Well, I'll warn you from the jump that this will be long and if you are looking for a money shot there is none.

OK, now down to business. This is the first time I've hunted this stand in the morning this year and it is the same spot where I had seen a 100" 8 point and a buck that I never got a great look at, but made the 2.5 year old 8 look like a baby. This spothas always beenbetter in the morning than the evening, but I had no idea how much better until yesterday. On my drive to the spot I saw a deer cross the road out in front of me and knew immediately it was a buck. As I drove by where he crossed my headlights hit and I could see he was a good buck and definitely a shooter. I saw this as a good sign, especially since he was crossing into a wood lot that connected to where I would be hunting.

As I was climing my tree around 6:00 a.m., which I thought would be plenty early since it wasn't getting light until 7:15, a group of deer came in and started feeding within 15 yards of me. I stopped climbing and killed my headlamp. I waited a few minutes and could tell there was a group and figured it was a doe and some little ones. I slowly and quietly climbed the rest of the way and was able to get set with minimal disturbance to my surprise.

As it got light I stood and got ready and almost immediately deer were filtering into the woods from the field. The first two deer were doe and were heading right into the acorns near my stand. There was a third deer behind them that I could tell wasa buck. As he got closer I could see he was a shooter and was just out of range at about 42 yards. He was at least and 8 point with a good and heavy rack. He had long main beams, but I never got a look at his spread. His tines were not really tall, maybe7" G2s and 5"-6" G3s, but he definitely exceeds my standards as a shooter in PA. He looked to be at least a 3.5 year old deer. I thought about taking the shot as I've been stacking arrows at that range with no issue, but I felt that he would come in with the does and offer a better shot. As big bucks do, he stopped and for some unknown reason did a quick sideways jump away from my stand and then continued down the ridge away from me.

At this point things got hectic. I had deer coming in droves. I had no less than 8 deer around me including now 2 bucks. A small fork horn and a 85"-90" 8 point that took turns harassing the does. The 8 point is lucky he isn't a year or two older or he would be gracing my wall as he offered me numerous shots. He and the 4 point chased each other around and chased some does. The 8 point made a scrape and I heard him snort wheeze at the 4 point. This is the first time I've heard this first hand. Really cool.

More deer kept coming through including 2 more bucks, another of which was a shooter. I never got a good look at his rack, but could tell he was good enough. He got within 35 yards, but never cleared the heavy brush. I tried grunting at him without scaring the closer deer by keeping the bellow of my Hunt Nut Switch call inside my vest. He either didn't hear the call or just wasn't interested because he continued on down toward the bedding area.

Later I saw 2 more bucks that were following some does up the ridge into the heavy brush toward the field. They were both smaller bucks. One may have been a buck I'd seenearlier, but I couldn't be sure. Around here it seems that only the younger bucks are chasing and ready for the rut. The older bucks aren't as fired up yet. All day long I was doing Rob's tarsal test on the does, and sure enough none were stained up yet.

The deer continued to filter through and head off the the bedding area below me. At this point I had seen over 20 deer and 5 or 6 bucks, 2 being shooters and it was just a little after 8 a.m.

Deer continued to come the oak ridge throughout the day to get a mid day snack. In fact I didn't go an hour without seeing deer all day.

Around noon I looked below me and saw a deer that I could immediately tell was a buck. He had a big body, but a fairly small rack. I grunted at him which got his attention, and then switched the call to a doe bleat and gave two long bleats followed by a grunt. He turned and started working toward me and through the binoculars I could tell he was a mainframe 6 point missing his browtine on the left sideand his right side was broken off near the base. His body size and the mass on his rack indicated a 2.5 year old buck, but he had a very small rack for a deer that age. He stopped and I had a doe coming in from my left and as soon as he saw her he turned the other way and ran. I'm guessing that whooping he took that broke his rack off is still fresh in his memory.

The day wore on and more deer came through. One or two at a time, but it was constant action. Then as expected after 5 p.m. rolled around things picked up. I watched a big mature doe come out of the bedding area and head up the hill toward me, but she was taking a long time to do it as she would move 10 yards and scan in all directions for 10 minutes. She was a matriarchal doe and not one that would be easily fooled. As she moved in from below me to my right some deer came off of the opposite hillside to my left. One was a half racked spike that dogged the big doe as soon as he saw her. That brought her right up to me and 2 other does and 2 young ones came in. Again I had multiple eyes and ears to worry about and I was getting worn out from being on edge all day.

I kept thinking I heard another deer behind me, but everytime I slowly turned to look all I saw were 2 squirrels. I cursed them repeatedly as turning was very difficult with all of those deer within 15 yards of me feeding on acorns.

I heard the noise again and was sure it was deer noise so I slowly turned again and saw a buck staring up at me. He had a high rack, but not very wide. He had me made and put up his tail and ran across the creek below me to the opposite hillside. He wasn't what I'm looking for, but I don't like to get busted no matter what the deer is, so I was angry with myself for letting it happen.

The other deer had their fill and made their way up to the field. A few more deer filtered through and as last light was fading I had a group of 4 come in. All I could make out were their dark forms in the inky darkness, but after checking them with the binoculars I could see they were all doe.

I waited for them to move off and got down weary from the early rise and being on edge all day. I'm not complaining though. All told I saw around 40 deer in one day, 8 or 9 racked bucks, and 2 shooters. I know that some guys may not see that in a season.

I moved my stand today about 40 yards down the ridge which will put me right where both shooters moved past. There are other good bucks that I know of in the area too, and who knows how many that I don't know of, so I can barely wait for next week to get here.

I hope everyone has a day like that sometime in their hunting career because it really fuels the fire for what we love to do.