Rick, You ever seen those videos at the end where they say, "Boy, we've been hunting hard!" Well, we had every right to make that statement ourselves. The rut has been virtually non-existant in my neck of the woods (at least where I hunt in Southern Illinois...). The winds were completely wrong for us all week (mostly south winds all week), the temperature was pitiful (mid- to upper-70's a couple days) and the access route I normally take in to the woods had a drainage ditch waist-high full of water. That meant mile- to mile-and-a-half hikes in from the public access point a couple miles away. That translated into a couple 3:30 a.m. wakeup calls to be able to drive over and have the time to hike in and get set up before light.

Matt did get to touch off his release and send an arrow towards a book buck... I say towards because the thing was on pins and needles as it sneakedthrough at 37 yards after some bozos came in on us from the north with a north wind. Some people just don't get it. (We had come in from the south...) They probably had no idea they were approaching amajor buck bedding area, either. Anway, the deer was ducking and going before the arrow cleared his shelf, he said. It was the only mature deer either of us saw.

I myself identified six different 2-year-old and under bucks within 20 yards, but nothing that made me even want to clip a release on...

Other cool encounters: Matt had a bobcat come in and sit down in front of him, and a coyote ran in and sat directly behind his tree about two feet away. He also had a coyote walk right under him at first light from a different stand, and watched yet another coyote attempt to put a stalk on four deer in a wide-open cut corn field.

We saw a mature bald eagle one day (rare around here, no matter what Matt tells ya! [8D]), and -- of course -- the coolest encounter of all: getting to hang out together and hunt for a solid week.