Here is a cut and paste....the buck was shot up in Douglas county far north west, near Solon Springs. "Official" green score is 218 0/8 and it dressed at 215#.

Larry Kline just called him "the ghost buck."

Kline, of Solon Springs, had seen the big whitetail in nighttime images snapped on his remote game camera. He had seen the buck in fields at night.

But Kline had never seen the buck while he was bow hunting -- until opening day of Wisconsin's bow deer season Sept. 18.

Kline shot the 23-point, nontypical whitetail at about 7 a.m. The buck may rank among the top 10 Wisconsin bow-killed whitetails of all time.

It has been "green-scored" at 218 0/8 inches by Mark Radzak, an official measurer with the Wisconsin Buck and Bear Club, using the Pope & Young measuring system. Hunters must let a rack dry for 60 days before it can be scored officially.

"It's a beauty," said Radzak, who lives in Minong.

According to the Pope & Young Club, which keeps records of bow-killed animals, Wisconsin's top archery buck scored 231. Second place is 225, and third is 214.

The term "nontypical" means a set of antlers is not perfectly symmetrical, having abnormal points or unusually shaped antler tines.

Pat Reeve, a producer for North American Whitetail Television, thinks the buck will make the top five of Wisconsin's all-time bow kills.

"It's the buck of a lifetime no matter what it ends up scoring," said Reeve, of Plainview, Minn. "It's one of the most impressive whitetail racks I've ever seen."

And the rack is in perfect condition.

"Because it was shot the first week of the season, the buck probably didn't have a chance to spar or fight with a lot of other deer," Reeve said. "None of its points are busted or broken off."

Kline's buck has great mass, long tines, some extra points and some flared tines.

In his photo album, Kline has photos of the ghost buck at ages 1, 2 and -- this summer's picture -- 4.

"This thing has been my obsession for three years," Kline, 41, said in a telephone interview this past week.

On opening day, Kline was hunting on his own land in Douglas County. The property is sprinkled with plots of food he has planted to attract deer. He first saw the buck 75 yards away.

"When he lifted his head up, I started shaking," he said. "I had to put my binoculars down."

Kline, who says he has shot many deer over the years, lost sight of the buck for a time. It reappeared and offered him a shot at 20 yards. Kline waited an hour to track the deer, which had lunged into the woods, he said.

With his father, brother-in law and a nephew, he eventually found the buck 50 to 75 yards from where he had shot it.

"We were pretty excited," said Kline, who works in sales for Duluth Lawn and Sport. "I don't even know if it's sunk in yet."

He plans to have a full-body mount of the buck done by a taxidermist, but he isn't sure where it's going to go.

"It probably won't be going in the house," he said.

The buck weighed 215 pounds, field-dressed. It will be featured in the February issue of North American Whitetail magazine, Reeve said.