I got lucky Sunday evening. I sat over a Doe and two fawn last week. One of the fawn busted me as I was watching them....It's a funny thing to see a fawn stomp. This weekend it rained all day Saturday, so Sunday morning I set up a blind in a hollow. I was in a small stand of oaks next to a recently cleared field. It was pretty windy Sunday so I was glad to be in the blind. I hunted 2 hours in the morning and spent the day working on a few projects and slipped back into the blind an hour before sunset. Around 635 I heard something and started craning my neck to see. Finally caught sight of what I first thought was a large doe....then realized it was a buck... I didn't have a shot and it turned around and hung in a blind spot so I couldn't get shot off on it. It was a 4 pointer hanging around a spike. The spike came 10 yds from me presenting a perfect broad side shot. I just tried to be motionless and not run them off. The spike turned and walked away for a few feet. His tail was twitchy but I didn't see the flag. A small branch fell behind me and both deer took off toward the field. I figured that was it and sat there trying to get a better look at them. They were hanging out at the edge of the woodline. after about 10 minutes, they turned around and came back down. I waited as the spike crossed in front of me....when the 4 point crossed in front of me, presenting a perfect broadside, I double lunged him with my crossbow. Distance was about 17 yds. I knew I hit him because it sounded like swinging a bat against a cardboard box. He ran about 30 yds then stopped....took one more hop over a log and I heard a crash. No more noise from him, but the spike ran in that direction and walked around for a while....like he had no idea what to do on his own. I waited 30 minutes before leaving the blind...by then it was pretty dark. It's no monster buck but it's meat and he sure was heavy dragging out.....but I might be getting a little older.
I will probably hold off on bucks unless they are bigger, the rest of the season....does will have to fill the freezer.