Mid-day movement has been really good here despite the warm weather. October 24th I had a 4.5 yr old P&Y 8 point at 27 yards at 12:15 in the afternoon and couldn't get a shot. Hunted the same spot the next day, but made a minor adjustment in my set-up. At 1pm a forky ran a doe past me at 5 yards, she got downwind of me and they blew out of there. Then around 2:30 that big 8 point came barrelling down the same trail as the doe and forky. He was moving pretty quick through thick cover and I didn't want to let him get down wind, so I drew back and tried to stop him when he stepped into my first opening at 5 yards. Well that was a mistake... He absolutely turned inside out and bolted out of there as I was pulling through my shot. Luckily I missed him clean. Lesson learned... Don't try to stop a deer that close. Should have just shot him walking, or let him get a little farther out before trying to stop him... I was sitting on the ground in a blowdown so it wouldn't have counted for the contest, but man that one stung...
Tuesday I took a ride to a neighboring state for a quick scout/hunt. Got there around 1pm and as I was getting ready in the parking lot I watched a buck cross the road into the public land. I grabbed my bow and binos, followed him into the woods and got a visual on him at 100+ yards heading into some thick stuff. A loud single grunt stopped him dead in his tracks. He stared in my direction for a minute or 2 but became uninterested when he didn't see a deer. As soon as he turned to take a step away from me I did another loud deep grunt. He turned that step toward me and came in on a string. I was tucked in a little cluster of saplings at full-draw, and thought he was gonna walk right into me. I thought about taking a frontal if he kept coming, but he turned at 8 yards and gave me a better angle. Made a good shot, watched him go down, and my hunt was over in a total of about 5 minutes. Maybe the next one will be from the saddle... Can't make any promises though. Man it's fun calling them in from the ground like that!
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