I have hunted the U.P. of Michigan my whole life, and IL last year for the first time. I've killed some nice deer in the UP, but never killed, nor have seen a real bruiser. It was the third week of season in IL last year, like the 20's or October. My friend Ross and I were hunting together, about 70 yards apart on a hedgerow, both up in trees. The wind was howling into our faces, sleet, cold, just miserable. It was 4:00 and my phone vibrated, and it was Ross. He was calling to see if I wanted to call it quits, which I was more than happy to do at that particular time. So, we go back and forth on leaving, and he says "Oh my God, look behind you up to the top of the bean field. There is a monster coming right down here." So I said, yeah, whatever, I'll see you ina minute. Well, I turn around in my stand to start getting down, and holy god, biggest buck I have ever seen is 150 yards away and sauntering my way. The deer is in the middle of no kidding, 500 acres of bean field. I have no clue where he had come from, but he was coming. I always get excited when deer come in, does, bucks, it doesn't matter. I have never been affected like this by a deer. I hunt from a Summit climber, and I was facing the tree as I was planning to shimmy down and head to the truck. So, I see the deer, take stock of the situation, sit down on the front bar of my stand, basically it was sit down or fall down, as I was shaking so bad. Next thing I notice is the wind...it was perfect for the set-up for that day...but absolutely wrong for that deer and where he was coming from. The only hope I had was that it was blowing hard enough to go right over the top of him. When he got to about 75 yards, and I realized that it could actually happen, I got really nervous, like conciously nervous. I raised up my bow, to be ready...and in doing so I came to the unnerving realization that my EZ hanger was right where the shot was going to be. So, I put down my bow across the rail of my stand, reach up and start to unscrew the hanger. About 1/4 turn into it, the hanger lets out a squeak and would wake the dead. The deer looks around, but continues to come. He is now at about 60 yards, to the south west, wind howling out of the NE. I get the hanger out, bow back up, release clipped to string, begin to draw...buck freezes, one foot up in the air still. I know he caught my wind, but just a hint, and he isn't too spooked, just cautious. I maintain position, and he takes another step, and freezes again. This time, I sprayed a tiny bit of Docs 249, and he threw his head up and was sniffing like crazy, took one more step, and caught me again on air. We did this for maybe 10 minutes, and finally he bounded about 10 yards, and then just turned and walked straight way. He got to within about 45 yards, and with that wind, no way I was taking a shot.

Still the best encounter of my season, and just an awesome experience. I have never had a deer rattle me like that, it was almost a little embarrasing to tell my friends about it and Ross saw the whole thing happen. Sure I would have liked to get him, but it may even make a better story this way!