Deceided to do an hour hunt at dusk on way home last nite.

Am I glad (& now sad?) I did!

Went to this particular small lot where house was knocked downed several years ago, overgrown, weeded, with about 3 acres of tall weeds and grass behind it leading into big wooded ritzy house lots that are really spread out.

Anyway, I climb up in the old treefort, 4' X 8' deck w/ three 4' X 8' framed sides at 5:00 PM. Kinda cool fort (remember bein' a kid?) and definately useable. I' ve pulled does off this one a few times. The deer " appear" out of the tall weeds and linger in this lot before heading across the county road.

I had 7 deer come by between the time I climbed up and say 5:30/5:40. None in range that I wanted to shoot. They all made their way right across the county road without hanging around at all. I thought that to be weird, they always hang around. I guessed cause the cool day had them looking for some real food. Not a thing for 10 minutes, I said to myself, " Self, you saw some deer, it' ll be dark in 15 min., climb on down in the light and we' ll do it again sometime soon."

Down I go, walk over to my truck behind a stand of pines about 80 yards away. Take a quick scan over field behind me. What' s that noise? That' s good noise and it' s continuing. It' s on my left heading away and to my right. Hey! Who the heck is walking MY field edge. Trespasser!

No trespasser. On my left the weeds taper from 5-6 ft down to 4, 3 and then stop. I see darkness moving behind weeds. Hey another deer skating by, looks good size, nock arrow, draw back, coming more fully into sight, 22-24 yards (perfect! I practice 25 all the time)

I' m kinda excited now caise this thing is getting bigger and bigger the more I see of it. He' s in the clear now, I' m at full draw, he is absolutely FFFFFFF huge! He must own this place! 300# body and HUGE HEADGEAR!

He walked clear of the tall weeds for about 20 feet before the next section of weeds that is about 4 ft high and 12 feet long.

I choke! So busy looking at his shear size and the super tall rear tines! Damn!!! Damn!!! Damn!!! Wasn' t concentrating on that SPOT! He' s behind the next weeds now. He doesn' t know I' m here. Can I shove it through the top edge of the weeds?!?!?! Seems pretty iffy. He' ll come forward and then! I have to let off cause I' m ready to rip a miscle or something!

He makes his slight move forward, gonna be in clear, I am gonna take this monster home tonite! As his head and neck are coming clear I start to draw and he.........................................BUSTS ME!

I couldn' t believe that up to that point he wasn' t even aware of me standing there by the fender of my truck. I think he just glanced in my direction and said, " What' s this Dodge doing in my bedroom?" I deceided to draw in case he would stand there for 1 second too long. Didn' t matter. At my slightest movement he blew load as an elephant fart and he went right back over that weedlot in overdrive.

12 points.

Huge body! HUGE!

170.....175?

Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh h!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You big dummy!

I' ll be back this week! Ruts startin up, wait for temp to drop, wind right and roll my dice again!

Oh yeah, this was in SW Cook county, not 20 miles from Chicago city limit .

Good luck to y' all.

Uncle Matt (in IL)