I will try to be short, but I wanted to share my story with you. It was really an exciting hunt. As many of you know, I live in Florida, home of the dog sized bucks. We don't have a lot of deer, but occassionally I stumble into a decent one, as I did yesterday.

I parked my truck and began my typical 1/4 mile hike to my stand. Within 30 yds of my truck, I heard the Saw Palmetto's rustling. I thought it was an armadillo, which often do this. I already put my release on and nocked an arrow, just in case i bumped into something. How lucky I was.

I stopped and watched the palmetto bush rustling at only 13 yds in front of me. I began to think it was something larger b/c the limbs were shaking too much. I continued to watch closely when suddenly, a huge 8 point rack popped out of the palmetto bush. I couldn't believe it. I ducked behind a bush and drew back, settling the pin, only to realize there was too many limbs in my path. I moved 10 feet to my right thinking the buck would pop out on the right and I would have a clean shot. I am standing in the open, waiting for him to step out, which would be exactly 10 yds from me, broadside. I was concerned about my lack of cover, but thought I would have enough time to release. After a minute, the huge rack popped out and I drew back and began to settle the pin. However, the vitals were covered by palmetto frawns so i needed him to take one more step. About that time, he saw me standing there and in an instant, was gone before i could ever pull the release. I know, a disappointing ending. I was tore up over this and don't know exactly what I could have done differently but I was worried about making a bad shot, one that was deflected by brush but i suppose i could have made it. I thought he would stop and stare for a few seconds but he didn't. As soon as he saw me, he was instantly gone.

Though a disappointing ending, it was incredible to be that close to such a nice buck.