Well Ill start by saying Ive been seeing lots of deer so far this season, but hadnt seen a single buck, but had high hope for bucks cause of game cam pics Ive been getting of some really nice bucks,(see avatar)
. I hadent taken any shots at does yet mostly because of fawns etc. Well this evening I decided to sit a stand on a white oak ridge, the stand has been hung for two years and Ive never hunted it since it was put up. I thought Id sit there this evening,, I sat all the way till right at time to climb down, I had an armadillo under my tree for over a half hour making a terrible racket in the leaves, but I heard a leaf crunch behing me off to one side, I turned and started looking through the brush with the binos, and spotted a great looking buck standing there at 35 yards looking towards the noise the dillo was making, then he started to thrash a tree, and look again at the noise he was hearing then he made a scrape all right there at 35 yards, then he started heading my way up the hill soward an opening right in front of my stand, just as he was stepping out I drew my bow and he stopped at 20 yards broadside with his head down eating acorns, I waited fir him to step out, at full draw for what seemed like forever, finally one more step, good enough, I centered the pin right behind his shoulder, it was really dark, but shooting with both eyes open I could see him well still through the peep. I made a clean release and was actually a little startled at the brightness of the lumenock as the arrow went right for the shoulder, I thought I heard a small branch "tick"rght before I heard the arrow thump and he started tearing up the brush as he bulldozed his was downhill with his tail clamped, he went for about 75 yards or so, then it was quiet,, thats when the shakes started. I started to gather my things and then heard a deer snort right in the area he stopped or dropped. The snorting deer then ran to the other side of the holler and continued to snort about 15-20 times. I thought, there must have been another deer with him! I climbed down and went to my arrow, and was shocked to see it completely clean, with nothing on it, except for a destroyed broadhead,lol. I missed him clean, dont know how, shot felt great, he didnt seem to duck,, just missed, I did think I heard the arrow hit a small branch, but I didnt see it when I aimed, at least I didnt cripple him, and lose him, I got to watch him for a few minutes before the shot, and he was really good,, a 10 with a 18-19 inch spread and good mass and nice tines, Id guess him to score in the 130s. It was an awesome experience, and Im so thankful just to have such a close opportunity at a good buck, but at the same time, Im a little aggravated with myself for missing the shot, maybe its just meant for me to still have a tag when the big nontypical steps into range. Oh well just wanted to whine, thanks for listening. Good luck everyone!