treehunter

I put up my climber right after christmas in an area that i had not scouted that much. All I knew was there was several rubs in the area and several hot trails. So I desided on a tree about 30 yds off of this trail. The woods are T-shaped in that area and I was on a hill right where the woods came together. I could see a field on my left and another field on my right. I was using my 12 ga that morning since any shot would have to be close due to the thick brush. I was pretty sure the deer would be coming from my right so I walked into the woods from the left. It was still dark and I was having the worst time putting up my stand. Everything went wrong. The foot platform fell when I got about 10ft up, my feet kept slipping out of the holders, and the list goes on. By the time I made it up the tree, it was getting light, I was sweating like crazy and it was 18 degrees. After all the trouble I was just thinking that I might as well just go home and come back this afternoon. I wasn't in that tree 30 min when I saw a deer in the field to my left (where I walked in). It was probably 250 yds away and walking straight at me. I thought for sure it was going to take the trail right in front of me. It was just taking it's time walking and eating grass. Just as it got to the edge of the field I noticed the rack. That got my heart pumping a little harder. Since there was so much brush I couldn't see how many poins or what size they were. I watched him go into the woods and walking along another trail further back but still walking broad side well within range of the shotgun. He stopped between 2 trees and all i had was a gut shot. I desided to wait for a better shot. I looked ahead of him and saw a good clearing. I was waiting for him to walk forward 5 or 6 more steps so I could get a shot. That is when he made a left and walked down the hill right in front of me. I couldn't see him anymore. I tried grunting but no luck. I never saw him again.