I was out Sunday, first time I'd been out since opening day a week prior. It was hot, I had sweat dripping off my nose the entire time... didn't think I'd see anything. I had squirrels and chipmunks swishin' around all evening, so the rustling leaves meant nothing to me at that point. Besides, I only have one small shooting lane behind my stand anyway, so what are the chances a deer is going to walk into it?

So, I was fixin' to get down in about 5 or 10 minutes and start walking out, bout 20 min. before time was up, I always get down about 15 minutes early when I hunt alone, don't like the dark woods at night... I hear a twig snap, but again, thought nothing of it. Figured I'd take one more look behind me before I got down. There he was, an odd looking smallish buck... but it woulda been a deer none the less... Kinda unique looking with a single spike on one side, about 8 or 9" tall and about 2" palmated, never seen anything like it before, thought it would be an interesting deer to add to my collection... Unfortunately for me, he hadn't made any sounds coming in and by the time I turned around, he was about 10 yards away, perfectly broadside, but one step too far out of my shooting lane. His tooshie was all that was in my lane... due to leaves on the trees I didn't have a shot. So I watched him, as he walked directly under the apple tree that stands beside me, but offers NO shot opportunities, too thick.

It looked like he was gonna come right out the other side and cross the creek that I hunt over, which woulda gave me a perfect shot, but as soon as he got on the other side of the tree, he turned and started walking down the creek bank away from me. At this point his back was to me and he was maybe 20 yds out. I figured, I'm getting ready to leave anyway, so I will just sneak down my ladder and see if I can get him going out. He didn't hear me get out, and I stood on the ground watching his toosh for about 3 minutes before he turned perfectly broadside, unfortunately, he was just out of my comfortable shooting range, probably 30 yds out. I really didn't want to take a chance of wounding him or spooking him out of the area, so I let him walk away. Of course I tried to get closer first, but he finally figured out something wasn't right and sauntered into the thicket...

lesson learned: do NOT hesitate to turn around if you hear the slightest rustle of leaves.