop tine. The awesome rack netted 227 3/8 non-typical B&C points.

"The first time I saw him was in 2006 standing along the road," recalled Randy Delawder. "He caught my eye pretty quickly."

That sighting led Randy on a three-year chase.

"I saw him twice that summer," said Randy, "but he looked different then."

Randy hunted that fall, but a troublesome knee limited his time afield. When he did get to go hunting, he found no evidence of the buck he had seen during the summer. "I found a few small rubs but never any sign from him."

That fall, local hunters started whispering about sighting a big non-typical. One young hunter even claimed he saw a buck with a long drop tine that looked like a club. The following February, Randy had a knee replacement, but he recuperated quickly and was back at work within five weeks.

A GRAY GHOST FOR SURE
Randy next caught sight of the buck during the summer of 2007. By then, the buck seemed to be following a regular feeding pattern. "I saw him at least a dozen times," Randy said.

The big non-typical now had company. A spike and a 10-pointer had joined him, and the threesome became inseparable.

"The spike was always the first deer out," Randy said. "A few minutes later, the 10-pointer followed, and about 10 minutes after that the big boy appeared. It always went in that order."

By the fall of 2007, the buck had grown an impressive rack. "I think he had more tine length and his rack looked taller," Randy said. "However, the drop tine wasn't as long.

"The bucks spent their summer evenings browsing in the open woods staying in the same area all the time. I would watch and make mental notes. When you see something like that, you start getting serious about planning a hunt.

"I started hunting around mid-October that year. But just like the previous fall, I never saw any sign of the deer. Where he went I don't know. That's why I nicknamed him the 'Ghost Buck.'"

OFF-SEASON SIGHTINGS
Randy hunted hard during the '07 bow season but never once laid eyes on the deer. Nor could he find any sign from it.

"I stopped hunting at the beginning of gun season because I wasn't going to take a chance on running him to somebody.

"Rumors of the buck began to draw attention to the area. There were a couple of trucks parked regularly on Dry Ridge during bow season."

Randy thinks the next time he spotted the buck was in April of '08. "Of course, he was without antlers, but he was with a smaller deer, possibly the spike, in the same place I had seen the trio the summer before," said Randy.

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