Hi Guys, everyone is doing fine now but, I still have a lingering cough. Thank you for asking! They overlapped by a couple days. I think me and the wife had it worse than the kids which, I guess I'm happy about. lol No luck on finding the buck yet. I have have a couple more spots i need to look and I need to check a camera I set way out...maybe i caught him passing through and he'll be around for this years season.
Well guys, I gave it a solid try this weekend. I hunted with @LittleChief on a piece of public here in Arkansas. I met up with him Friday evening after having dinner with the family. Saturday morning I didn't see anything. In the evening, I moved to a new spot. I had antlerless buck, either shed or BB cruise by me at about 45 yards on the edge of a cedar thicket. Unfortunately, there were too many trees in the way for a shot. After dark, I made an adjustment and set up in a different tree about 60 yards from the spot that deer walked out of the thicket. Sunday morning at 7 am I had four bucks come out of the thicket from the same spot. Two bucks were legal and two were not. The biggest was probably a 120" 10 point. One of the little bucks stood in a shooting lane at 40 yards. I was able to have plenty of time to get ready for the shot if one of the bigger bucks followed him. Unfortunately, they caught my scent trail from where I walked in. I had the wind in my favor in the tree. Both of the bigger bucks hung up behind the cedar trees at about 55 yards and never stepped into the opening. My season is open until the end of February, so I will keep hunting. But, with my work schedule for the rest of the month, and needing to give my wife a break next weekend since I was gone all weekend, I doubt I will get another chance before the contest ends. Good luck if you are still after it!