There's a farm about an hour away that I got permission to hunt on. I couldn't meet up with the guy who's familiar with it prior to getting up there, so I looked at the farm on a map and he guided me thru the hot spots over the phone. He told me about this one spot that I had to be in by 5:00 a.m. or I'd get busted b/c the deer enter between 5:15-5:30. The spot is a small strip of trees/thickets running south to a small pond (surrounded by trees/thickets) and bordered to the west and south by fields, and bordered to the east/southeast by hardwoods. He told me to enter from the north, thru the thickets and head down to the pond and wait there, as they ALWAYS enter thru the southeast from the hardwoods.

So I woke my arse up at 3:00 and drove up to the farm to get in place. I reallllly wanted to enter from the west side because it's bordered by a field; it's the easiest way in and the deer are typically going to trek thru the trees and thickets, not thru the field. But since I had never scouted the area, I followed the guy's advice and entered thru the thickets from the north. I was in by 5:00, and just like he said, I heard some loud crashing to the southeast right around 5:15. I was getting excited. Then, all of the sudden, I heard some SUPER LOUD crashing coming in behind me from the north. Holy crap!! I was totally stoked and couldn't wait to see the deer come in so close to me and not know I was there. Then, all of the sudden, the deer from the north stopped for a second, and I KNEW it was coming. That loud, coughing wheeze. And there it was and both deer turned around. He caught my scent...probably from my tracks in as the wind was blowing from the east. So, there I was, at 5:15, busted and with almost 2 hours to go until sunrise. I sat motionless for about 4 more hours, hoping something else would make its way in, but nothing.

Newb lesson learned, do NOT rely solely upon others' scouting!!