Well my first hunt of the ML didn't quite go as expected. Got into some real heavy bush for untill the rut the big boys don't move too far out of it. Last Sunday night with about 3 min of hunting time left I called in just a pig of a buck. Must have been older for from the side his antlers were fairly palmated. But as he walked he wallowed like a big hog. He came into about 70 yard and I put the x hairs right on his shoulder and let one rip. I must have hit him directly upon the shoulder for he went down and then got up and saw that two back feet pushing as he wobled away. Heard him circle around to my left, heard him crash and then it sounded as he was flayling one of his back legs to get up. I blaze marked the tree where he was first hit and then went to get my partner to assist me in getting him out. When I met up with my buddy (whom was about 300 yards or so away) he said he heard that "whap" when you hit a deer hard. Well we went back to the blaze and started to look. Good blood where he first went down, then followed the blood to where he must have fell and bled some more (puddle of about 18x10 inches of some very thick red blood). So I figured we had him and he must have not gone too far. We started on the blood trail but with in 30 minutes the weather turned into one of the biggest storms we have had in the fall. After searching for another 3 hours in pouring rain and 60 mph winds we finally gave up for the night. I wasn't able to go first thing in the morning due that work thing we all dred during our hunting seasons but I got out there as quickly as I could after work. Problem, the storm had continued through the night and had only worsenned. Now the winds were gusting up to 80 mph, due to the rain I wasn't able to get my truck any closer than about a mile where I knew he went down. Luckly I had brough my hip waders for the soggy ground I had hunted the day before was now flooing over from the near by marsh. Looked again till a couple of hours after dark but nothing. All week I've been playing the shot in my head. It is real thick bush (tons and tons of intertwined willows etc.) and I thought that a shoulder shot would have been the best shot to bring him down on the spot but I quess I was a little off and that little off lost me this brute. Heading out again this Sat. and hopefully a little more luck with the next one. Sorry guys, we should have been tallying up the score on this one. Hopefully I'll be able to get another shot this Sat. I've only lost a couple this way over the past few decades but dies it hurt. I just hate waisting an animal this way and sleep all week has been tough. Hope you guys have better luck and I'm sure hoping for a dusting of snow for the weekend. Be safe out there.