I had a frustrating run in with a buck yesterday afternoon.

Last week the high winds blew my PVC stand over on its top and destroyed the ground blind I had set on top of it. I went out yesterday at 2pm to fix the stand. I brought my bow just in case.

Well I made all sorts of noise turning the stand over and staking it back down and scared 3 does out of the area. When I was finished I crossed the creek and went in to the bedding area that my stand overlooks to do a little scouting since I thought I'd scared everything away for a mile.

I walked through and saw every tree had been thrashed and found fresh beds and scat everywhere. This is good news since the deer haven't really been around because of standing corn fields nearby.

I got to the end of the property and looked out down the creek bed facing west in to the wind. I was looking for deer that might be walking around towards the horizon - nothing.
I was pretty tired and sweaty from all of my walking and working with the stand and the nose piece on my facemask had been driving me crazy all day. I walked back about 15 feet into the brush and sat down to correct the problem. I laid my bow down, took off my face mask, got out my knife, and proceeded to cutting the nose piece off. I remember thinking to myself, this could be a bad idea if one of those does come back and I don't have my bow or facemask.

Just then I looked up to remind myself that there were in fact no deer in the area and what did I see? Nothing but antler staring at me from 10 feet away. 16 points sitting atop one of the oldest biggest bucks I've had the pleasure to witness. He was so close I could see his nostrils flaring as he tried to catch my scent - even though I was downwind of him.

We stared at each other in dead stillness for what seemed like minutes. Then the sudden realization hit me that my bow was on the ground out of reach. I glanced down to verify then quickly back up to meet eyes again. He blew, jumped back, did a 180, and bolted out the entrance he had come in.

I was quickly on my feet, bow in hand, and ran to the place he had just stood. He was still there, 30 yards away this time, quartering away but looking back. I drew back and centered the area between my 25 and 35 yard pins on his vitals. A quick check - slight wind in my face, no branches in the way, definately 30 yards??? What if I miss and only wound him??? I've practiced this very shot but ..... Then he bolted.

My breath had begun to catch up with my heart as the sinking uneasy feeling of what could have been started gnawing at my stomach. I had no choice but watch him bound away and plan for our next encounter.

I probably wont see him for a long time but the good news is there are at least 2 bucks bigger than him out here and a handful that are smaller but just as good. The only thing I can figure is the sound of me digging for my knife must have excited the guy - lesson learned!!!