LEN: Here's the story: Had seen him once before, in velvet, in early August. I intentionally stayed away from the area I knew to be where he bedded during the day. This Thursday, I found where he had shredded a 6" diameter tree, and made 2 scrapes the same day. I set up a treestand 20 yards downwind from the scrapes. On Friday afternoon, I climbed into the stand, and less than 1 minute later, 3 does checked the scrape. 10-15 minutes later, a nice 6 pointer came right to the scrape, and I actually drew on him, preparing to shoot him. Just as I was about to release, the big guy appeared in my left peripheral vision, and I slowly let the bow down. The 6 pointer ran off scared, but the big guy took 10-15 minutes to finally come into the clear near the scrape. As Len knows, I've practiced A LOT this year, so I was fully confident of the 20 yard shot. I waited 10 minutes, and since light was fading fast, I climbed down with some difficulty due to nervous shaking. I checked for blood, of which there was LOTS, and walked 121 paces to my backdoor. Changed into good clothes, and took my wife out to dinner at a nice restaurant. Got up at 7:00AM, tracked him (like Len, I'm colorblind), and found him at 7:50AM. By coincidence, 7:50AM is the same time I shot my first deer 39 years ago. This was my 50th buck of my hunting career.
[ 10-30-2001: Message edited by: Bud Meadows ]
