Thought I'd share my hunt from Oct. 30th. The last couple weeks of October I had spotted this buck on a few different occasions and he seemed to be extremely cautious in his actions. He always came out of the woods at exactly the same spot at very last light which was a spot I couldn't set up in. I had failed to get him closer a few days earlier when I attempted to call him in. On Friday the 30th the weather was cold, drizzly, and ideal for deer movement and we were expecting the warm front to move in the next day so I squeezed in a quick hunt after work that day. I hurried home and got cleaned up and headed to a spot close to my home. Upon arriving at my favorite area, I spooked up three or four deer that were in the ditch by my stand on the way in, but nothing of size and they really didn't make me out as a human so I wasn't too concerned. About an hour after I got into the tree, I spotted a doe being trailed closely by a smaller 8 point in the woods about 40 yards away. About a half-hour went by and suddenly off to my right I spotted a doe in the hayfield next to me about 120 yards out with her tail twitching up and down. She was facing away looking into the woods. A decent 8 came out into the hayfield chasing her but within minutes this nice mature buck came out from his usual entrance spot and absolutely leveled the smaller buck broad side, then chased him out of the area. While the big buck was distrcted the doe began to head away from me so I gave a couple light can calls to see if that would interest either her or the big buck, or both. After giving two calls, she immediately spun around and trotted my way and he quickly followed in behind her. In her response to my call I think she was simply looking for another deer to possibly distract him. Unfortunately as she made her way to my ditch, I believe she may have caught a glimpse of me getting into position. I spent the next 15 minutes standing motionless with my bow in one hand with her on the other side of my tree about 20 yards away. The buck hung up in the tall weeds waiting for her next move. After what seemed like an eternity she eventually calmed down and continued down into the ditch and up the other side ending up not 15 yards away from me, but the wary buck swung around down low from me about 40 yards away offering no shot through the thick brush. When the doe came up the other side of the ditch she was heading into my downwind stream, but thankfully I had hung a scent wick with estrous on it next to my tree to help mask any scent I might have. She caught wind of the wick and came toward my tree looking for a sight of another deer. The buck had eventually slowly made his way up the ditch from down low on the same side as her and was now about 25 yards away behind a small tree near a fresh scrape. I needed him to take a couple more steps. He was standing only slightly quartering to me, but definately at a decent angle. He eventually stepped forward about 2 more steps wanting to see what the doe was getting so interested in while I slowly came to full draw. He looked up at me just as I settled the pin on him but by then it was too late. The arrow connected spot-on and he whirled around and headed for the woodline 50 yards away. He didn't make it that far. I heard him pile up into the fence next to the woods. The shot was devastating, as was the blood trail. He is a nice mature older buck with good mass throughout. While he showed no visible limp, his back right lower leg had been broken in several spots at some point in his life, likely the year before. My son had found his left beam this summer and it doesn't possess all of the abnormality of this years rack. Most likely he was struck by a car. The tips of the main beam and G3 were broken off of the shed so I believe he was injured right before he shed his antlers last year. The deformity will obviously keep his score down, but for me this is one of those deer where his character and maturity outweigh the score sheet. He made the hit list when we found his shed. There are at least 3 other bigger bucks on this spot, so I'm looking forward to late season when I can pick up another buck tag. Until then I'll be on doe duty while I help my 12 y/o daughter to fill her tag. Good luck to everyone else here who is still in pursuit and congrats to those that have already tagged out. I've been enjoying all of the good stories the past couple weeks. Pic with my two kids who helped on the recovery Next day backyards shots
