RE: Heartbreaking day in the Woods
Well I sorta have a similiar expirience but not on a buck of that magnitude. My very first Buck season (rifle in Pa) I was 12. I was standing with Dad, when a nice fork-horn came walking in. He was close like 15-25 yards away just walking and feeding along the ridge we were hunting. I watched him, so excitedly, my skin was twitching. My rifle was raised (safety still on) and I followed him right around the corner. this whole scenerio was probably 8-10 minutes long. The buck walked away never knowing we were there.
The deer now gone, Dad says "why didn't you shoot"? I was figuring he would give me a verbal OK to take the deer. The fact that he didn't, I thought something must not have been right. We still laugh about it and it comes up every year at camp!