After 10 years of asking, my wife finally agreed to join me in the stand for a hunt. She had a good time sitting with me watching the sun come up, but she was fidgeting and wiggling so much we didn't see any deer. Bummer of a way to end your first hunt.
I went back out that afternoon, but it didn't seem like much was moving. I saw 2 does moving fast about a hundred yards up the trail, then nothing for 2 hours. I did hear a doe bleating, so I started hitting the bleat call myself. Light was running out, and I was about to call it a night. When I stood up to climb down, I saw BONE. This big buck came out directly in front of my stand, about 75 yards away. He was sniffing the ground. Looking for a doe. Last legal shooting light was fast approaching, so I found his front shoulder in the scope and squeezed one off.
He ran hurt straight towards me and then into some very thick cover. I didn't have time to do a long track then, and I wasn't sure how far he had run. I had to go teach a class, so I decided to back out and give him time. I called a buddy to help me track him after my class and we went back out. We couldn't find any blood, but we kept looking through the thick cover and I walked right up on the buck. He only made it 20 yards, perfect double lung shot and he never stood a chance against the 50 cal thompson center.
He is my best buck yet, glad I stayed in the woods and hunted hard.
