The Perfect Hunt: 10 point Kill

I got a call Friday night from my buddy who had been seeing good bucks by his house out near the mountain area. I had hunted my Gorge Stand hard all week and decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to give it a break. Patrick only hunted this area a few times in the past and never in archery season so we were going into the hunt blind with no knowledge of significant deer trails or trees to climb.

On the drive in we bumped up a decent buck bedding in the field where we ended up parking. We got our climbers out of the truck and trudged uphill about 200 yards where the mountain leveled off. I went right, Patrick went left. I scanned the area as best I could with my headlamp and decided to pick a tree near some pine trees. Things didn't start off well, my climber was giving me issues and prolonged my attempt to get up the tree for about 10 minutes. I could see Patrick's headlamp about 75 yards below me and remember thinking we were going to be too close together. By 6:45 am I was finally situated in the tree and ready to roll. My phone vibrated and the message read "Another Hunter Just Walked Underneath Me." The morning wasn't going well at all, my confidence in the hunt went down to zilch and I looked beyond into the darkness wondering why I came.

At 7 am I glanced over my left shoulder and saw a siloutte walking up the trail. I blinked a few times to adjust to the light and noticed a good rack on his head! Without hesitation I knew this was a shooter buck. I slowly grabbed my crossbow from the hanger and set my pins on him. The buck was eating on the ground and had no clue I was there. I had time to take out my range finder.......25 yards on the dot. I put my head back down and looked through the scope. By this time the buck figured out something was up and started sniffing into the air. I put the pin on his neck and pulled the trigger, WHAM dropped him in his footsteps! After 35 minutes I got down to the ground and sat next to my biggest buck to date, a really good 10 point. This guy had 3 points on his right side and 7 points on his left side.

After a long summer of trying to locate deer and hang tree stands this hunt reminded me you just never know what is going to happen when you get into the woods. I am extremely happy with the kill and want to throw a shout out to Ole McChesney for putting me on a great buck. My buck tag is filled early and man does it feel good. The rest of the fall will be a little bit more relaxing with this guy under my belt. I will continue to hunt doe's, I still have 2 of those tags to fill. I hope I can help scout for my dad and brothers also, they still have a long season to go but what a way to start the killing season off for us all!