I went to the stand about 2:00 today and as I reached for the ladder to get the pulley rope, I noticed a buck coming along a trail that goes to the field. I nocked an arrow as I leaned up against the locust tree. I drew back as he got closer and took a quick look at his rack then body and decided to shoot him. The grim reaper hit a little back but it was hard to see his vitals through the peep since he was at 5 yards and quartering to me. The head hit and skinned an inch and dug into his side. The arrow came to rest against his left thigh bone and embeded itself there. I let him go for 3.5 hours due to light and heavy bleeding. I found him still breathing at 8:30 about 250 yards from where I shot him.
He's not my best by any means, but when a 260 lb hunter can be quite enough to get to within 5 yards of a mature whitetail and get an undetected shot off. I'll take it all day long and twice on Sundays!
Final score 134 3/4 inches. I can finally get some sleep.
