HuntingNet.com Forums - Long post but gotta vent!

First time poster, long time reader...

After finding a rub line and a nice sized scrape in a thinly wooded area on Public Hunting area in MD during an early morning hunt last Sat, I setup in a ground blind about 15 yds from a heavly traveled trail. The spot was ideal; soybean field to the north with lots of deer tracks along the edge, very thick bedding area to the west with multiple trails leading to the field, and thick swamp/marsh area to the south. My ground blind was in clear view of both the scrape and the rub line. After several hours of playing the "here-comes-something...get-ready-game" I made a solemn vow to seriously take up squirrel hunting in an effort to reduce the sheer numbers of those darn things!!! There's nothing like hearing something approaching as it crunches leaves only to discover that the source of the sound is a squirrel...and his whole family. My heart can't take much more of that.
So as day turns to early evening, I hear more leaf crunching coming from the swamp/marsh area to my left and I'm seriously thinking about making squirrel shish-kabobs for dinner, I hear the infamous "snort" followed by the foot stomp!!!
I freeze...then I slowly turn my head to the left as I see a deer dart off. Busted!!! A quick young buck grunt brings more leaf crunching my way but this time I'm ready! The deer comes within 10 yds and expresses concern regarding the moving bush by another "snort". (Here is where I discover that my blind is a little too low…(my blasted head is sticking out over the top!) We play the you "snort" I’ll grunt game 3, yes, 3 times!!!
The final time she must no longer be concerned about the moving bush because she walks right down the trail into my shooting lane. Oh yeah baby!!! As I begin to draw down on her (she's only 10 yds away), I realize that she is just a yearling and do the "should I now or wait till next year" thing in my head. I decide to wait; let her breed, spit out a nice buck, and I'll get her next year.
As shooting light draws to a close and I make my way back to the car I'm pumped thinking about the next time I get to hunt this area. (No Sunday hunting in MD). But I must mention that being toe-to-toe with a deer on their turf is a RUSH!!!

So I figure that I'll take off on Thurs and Fri and maybe get that buck that is making those rubs.

I get back to the same ground blind before sunrise on Thurs morn and jump a deer that is feeding in the soybean field. It runs back into the swamp/marsh area. I get nestled in the ground blind and eagerly wait for sunrise. I didn’t have to wait long before I see a nice doe walking down the trail. I get setup into shooting position…Where the heck did she go? (Never take your eyes off the target!!! I know this!!!) I begin a frantic visual search but I can’t find her!!! No way!!! Then I see movement behind a tree…got her but NO CLEAR SHOT!!! She slowly meanders towards the thick bedding area and I lose sight of her. I’m pretty sure that it was the same one that I spooked earlier that morning. In a vain attempt to think positively, I tell myself “at least she had no idea I was there”. Since this isn’t hide and seek but hunting, I didn’t take any comfort in that. Here is where I’m wondering if I wouldn’t make a better wildlife photographer than a bow hunter.

Fast forward to 6:00 PM (around the same time frame I saw the yearling a few days before) I hear the most gosh awful loud racket coming from the swamp/marsh area. “What idiot is out tramping around the woods this time of day?” I mean whomever it was humping through that marsh could careless about stealth! Are they building a road through here or something? As I think of how I could be polite but firm to the hunter that I’m certain is approaching…I think “what if…” So I get set up just in case. A few mins later (in hunter time zone it seemed like hours) the loud noise is VERY close! The loud snort from the biggest darn deer that I’ve ever seen in my life confirms that it ain’t no hunter but Mr. Big and his date for the night out on a stroll to the soybean field. He’s trying to figure out what that is over in the bush but his “hottie” obviously isn’t afraid because she is 5 feet from me standing on the other side of a briar patch!!! Combined with being in an awkward shooting position and the fact that he is only giving me his front left quarter to shoot at, I opt for trying to work the doe but she is still to my left. My plan was to wait for the deer to give a clear broadside shot but these two approached from a different angle, which I wasn’t prepared for. (Aren’t they supposed to read the plan???) They slowly walk off back to the swamp and I give a young buck grunt hoping to get a territorial response from the buck. I’m in position and ready…now. Why wasn’t I like this before? They never come back. But I still learned a lot from this. 1) my scent control is spot on; they’re not smelling me until they are right there, 2) My blind was higher this time but I was being silhouetted against the sky, and 3) I didn’t have enough visibility to my left due to the briars. The next day I would move slightly towards the swamp into a better spot so I could see the whole area. During the hour drive home I was still on the adrenaline high of being so close to a deer and finally seeing the buck who was making those rubs. Knowing that I would hunt the area again the very next day made it almost impossible to sleep that night.
Friday morning rolls around and I decide to hit Outdoor World to pick up some gloves and a warm hat I (froze my darn butt off on Thursday) before I head south. Since I had seen most of my action in the evening, I opted to wait until later to set up.
I arrive in “my” spot at 1:30PM due to several traffic delays around the DC beltway. It was still early enough to move the blind and get setup before the evening migration to the soybean field. As I’m making the move and setting up for a clear 180 degree shooting zone, my cell phone buzzes. “If it’s important, they’ll call back” is my motto. At 4PM, 2 ½ hours before prime shooting time, it must have been important. I answer the phone whispering, and “they” say the dreaded words…”We need you to come in”. Um, I’m out in the middle of the freakin’ woods, all camo’ed up, it’s Friday afternoon at rush hour, it’ll take at least an hour and a half to get there from here (I thought of EVERYTHING I could); you REALLY need me that bad? “Get here as soon as possible” was the response. Why do I feel like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football???

So that was how it went. Due to events beyond my control, this week is out too...gotta work. Maybe next weekend I’ll get another chance. Thanx for listening.