I left work early Friday and got to the woods at 4:45, about an hour and a half later than I planned. I walked fast because I was in a hurry to get to the stand. Well, when I finally got my climber up the tree I was soaked with sweat, but I'd still be okay if the wind stayed NE. So I began the sit.
At about 5:45, I heard a couple grunts about 100 or so yards off in the woods and I thought, "What jackass is hunting my woods?" As my blood started to boil and I contemplated trying to find him, I heard some crashing coming around the back of my stand. I turned and lo' and behold it was a little 4-pt chasing a doe. I was really surprised to see chasing and such aggressive grunting this early. Anyway, grunting and chasing they were. I got nervous cause they were coming around behind my stand, a direction I had not planned on. They were coming in directly down wind of me and I knew they'd bust me cause I stuck to high heaven. Sure enough, the doe stopped and put her nose to the air. I froze. She took a couple more steps toward me and looked right into my eyes as if to say, "I'm about to ruin your hunt." And she did. She blew her lungs out and all the deer in the area, seen and unseen, scattered. I remained motionless. She too ran off and stopped. Curiosity killed the cat right? She came to a walk and started to circle back at about 75 yards. She stopped at 60 yards and and started stomping. She began taking a couple steps at a time and then another stomp. She continued this until she went under a branch about 30 yards out. I drew. As the seconds passed she remained under the branch. 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 45 seconds. I can hold my draw for about a minute and still make an accurate shot. At least I can in the backyard. So as the clock ticks toward one minute my arms begin to get seriously tired and my eyes began to go in and out of focus like I was about to faint. I whispered a prayer, "Lord please bump that doe and get her out from under the limb." As soon as I uttered the last word she took five steps, stopped in front of my twenty yard stump, and stomped again. At this point my arms are numb, I cannot see and I was forced to take my eyes off the deer and focus on another point. When I could see again, I looked back through the peep and made the shot. Double lung. I watched her run forty yards and tip over.
Sorry about the picture quality. I had to take it in the truck headlights.
