Buck in tow
I mentioned in one of my other posts about missing a chance to shoot at a big buck. What would you all have done? Here's the deal. It was early morning not to long after sunrise. I got tired of holding my bow in my lap so I found a branch behind me in the tree to hang it on (I've since bought a bow holder). As I'm sitting there with nothing in my hands a doe comes out of nowhere. She is standing only about 10 yards in front of me and I don't have any thing between us to cover my movements. Instead of attempting to get my bow, I figured I'd let her pass then get my bow down and not take anymore chances. Well as I'm waiting for her to walk behind a tree this monster buck comes out from the same area. Now he is infront of my stand and I still don't have a bow in my hands [:@]!!! This buck was a beaut!!! I don't know much about scoring, but I'd guess he was a 10 or 12 point, perfect basket rack, great mass, spread was close to 15-20 inches, and the rack just looked huge!!! I had a doe estraus sent waffer hanging on a fence right where the too of them came out. The doe is looking in my direction and seems to be on edge. I keep trying to reach for my bow, but every time I move an inch, she stops and stares hard in my direction. The buck that is following her, makes a quick u-turn and sticks his nose right against the scent waffer and then turns back around and starts after her again. She is still looking at me and I don't want to blow this thing. I wait and as soon as she is behind some cover, with him right on her tail, I stand up grab my bow and get my release on there. She's started walking a little faster and he's staying right on her. I blow my grunt tube and he stops. I'm praying that he'll come charging back around the brush and give me a second chance, but he doesn't. I can see his breath and see him looking in my direction, but I guess since he didn't see any other deer, he wasn't going to come back. I watched as he followed her out of sight. One of my brothers told me that I should have just stood up, grabbed my bow and taken a quick shot. He said that most of the time, when a buck is following a doe, he isn't paying attention to much else and I probably could have gotten away with it. I just really didn't want take a chance at spooking him off forever.
I know this is a long story, but what would you all have done?
I learned a very valubale lesson that day....don't ever sit unprepared!!!