Decided to move stands in hopes of crossing paths the deer in as their way to feed. Went back along the runway they use to get to the field and found two open grassy area surrounded by swamp but didn't have a tree I could set my climber. I venture further back and found a low point in the swamp with a shallow pool of running water... by the looks of it they were going right through the middle. I set my climber in a tree on the edge of the pool. However right in the middle of the swamp there was a young spruce that decided to take advantage of the unimpeded sunlight. And small spindly thing but just big enough to narrow my shooting lane. That evening, I quietly walked through the swamp to my climber and made my way up 15 feet or so into the tree. At 3:30, a little six pointer comes out of nowhere. Nose down, he quickly scampers right to the middle of the pool and puts his head down and starts to drink... right behind the spruce with no clear shot. I stand up and draw back. He lifts his head and trots past the spruce right in my shooting lane and I hit him with a "meeerrpp" to stop him. He take another step and I take the shot. The whole experience couldn't have lasted mo than a minute. At the base of where he stood sits a large 2'x1' pile of white belly hair. I get down from my stand and look at my arrow which dons't have a single drop of blood on it. First buck jitters I guess. In hind sight I would have slowed down a bit and not rushed the shot, but I thought to shoot him quick before he gets out of my shooting lane. If he would have ventured back onto dry land into the woods, I would have hit the grunt tube a couple times in hopes of getting him to come back in. Overall it was great learning experience, and I would have much rather shaved him than gut shoot him, so things could have been much worse. But if it wasn't for the damn spruce! It's coming down next year I'll tell ya that much!
