Saturday, I went out to my honey hole in the sporadic rain, and slight wind from the northeast.A perfect wind for my set-up. Since it is saturday and I have more time, I forgo the fixed ladder stand and carry my climber into the thick stuff. I know this is the perferred travel route, from bedding to food, but it is so noisy getting in there that it takes extra time. It's 4:30 by the time I get settled in at 15ft. Nothing much is happenning except the wind and rain is picking up. The wind is now swirling and blowing hard! Well, here is a word of advice. A walnut tree in the wind is not a good place to be! Thosenuts were raing down all around me. If one woulda konked me in the head I'd probably still be hanging from my safety vest. lol
I have shooting lanes on most sides out to 23 yards. Except to my right, there is a pretty good ground canopy preventing me from seeing very far.
The light is fading early due to the heavy skies. About 6:20 I catch movement to my right, coming from beneath the tree canopy at 10 yards are antlers. He steps out, a nice 8 point, decent tine length except his brow tines are short and beat up. Honestly his rack is probably 90-100 inches, but his body is huge! He looks up at me. I close my eyes and peer through my eyelashes. I am in full camo, scentlok suit including rubber boots and facemask. He looks up yet again I'm frozen nothing moving but my heart! Now he goes back to a feed and proceeds directly under my stand. As he walks away I'm presented with the perfect shot 15 yards quartering away. I admire the buck and never pull the bow up. This is too good of a spot and I know better bucks are out here. Plus 1 week into the season I'm not ready to be done.

Regrets? I have none now..talk to me come December..lol