Crunch Time And A Kill

I had a good feeling about today when I woke up this morning. The weather was perfect for deer hunting in early November. The temperature when I arrived in the parking lot this morning was 23 degrees, clear skies and a light wind. I hiked up to my Bedding Area Tree Stand in , was set and ready to kill at 6:50am. I threw out some grunts and rattles with no takers. Around 8:15am a small buck came browsing through the area but never got close enough so I could take a better look, I would guess he was a 4-5 point. Got out of my stand around 9am and headed into work.

I drove back to Latrobe this evening because my brothers have been seeing lots of action out at workcan't believe it but it was my first time hunting the property this year. I decided to hike up to the Cabin and try my luck there. Around 4pm 2 does came up from behind me cresting the hill that sits there. They got close but I didn't shoot hoping a buck was trailing them. 30 minutes went by and nothing ever came up. At 5:30 I had a small half rack spike wonder his way down the hill to my left. He came within 7 yards and didn't sense me. I thought that would be it for deer sightings but at 6:20 a typical  5 point made his way down from behind the cabin. I debated setting my cross hairs on him for 5 minutes but then I got to thinking this might be one of the last bucks I see in archery season because my time is limited in the next 10 days. I decided I'd rather stick a buck in archery then mess with riffle season. I took out my doe bleat and did it 15 times before he finally made his way into shooting range. At about 30 yards I let one loose and it was a fatal blow! He only ran about 35-40 yards and toppled over. Wasn't the buck I had hoped for this year but he will do, now I will actually have time to do some relaxing this fall! Billy and Andy were also hunting tonight. Billy saw 1 buck chasing a doe in the Oak Flats right at dark and Andy had 3 small does cruising around Dads stand. Hopefully their time in the woods will pay off for them in the next few days.........till then.