My uncle and I were hunting a small tract of land just outside Atlanta the first week of November. I took the entire week off work and he is in sales so he joined me while "at work" for most of the week. I saw alot of action all week but in that dreaded 50 to 70 yard range. I saw the buck I ended up shooting 3 times but could not close the deal and each time I would call to him he would tuck tail and get out of there. I knew this deer was not at the top of the food chain, as each time he would just ease on out of there when a grunt or bleat would come his way. I tried this twice on him alone and once with a doe and button head. I was about 125 yards from the chatahoochie river and he crossed between me and the river each time. I called my uncle after the 3rd time this happened and explained the situation, I needed him to come hunt the tree I was in (his tree) and I was going to move halfway down to the river. We use this area as a lookout during the rut since you can see about 400 yards one way and to the river the other (gasline). We call very aggressive before andduring the rut and there is no more of an aggressive caller than my uncle. I needed him to call as we usually do and I planned on sitting quiet and hoped the buck would skirt him as he had done to me on several occasions, and I would be near his travel route and the only sound I planned on making would be the thwack we have all come to love. I knew I was moving to within 150 yards of a bedding area and a doe hotspot so we got in about 1 1/2 hours before daylight. At first light I had a little 8pt chase a doe across the gas line directly below me and I could hear my uncle let out his first series of grunts and bleats with some light rattling. I could hear a deer approaching behind me but I could only catch a glimpse of rack as it made it's way through the thick brush. I went ahead and got to full draw in case it was a shooter and when he stepped out at 24 yards I could tell he would go on the wall and released my arrow. He was almost done before he got across the gas line (40 yards) and I heard him pile up in the small oak flat in front of me. I text my uncle and told him he was the deer I had seen and he wrote back that he heard him crash as well. We decided that since some does had made their way onto the gas line on the opposite end that we would wait awhile and see what happens. It was the rut and only about 10 minutes after shooting light. I sat there for about 15 minutes and could see a glimpse of the does through some trees that overhung the gasline. Keep in mind I am looking through trees that are 30 yards from me but the deer are a couple hundred yards away. I put my bino's on one of the "does" and noticed that the headgear was impressive on "her". I text my uncle and he told me the deer had left the does and was coming to the calls. After he made his way about 150 yards he decided he had been in the open for too long and went into the thicket (small oaks and ragweeds) in front of us. Every now and then we could see trees going crazy and getting every little bit closer to us and the they stopped for about 5 minutes but it felt like 2 hours. I decided this deer may have come as far as he wanted to without seeing another deer, but I knew he was wired. I pulled out my horns and grunt and tried to sound like 5 deer fighting. All was quiet for about 2 minutes and I decided to snort wheeze with my mouth. I sat back against the tree for a good 5 minutes and thought how cool it would have been to pull a double on 2 P&Y deer like we have done on so many longbeards. I decided it was a tall feat to ask and when I looked up my heart went to my throat. The big boy was crossing the gasline 25 yards from my uncle in his shooting lane. The deer kept angling towards me and I thought Doug what are you doing, pull the trigger (he shoots an excaliber after 2 shoulder surgeries) and the deer just kept coming. I then realized that this deer would walk within 30 yards of me if he stayed on this path. I did not even have an arrow knocked and made up my mind that if he did not shoot him the deer would live another day. It was at that point and the last possible second that I heard the clink of the x-bow. The buck turned a 180 and casually walked back towards the woods, I swear as the lord is my witness I felt sick becasue I thought the bolt had missed, and I knew he could not reload in the tree in time to do anything. I swear to you guys I immediatly put this hunt as one of the worst ever even with my buck down because I wanted him to smoke this deer worse than anyhting. He has 6 P&Y deer and 3 more that are that bigand rifle kills so it was not as if it was his first or last chance. It was at that point that the all familiarrear endwaggle occured and I knew the deer was dead on his feet, he fell over backwards and did not move a muscle. I let out a yell and when I got down I could not see the deer, I thought great stupid you spooked the deer back up and now we have to track him through saigon. I then saw my uncle walk out from the treeline and go grab the horns. His deer is a 9 pt with a 23 1/2" inside spread and pushes 150. My deer is a 10pt with a 19" inside spread and a kicker off the base and went a little over 130. I cannot explain how amazing this day was for myself and my uncle Doug. My grandfather (pop) is my best hunting buddy and taught me everything about life but my uncle showed me the ways ofmature big deer, longbeards, and the ability to hunt with another person without the slightest bit of jeolosy. He will put me in his best spot on any given day and take a camera during the peak of the rut and vice versa, or we will call in turkeys just to watch the other one pull the trigger. Again thanks for reading this long post but inorder to put it into how i truely feel it would take up more space than hunting net has on the boards. The thing that topped it all off was that my grandfather decided not to hunt that weekend (we have a lease 2 hrs from home) so when I called to tell him the good news he was home and brought his 4 wheeler to help us and keep us from 2 seperate 500 yards drags. He was so tickled that he called everyone he knows and to hear him tell it we had 2 state records on the ground and they scored a tie. We ahve harvested deer that score higher ( I have not killed one that scores as big as his but he has) but they can in no way compare to that cold November day on a small tract of woods in the skyline of Atlanta. Sorry for the pic of the deer inthe bed of the truck but it is the only picutre of both deer together. We are just getting use to the field pics and usually just take pictures of the mounts. This website is really the reason we started trying to take better field pics in the first place. I told him about the quality picture thread and so on. Thanks for listening and good hunting.

Michael