I took this deer this morning at about 10AM. This is early for me but I'll take him!

I climbed my tree this morning at got settled in by 5:30. After the long wait in the dark daylight finally broke and the woods started coming alive with deer. First deer of the morning was a group of six, 2 mothers with little ones. Then a second group came through behind me an hour or so later. I actually tried to take a doe this morning, but I couldn't get a clean shot at one of the larger ones of the group. The moved through and I settled back into my seat for about an hour or so. Saw 4 more deer, including a small fork horn harassing the does at 9 o'clock or so. The woods went quiet for a while when I caught movement, directly in front of my about 150 yards down through woods. I just thought it was leaves blowing off the trees as the wind started kicking up. I decided to glass the area anyway, playing with my new binoculars. Then, all of a sudden, he appeared, right in my binoculars! I glassed him for a moment and knew right away he was a shooter. I slowly stood up and got myself positioned for the shot. He made his way right toward my prefered shooting lane. He stopped twice momentarily, scanning the terrain in front of him, then kept on coming. At 25 yards or so, he came in behind a hemlock tree and brush, allowing me to draw. He stepped into the lane and I mouth bleated to stop in. He froze, quartering slightly toward me and I release. I hit him a little forward, but the arrow burried clear to the fletching. I went and got my father, who was hunting with me today. We gave him an hour and a half before taking the trail. Blood was scarce for the first 20 yards because of the arrow sticking in him. Then it opened up and he bled hard. He piled up 60 yards from where I shot him. Turned out to bea nice 9pt, 16-17" spread with long tines.

And here is the cool part. I used the new Rocky Mountain Snyper XP3 on him. I hit part of the shouldar on entry and it blew through it and stuck out the opposite side. Great penatration given the hit. I'm tickled. I hit a real nice one last year that I never recovered and it feels good to redeem myself this year with this guy.