I' ve been having some terrific luck lately. My wife gave birth to a bundle of joy (a boy) on October 2nd. The opener here was October 5th. So, I knew hunting opportunities were going to be at a premium since I would be the primary caregiver to my 3 year old daughter while my wife recovers from her caesarian and deals with a newborn.

Anyway, I' ll get to the point. I finally got a chance to get out this past saturday morning (October 18th). I was on stand by 6:30am and enjoyed the peace and quiet that the dark chilly morning offered. Don' t ever take that for granted. That is an awesome feeling.

The sun came up and I was astonished to see the number of rubs around my stand. I hung it in late August knowing that my wife could give birth at any time in September (my daughter was 3 weeks early). So obviously those rubs weren' t present when I hung the stand. These rubs were huge, too.

At 8am on the nose a young eight-pointer came in from behind me and gave me a broadside shot at 10 yards. I decided to take the shot and made what I thought was a good shot. He ran hard towards the cornfield that he came from. I waited about 45 minutes before sticking my nose out into the cornfield and of course he stood up and ran for the property line.

The neighbors aren' t the friendliest of people so I decided to return in the afternoon once I noticed one of them on stand. I returned to find him still there. As much as I hated to do it I waited to cross the property line until Sunday morning. He hadn' t gone far and would have been a real easy recovery. But he stunk to high heaven on Sunday. Needless-to-say, I left him be.

As much as I hate to think about possibly not getting out again for a few weeks, it sickens me to know that I " wasted" a deer. Anybody have a similar story that can help me deal with this? I' m not the only fool that would' ve waited until Sunday...or was I?