I have been waiting for this buck for 3 years. I have him on all my deercam pictures but i have never seen him when i am hunting in a stand. Today for the first time there he was about 25-30 yards away and he was trailing a doe and don' t you know i could not even get a clear shot at him there was to much brush to make sure i got him.
Now I am second guessing if i should have shot anyway ? What would you have done?
Also I am looking for your opinions on wether you think he will be back i have been waiting for 3 years for him.

If you have to ask yourself whether or not you should have taken the shot, then you did the right thing by waiting. Far better to let him walk away than to make a bad shot and not be able to recover the animal. Or possibly cause a slow lingering death[X(] and never have the opportunity to see him again.

If you didn' t disturb the area too bad, put out some esterus scent and hope for the best!

I hope your right thanks for the answer.
I hope i could get some more opinions.

Your better off letting him live than risking injuring him and never finding him until a few weeks after you shot him. This way you at least give yourself another chance at him! Good Luck.

You would be absolutely kicking yourself if you wounded that deer. Sounds like he didn' t bust you so keep on truckin.

he' ll be back... Last year my brother shot at a Huge 12 pointer and missed totally... and he saw the deer again that night still chasing that doe, and I saw the buck 3 days later in that same area... Not to say that is the normal, but I wouldn' t give up for sure... just incase your wondering he' s still out there, I hope... Hoping to have him the freezer after this weekend...[:-]

You did the right thing by not taking a risky shot. Take a look at how many of these wounding threads started off by someone trying to force the issue when they should have restrained themselves.

Congrats for doing the right thing.

I agree. You definitely did the right thing in not taking the shot. Why take a chance on a trophy animal that you have been working so hard in pursuing. I think he will be back as well....unless something happened to keep him away that is...

The chances of him returning are higher since you didn' t shoot. If you had shot and missed or just injured him, the chances of him returning would be greatly reduced. You are to be commended for your patience. It will payoff.

I know its hard to do when you see the one you want, but don' t take marginal shots. A bad hit is worse than a miss and either of those could cause you to never see the deer gain. With the rut here, he may make another mistake and allow you a high percentage " slam-dunk" shot with a quick recovery which is what we all want.