Had about a mile walk into my stand at about 5am. walked up on a deer with my flashlight...stood there waiting for it (not sure what it was...could just tell it had some huge body mass to it) to take off, but never did...just walked calmly down the trail the way I was going so I sat there for a bit, and then within a minute another deer (never saw em) walked within 10 feet of me behind me...didn't turn around to look because I knew I wouldn't be able to see em in the pitch black.
so I walk to where the stand is and cannot find the tape line to save my life...so I plop down on the trail and at first sun up...look over my shoulder and the tree stand is within 10 yards of me lol.
so I climb on up and I'm situating myself to slide under the shooting rest and look over and a deer has snuck up within 15 yards of me...i look at it...it looks back...and gone in a flash. never got a good clear view of the head so not sure if there was a rack or not, but was young either way.
so hours roll by and finally about 930 i'm bored outta my mind...and i just happen to look to my left and see a good sized buck walking calmly from straight out left of my stand, to behind it...at about 50 yards. So I stare....and then he goes behind some real thick brush and I ease my Traditions 50cal up, twistin my body around (thank God I'm a righty!)...he comes to a semi clear path (still plenty of brush but the last possibility I would have)...give him a "murr"...stops dead...looks...WHITE CLOUD.
waited for about 30 minutes, then climbed down and cound NOT find blood to save my life for about 15-20 minutes. but I knew in my head I hit him...just knew it. so I'm walking around and outta shear luck...come across his blood trail. track him about 100 yards and there he lies! And after calling my old man and my hunting buddy, I start the, what turned out to be, about a mile and half drag. believe it or not, he ended up weighing in at 187lbs. Not bad for a young 8pt! Some old timers at my club estimated him to be 2 or 3.
Biggest buck I've ever killed since we didn't have real large deer at my old club so damn if i'm not happy! And not to mention, very first shot hunting besides sighting in for my muzzleloader! Good start IMO!