I' ve been after my dream buck, a monster 10 point since last year. I had him at 35 yds last year but he offered no shot. I hadn' t seen him this year until today. He was the 3rd in a group of 4 bucks that came by 30 yds from my stand. Ever since last year, it' s been a constant thought in my head of what I would do if I had a marginal shot at this buck. Well I had a marginal shot today...and passed it up. There were a couple branches between me and him and I decided not to risk wounding him. So, I watched the buck of my dreams walk away. He was a 5x5, very heavy beams, at least 20 inches inside spread. He was definetely close to a 160" buck. And he had to make a rub as he walked away, just to torture me some more.

Rifle season opened today. Much to my dismay, about 5 minutes after this brute walked by me, a rifle hunter was fortunate enough to harvest this deer.[:' (] Man, talk about disappointing. Knowing that this buck walked out of my dreams and onto someone else' s wall is going to haunt me for awhile. Especially since I could have made the shot had I been hunting with a rifle. But, I guess that' s bowhunting. Fortunately, there are many more bucks in the woods.