I had an uneventful and frustrating bow season, which has been the case for the last few years. Hunting an EAB county, my goal in bow season is to fill 1 or 2 antlerless tags to complete EAB. If I encounter a shooter that's a bonus. This year I did not get to bowhunt much, and when I did I did not see many deer. Several fawns, but I made a personal decision to pass fawns this year. I missed a doe that gave a shot opportunity in an unexpected direction, through some thick stuff. I thought she was 30 yards but she was only 20 and it was a clean miss. Thick woods can make them seem further than they are, just like open woods can make them seem closer than they are...at least for me.

Two weeks ago at last light I had a good size deer come out of a thicket 45 yards away. I got a good look as it approached in the open and checked the forward and did not see horn. Too big to be a fawn. It cleared a tree and gave me an easy 15 yard broadside shot. I concentrated on the shot but somehow my point of aim was too far back. I heard the dreaded hollow pumpkin busting sound. The deer took of in a tear and made a semi-circle, then all was quiet. I snuck out and came back the next day. I quickly found the deer where the sound had ended, not much more than 100 yards away. It did not go far but the coyotes found it first. As suspected it was a gut shot. But to my surprise and dread...it was a spike with little 2" spikes. I was able to salvage the back straps, shoulders and neck. But now I am in the hole with EAB.

Bowhunted again this past Friday afternoon and saw nothing. Went out for the first morning of ML and hunted a very productive stand at the back of our 90 acres. I have never heard so many shots on opening day of ML, and most of them seemed to come from different spots on the neighboring property. They must have had a big group over there and from the sounds of it they did well. I saw a fawn at first light which I passed. Then only a yearling buck and a 2 year old 4 point....big forks inside the ears but not by much. They hung around under my stand for a good while. When a shot sounded a couple hundred yards down the hill, that 4 point stared it down for over 5 minutes. If he survives, hopefully his rack will catch up with his body.

I went out for a few hours in the afternoon but had to pack it in early to take my boys trick or treating. I pulled my camera cards for the first time in a month and was pleasantly surprised. My goal for bucks is 3 years or older. If it's 3 with a small rack it gets a pass. With the amount of deer killed on the highway or by neighbors that doesn't leave a lot of bucks getting to 3 on my place. On my camera cards I had 4 bucks show up in the last month that I estimate to be 3 or older.

So today I got out there at 3:10 today leaving me 2.5 hours to hunt. I hunted from the stand in this thread where a year ago today I shot a 10 point: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9046

At 3:50 a doe stepped out at the end of the right oblique shooting lane and I was able to drop her in her tracks.

45 minutes later a buck sneaks up to check her out...he is a 6 point with no brow tines, heavy on the front end and looks to be 3 years old. Antlers are inside the ears and I hold off.

At 5:10 a yearling buck came up the narrow strip of clover 15 yards to my right. That is my path for getting to the stand so I don't expect to see deer coming in from that direction. I have about a 10 yard strip where I can get a shot, otherwise the clover strip is blocked from sight by brush and trees.

At 5:20 I look back to my left at the clover strip and I get glimpses through the brush of a deer coming my way up the clover strip. I can tell he's mature by what little I could see. There was a mainframe 11 point on the camera pull from yesterday and that is the deer I really want. As soon as he steps out I can tell this is the deer and I stopped him. It was a 15 yard shot and he went about 45 yards. Tried to jump a fence and didn't make it, falling on the old fence and bringing the whole thing down. Definitely thrilled with this one! Very large body and turned out to be a 12 point 5 x 6 with a sticker on one of the brows. The buck he is fighting below is the 6 I saw today.

Neill - congrats on a nice buck and great story. Best part of the story - shooting a spike when you thought it was a doe and still calling it in as a buck. Love to hear when hunters play by the rules, especially when if we didn't no one would know except us.

Nice Buck.. congrats..

Very nice! Congrats! Let's see some pics of the buck on the ground!

Sorry about that Freddy.....I'm very bad about taking picks after a kill, rarely take any. However, the story of this hunt was captured on one of my trail cams, about 80 yards from my stand: