Kind of long but it was an awesome experience!
I went out Thursday afternoon even though it was really windy 20-30mph. I went to a new public area that just opened to hunting this year and decided because of the wind to do some stalking/scouting/hunting from the ground since I was getting out early in the afternoon and no other hunters were checked -in.
I was walking along the edge of a bluff over looking a swampy grassy area, the grass was 2-3ft tall, as I'm making my way along the bluff about 50ft above the swamp I see a deer bedded down about 50yds out from the bluff. I get a better view and it's a huge buck! I begin to plan my strategy for getting down the bluff and into position for a shot. The wind was totally in my favor blowing from the buck to the bluff. I scoot and belly crawl down this bluff and then through the tall grass and make it
over to where there is a small clump of trees and brush about 15yds from the buck. All the time I'm keeping an eye on his antlers sticking up from the grass. At this time I'm feeling very confident that I've got the upper hand on this hunt.
I get in position for the shot and hit the can call a couple of times and he doesn't move, wait a few minutes hit the call again nothing, wait a few more minutes he still doesn't move. Then there came a big gust of wind that made the grass blow around and I lost track of his antlers, once the wind stopped I looked for antlers and couldn't see anything. I'm thinking he just layed down more behind the grass so I come to full draw and standup behind the trees and then step out aiming at where he was laying and he's GONE I make a couple of calls with my mouth and walk closer to his bed he's nowhere to be found!!
There was a deep creek between us and a bluff to my right and if he would have stood up I would have seen him, I don't know how he escaped but he did and did it quickly!! From the time I spotted him unti lhe disappeared was about 40 minutes.
Although I didn't get him it was an incredible rush stalking up on him and a very hard lessoned learned. Next time I'll wait it out rather than trying to call him. He was a BIG 10pt about 20-22inches wide nice mass I would guess around 140-145 score.
I have relived it many times today trying to figure out how he did it!! I guess thats why he's so big!
This was also my first try at stalking so I guess I should be happy just getting that close.