I got my first buck of the year yesterday. It rained all day Friday so the woods were wet, making it easy for me and the deer to move silently. I walked in to some hardwoods and climbed a tree I had picked a few weeks earlier. It looks out over a clear cut that has a big lone oak in the middle. The sun came up about 7:30. At 7:45 a squirrel busted me. He started barking and screaming. He made quite a racket for twenty mintes. I checked my watch when he stopped at 8:05. I just settled in to watch for movement in the tall weeds and young pines all around the clear cut. At 8:20 I saw an antler near the lone oak. Adrenaline rush. The antler had 3 spikes. I figured hewas a six-point that had bedded down next to the oak to be near food. I zoomed my scope to about 7x and saw that he was down in a ditch near the oak. I gave a little doe bleat but he was more interested in his breakfast. He moved and gave me his shoulder, all I could see of him. When I shot he took off like a rocket down the hill towards a creek. I climbed down and walked to the lone oak. I saw a sizable splash of blood on a bush. I waited a bit then slowly followed the blood trail. He didn't make it to the tree line. He was a nine pointer and weighed about 170. Another club member got some pictures and he'll e-mail them to me this week. I'll post them when I get them.