Okay! Here is your chance to shine about: 1) the one(s) you got and 2) the one(s) that got away!

That is: please tell your stories about the best buck you harvested and the biggest one you either missed or had no shot on. Please give as many details as you can!!!

Heck, bow season is less than three weeks away!! Time to get pumped up!!!

I'll go first.

The one I got. About four years ago I was hunting opening day of bow season from one of my favorite stands. I had actually planned on hunting a different stand. Climbed into the first stand and the wind was wrong. So, went to the other stand and sat down. Didn't see anything for the first two hours. Then in the distance, I heard what sounded like a hunter rattling antlers or using a rattling bag. I honestly thought someone was screwing around with me. It went on for about 5 minutes, so in the oft chance it was REALLY a couple of deer, I blew my grunt call. Sure enough, about 5 minutes later, here comes a 9-pt and two 8-pts walking down the trail to me. I saw that the 9 was quite a bit bigger and as he passed a thicket about 25 yards away drew my bow. He and and one of the 8pts decided to start a scrap...and got to 10 yards away!! I'm still at full draw, and finally the 9 pushes the 8 out of the way. I shoot and hit the 9.

Then the fun begins! The other two deer take off in one direction and the 9 takes off across the valley I am hunting. For ten minutes after shooting him, I hear nothing. No crash of a falling deer, no running...nothing! So I climb out of my stand and look to find my arrow. the arrow passed thru the deer and is stuck in the ground, covered with blood. As I pull it out of the ground, I hear a crash from across the valley, look up just in time to see the 9point take off along the other side of the valley, run about 150 yards, and stop. I decide to get out and come back later, hoping the deer beds down and dies.

Me and a couple friends come back long after dark to look. Hardly any blood for the first 1/2 hour is found, then finally a whole bunch is found across the valley where the deer first went. We then start to TRY finding a blood trail. We managed to find a drop here and there, but very small drops, and spread way out. More disconcerting is a drop we find with chewed up corn it it! A gut shot, I'm thinking!!

We keep looking. More blood. More corn! Finally I say, "Let's take a look up where I last saw the buck standing." Sure enough, there he was!! I had got his liver and also opened up a stomach with my shot. Gross score was about 135.

WELL... as a first year bowhunter two years ago, i really wanted to show that i knew what i was doing. i was out to prove that bowhunting can be easy to do. i was sittin in my climber on october 20th as i remember because my climber was brand new caus my bday is october 14 and i got a lot of $$ so i bought it.
anyways i had climbed up the little popple at about 2:00 pm. i got comfortable and sat for close to an hour when i look ahead and realize that 40 yds in front of my is a buck working a scrape. now the buck is on my neighbors property and if he hadnt been there was no shot anyway. i didnt realize that he was big untilhe turned and bee lined right for me! that tinks 69 got his attention. he crossed the line and kept coming. he got 5 yds in front of my tree. in front of me is some dead pines so there was still no shot. he is standing 5 yds from me and i cant do anything but stare in disbelief!
finally he turns to my left and walks and stops in my opening about 20 yds away. i drew while he was walking. he stops and turns broadside to pee. i release and thwack! i hit the ground underneithe him. three inches higher and he would have been mine.
what happened was that i didnt bend at the waist, i bent my arms. so the main phrase of the story should be this... "its all in the hips"

It was November 8, 2003 and I got into my stand fairly late. I was sitting for only a half hour and I start to hear crunching leaves in front of me. I see one doe come out and then behind that was a small buck. The doe moves on and goes her own way but the buck starts to head my way. At twenty yards he gives me no shot. He starts trotting at a pretty good rate towards me. Finally he gives me a slightly quarting away shot at about five yards. I put the pin behind his shoulder and let an arrow fly. He took off and I watched him for about five minutes and then I lost sight of him. I sat in my stand for a little while and then got down and left very quietly to go tell my buddy what happend. We then went back to his place for 3 hours to give the deer some time to die. Me and a couple buddies went out and started our search for blood. We frantically look, but we cannot find a drop of blood. Then my friend yells, "Hey! Hes down over here!" I literally ran to him to see my first bowkill. It was a small six pointer but to me it felt like I shot the biggest buck in the world. When gutting the deer we found that I had hit one lung and the arrow went through the stomach. It was a perfect night of hunting for me.

I haven't harvested deer with my bow yet. This is my second season. Last year I only got out a couple of times, but I did see deer. One AM, I was sitting on top of a ridge near a saddle that deer use to move across and feed on the Acorns. I was sitting perfectly still (ok, maybe not) on the ground. I hear something off to my right rear (5 o'clock). I turn slowly and see a small 6 point buck. He is staring right at me, so I have to just wait it out until he looks away. Finally after about 12 hours of "woods" time (actually more like 12 seconds), he runs behind me to over a smaller hill so all I can see is his eyes and antlers. At this point he is 25 yards away, but over a hill so a shot is impossible. After the stare down, he ran off down the hill and I didn't see anyting else. Still a very exciting hunt because I saw deer and it was a buck. Gonna get one this year though...

This, by the way, is the 9pt I was talking about. Tried to post picture as part of original post, but technical problems.

Definately one to be proud of, Beautiful mount!