The mood in camp was positive as we knew that it was only a matter of time before we would locate a decent buck, but little did we know that 2012 would be the year of the Buck for our group.

We were already happy with the deer we had harvested in Pennsylvania and West Virginia the previous weeks. In fact, we were amazed at the awesome year that Jeff had as he had taken trophy bucks in the woods of both states. All he would need to do was score on a big buck in Quebec to finish the trifecta.

Joe was still sore about the one that got away the first day and Jeff decided to hunt the coastline with his brother Greg. Joe and I were with the guide Claude again and I vetoed any water crossings!

We would travel the trails and roads and do a spot and stalk hunt. Claude had a good eye for spotting deer and sure enough saw a nice buck. He spoke to Joe and I and asked in a heavy French accent “who wants to stalk zee buck?”

I laughed at the pink panther as he just seemed to pop up all the time. I told Joe, “Go for it!” Joe and Claude disappeared and the next thing I heard was Claude saying “Maybe zee buck is too small for Josef.”

Next I heard a shot and then silence. Claude pointed out in the trees and Joe smiled and gave a thumb up sign. Claude responded, “No thumbs up Josef you missed him … look for the legs!”

Joe had mistakenly taken the pointing as a sign that he found the deer on the ground, not on all fours. Joe cranked down his scope to four power and fired the single shot Ruger again. This time they took down the buck. As they field dressed the buck and began to bring him to the trail, Claude grabbed the buck by the antler and pulled it off the deer. Claude looked shocked as he said, “Zees is no good eh Josef?”

Jeff and Greg headed out the coastline hoping to find a likely spot for a buck. Greg had found a crossing area near some waterways that he thought promising. Jeff wanted to hunt near the wreck, but a fog was shrouding the area. As they worked up the stream banks, the fog started to lift and Jeff beat it back to the shoreline on double time.

He knew the area he wanted to hunt and the fog was just starting to lift. A few deer were feeding and he carefully looked over the flats. There, over a hundred yards away, was the buck that he hoped to see.

Jeff took his shot not waiting for this buck to disappear in the fog and pines. The buck was a beauty and when Jeff and Claude brought it into camp, the first thing they did was measure it next to Greg’s deer. Greg’s nice rack fit inside Jeff’s and Claude laughed at the brothers’ competition with each other.

Meanwhile, I’m seeing 100 deer, but no great bucks, Claude decides to take me in the river country and I am not thrilled about it. Joe was hunting an old airport landing field area and I was crossing rivers six times.

As it turned out, Claude put me onto some deer and I finally settled for a wide 7 point that was actually a decent deer. The boys in the meantime had some more luck and we all had deer in camp.

Joe made a great shot on a 10 point that was nearly as nice as Jeff’s buck and easily the nicest buck he’s ever taken. The final tally for the hunting party was eight bucks and three that were heading for the taxidermy shop.

Claude loaded up our deer and racks and quartered meat onto a small twin prop plane. We gave him our au revoir and knew that we had an awesome experience on the experimental Anticosti Island of Henri Menier.

This is the third and final installment of Eagle outdoor columnist Jay Hewitt’s hunting trip on Anticosti Island.