Took a whiff last night, boys. Cut off my shirt tail.

Hunting Ohio Public land now that I'm tapped out in PA. In a nutshell, I haven't been seeing many deer, but the deer that I have been seeing are nicer than I'm accustomed to seeing back home in the Commonwealth. For example, I passed on a nice (110-115") nine pointer the other day - a sure shooter in PA.

I'm positionedat the head of a north-south hollow that is crowned on the NE and NW withovergrown fields (heavy bedding areas), and bounded by another bedding area down in the base of the hollow.I wasback in there for the evening yesterday, perched 25' high in a double-trunked, telephone-pole-straightpoplar tree (my favorite tree to hunt).

There are 2 active scrapes, 50 yards apart.The first isin the woodsat the head of the hollow, the second one is along the top field edge along the bedding area.

Both scrapes are very active, so it was a tossup as to which oneto hunt - I went with the bottom one, thinking that since it was in the woods, it would probably see the first activity. Besides, there wasa downhill thermal about to set in, and I figured that deer would be skirting the bedding areas on the downhill side as the daylight faded... It was basically a coin-toss.

Well, as luck would have it, at 6:00, I see a nice buckcome down out of the overgrown fieldat the top scrape just start pawing thedaylights out of it. He raked a tree a bit, then pawed at it some more. Not a huge buck, but it was a nice night, I was alone, peaceful... I thought - this is it... When he comes down to tendthis scrape, he's roasted.

He was a mainframe 5x5. Maybe 16" wide, 110-115"on a good day, sporting a nice chocolatey rack. Not a monster, but a deer that I'd be plenty happy to shoot - especially on a day like yesterday. It was beautiful out there. I had all the time in the world, and would've been happy to end my '07 archery season right then and there on that buck. Just would've been a nice end to a nice night. We've all had those nights, so I'm sure y'all understand.

Sooo... as luck would have it, thisbuck comes down the bank on the trail connecting the two scrapes,heading right to me.Inexplicably, heturns to rub a tree off the trail's edge, thenkeepssidehilling itout around the ridge thewrong way, instead of tending his other scrape, as I had planned. [>:] Apparently, he didn't read my itinerary.

I watched him a bit, just to study his body language and make sure he's not going to work his way back over. I had a wide open broadside 40 yarder, but wanted to watch for a little longer and confirm that he wasn't going to circle back toward his other scrape.

It was obvious, he clearly had his mind made up that, instead of continuing toward the head of the hollow,he was angling back around the ridge to the SW to scent-check the rest of the bedding area that he had just come out of.

I had one opening at 45 yards.Two more steps - seemed like an eternity. He's just calmly browsing some buds and fooling around. So, finally he hitstheopening, and lurched forward to take a couple more slow, loping strides - right throughthehole on a slow, steady gait. My window of opportunity was about to close. Either I had to stop him, or he was gonna walk right through the opening, out of my lane and out of harm's way.

So, I stopped him the only way I could've.I let out a loud MAAAAAP. (Probably a little TOO loud, but I had to make sure he heard me). Okay, it was definitely too loud. LOL

He froze, and was a little apprehensive. Slightly quartering away. Gorgeous shot, but the deer was obviously on edge.

So, I settled the pin on the vitals, made sure everything was right, rested my forefinger on the trigger andsoftly rolled it back and turned it loose.

In one of those weird slow motion sequences- I picked up the arrow at about 30 yards, tracking it through the hole in the canopy as it started to drop right into the vitals. At this point, he was already tagged, gutted, dragged, checked in, and at the butcher's shop.

As in all things in life, not everything goes as planned. Just as that white crest passed the 30-yard mark, he hits the deck, and dropped right with it. Both deer and arrow probably dropped 8-10 inches in that last 15 yards of flight, and she burned right over the top of his back and buried in the bank.

Not sure if he heard the bow go off, or the buzz of the feathers, but his reflexes saved his hide. Either way, I should've held low, and I didn't.

If he hadn't ducked, he was duck butter. LOL I should've taken the 40 yarder when he was stopped, calmand browsing. Life goes on, for me and (more importantly) forhim.

I just kinda smiled to myself and thought... "old boy... you came abouta quarter of asecond away from the pearly gates. If you came with 9 lives, you're walking awaywith 8."

I still don't know what possessed him to go out around the ridge the other way.Just must've been where he wanted to go, I guess. Looking back, he had a downhill thermal coming off the bedding area out that way, so that's probably the angle he was working.

Either way, he wasn't really spooked. He just flinched at the shot and took a little hop, then a few trots, then walked away...

He was by no stretch of the imagination a monster buck, so I'm not upset at all. My shot was good, he just one-upped me. He deserved to win that round.

Well even though you missed it still sounds like you had a great day in the stand. You will get him next time.

Cool hunt great story..Better luck next time!

Quick man that was a great read, sounds like a few games MI has stoled from you guys

I am not a fan of the mouth bleat, I hate giving away my position. Who knows what is right thing to do.[&:]

Oh well, it happens.... Awesome story and good luck on tagging an Ohio buck. Where abouts are you hunting?

He will be back. Maybe next time he thinks he isoutsmarting you by going the way you wanted in the first place!

keep your head up, get him next time. I missed real nice 10pt in September, lost sleep ever since

Hey bud, great read, I was right there with in that tree.. Nice evening ...

Been there done that on a whiff shot at that distance.. what else can a guy say...they all dont work out at planned.. glad to hear itsa clean miss and you had a cool encounter..

Good luck the rest of the season in Ohio bud.. public land hunting..you get on down out there...you've done well!

Troy

Fran, great story. Too bad about the miss, but that can happen on those longer shots. Look at it this way, now you get to enjoy more nights like last night.

That is a pretty long shot to begin with. A lot can happen in 45 yards. Don't sweat it, at least you didn't wound him and know that he's still out there and not too spooked.