Final post, out of order since this was my 2005 hunt, but you just wanted to read stories, right?

Well, the last time I seriously bow hunted was 1991. Then I got busy with a family, a day job and farming. Graduate school in the evenings for a MBA was the last piece to the burn out puzzle. I figured I was missing the fun things in life working so hard. I made some adjustments so that I can hunt now, can't wait until retirement.
I've been hunting pretty hard since last Saturday. My average daily buck sightings were right at 4, with usually one within range. Most of these were small bucks and I passed.
This morning, I returned to a piece I have hunted a couple of times. I got the Lone Wolf way up a tree on a low ridge next to a creek. The deer had been coming under a huge cedar close by (next year I'm trimming the cedar so the Lone wolf can fit in it). I was sitting down about 6 am, thinking that everybody has been screaming for cold weather and it was brisk out there. At 9:20 am, I'm thinking, yeah right, cold weather really has them moving, I haven't seen a thing yet. Right on cue, I hear something behind my tree. I stand up and slowly pivot around (I always hold my bow, can't drop that antique!) I see a doe and two fawns coming up off the creek bottom, looking to pass right under my tree. I have an antlerless only tag and today was to be the day. I let the doe get just by my stand and draw back. I hit the button on the Crackshot (another fine piece of hunting equipment) and due to poor shooting form, the arrow zings over her back. It was almost straight down, poor shot selection. She runs ten yards and stands there looking back, so I nock another arrow. I figure if she doesn't come back, the fawns will be tasty. While waiting for them to get past my tree, I hear something down on the creek bottom. I see this buck working the lip of the ridge, but he is past where the doe and fawns came up. I'm figuring he's going to keep moving off. He went on out of sight, but circled up to the thicket where the doe I had missed earlier was standing. He runs her in a tight circle, then he hears some activity down in the creek. He heads that way on a path that brought him by my stand. I drew as he was about to get in the clear, then let out baaaaaa. He stops and I hit the button on the Crackshot at 9:36 am. I watched the arrow fly (one of those slow motion moments) and hear it smack him. I could see some of my arrow still sticking out of him as he spun a 180 and headed for the thicket. He stumbled once at about 30 yards (about the time I saw my arrow bounce out of him, but I never did find it) and he went down at 60. I was able to watch it all from my stand. I still set up in the stand for a half hour before getting down. I took down the Lone Wolf and packed things up before walking over to him. It was a good thing that he went down so fast because he left NO blood trail. I did not get a pass through and the angle of the shot caused his lung cavity to fill up. Maybe the old bow is getting weak
While I did see bigger deer the past couple of days, he was the biggest buck that offered a shot. I'm a sucker for long tines and when I first saw him I decided I would take him if he offered a shot.
While field dressing him, I noticed he only had one testicle. The Lone Wolf scores the Lone Nut