umm....except for one thing.
So...i got some game cam pics of a nice deer on the edge of a bean field. Oddly enough, I have put the camera on the same tree for many years. Seems there is a group of bachelor bucks that no one ever seems to see or kill after the first couple weeks of the season. Each year there's a different keeper. I will post a pic of this guy when i get a chance...
anyway, I had just dropped off some yahoos in other stands and was hustling to get to my lock on. I decided not to even try to hunt the beans and hung my stand literally IN the creek...about 400 yards from the camera. gotta get a little wet to get into it, but you can dip and spit in the creek and that's just plain fun. Got up in the stand and got settled. It was about 6am. plenty dark in the woods but i could tell another dawn was coming. I looked over to my left and saw this ghostly apparition coming thru the swamp. About all i could make out was the white patches under the arms. The deer-shaped blob came to within 15 steps of the base of my tree and stood still. I got the feeling it had antlers so i eased the binocs up and focused in. All i could see was this 9 inch brow tine and immediately recognized the deer as the one i was after. I couldn't help but smile. Here i was a few minutes before the official start of the season and my hunch had paid off. I had a feeling he was coming down the bluff in this area and damn if he wasnt standing in bow range. Its not like i was waiting for "legal" but it was dark enough that i wasnt about to take this shot as the deer was quartering to me.
so, i got my release on and just waited for him to turn a little when i caught a glimpse of another deer a bit further up the hill. I was worried that the second deer was gonna get out in front of me and wind me, but i kept my eye on the deer I wanted. Next thing I know, I hear a little *stomp* and the big buck bounds 15 yards farther away and stands there. I think the other buck winded me (?) or just didnt like something but i am right certain they didnt see me in this spot...no way. well, I drew back thinking this might be my last chance at him. I was judging the distance and waiting for him to turn a little when he flicked his tail and started meandering off away from me....33 steps....then 35....40...and he disappears from the direction he came from, never to be seen again.
It was over in less than 2 minutes. I had him at 15 steps and figured there was no way in hell he was getting away from me. I KNEW i had him, but boy was I wrong. I will be back....
been bow hunting for quite some time now and the thing that pisses me off the most is that you dont get many chances at big bucks like that...and I wonder if I will get another look at him before november....
damn him.
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