Well, first I'll start with the stand location... I chose to put the stand on a logging road-type trail that we made a few years back with a dozer. From my preseason scouting (and a tip from my old neighbor who owns the land next door) I was able to figure out that the deer (especially bucks) tended to walk along the ridge top that part of the trail was on. The deer mostly use that trail in the morning when they are going out to feed in the fields acroos the road. They would approach my stand sight from the north (upwind) and cross over onto another trail that led westward into the corn fields.
October 11, '09:
I woke up at about 4:45 to take a scent-killing bath, eat, and get dressed. I headed out to the barn in just my long underwear for my Summit Bushmaster climbing treestand. I noticed the weather was a lot colder than the past few days (a cold front of about 35 degrees had moved in, ) which made it an even better day to hunt. I then headed out to my stand with my dad as a "decoy." We got to my stand at about 5:30-ish. Once I was 20 feet up in a medium-sized hickory tree and settled in, my dad went back to the house to make the deer think the danger had gone. I noked an G5 Montec tipped arrow onto my 2009 Diamond The Rock bow and was fully ready. As the sun begin to rise, I started ranging different trees, stumps, etc to know how far a deer next to them would be. About halfway through this process, I heard the crunch of leaves behind me, but by the speed and pattern I could tell it wasn't a deer. I looked and saw a coyote trotting along behind my stand. I was unable to draw my bow and shoot it, because my release had gotten tangled with the rangfinder and the coyote was just going to fast. Then it went over the hill and was gone. About an hour later (8:30) I just happened to look up and see a branch moving side to side. Or at least I thought it was a branch. Then I realized it was a ******* HUGE buck standing in the middle of the trail about 60 yards away! I instantly started breathing heavy and telling myself I was seeing things. As the buck started walking, I knew for sure he was real. He would walk a few steps, lick his privates and lip curle, then walk a few more steps. He did this for about 30 yards and the went behind a brush pile. I couldn't tell for sure, but I think he was making a scrape. Finally, he started walking toward the food trail and I knew now was the time. I stood up and drew my bow when he was on the other side of a huge beach tree. Once he was clear of all obsticles and about 27 yards away, I settled my 25 pin on him and said "mmaaaaoor" to get him to stop. My brain almost exploded when he looked right at me. I then did one of the most inhumane things ever and shot when I was not ready! I knew the pin was not quite in the right place, but I was so eager to get rid of that arrow that I just let it go!

My mind worked in S L O W M O T I O N for the next second or sow as I saw the arrow fly at him and hit waaayyyy too far forward.

Oh pelosi I said to myself as I determined I had just shot him in the shoulder. I then watched as he jumped over the side of the hill and sprinted full out for the thickets between the fields. I instantly got out my walkie-talkie and called my dad. "Dad, I seriosly just shot a really huge buck! I think the hit was too far forward, and you need to get your butt out here and help me follow the blood trail." Then I climed down the tree and stuffed my gear into my backpack. I ran over to where the buck had been standing, looked for blood, saw none and got back to the stand. When my dad got there, we looked around for the blood trail. I eventually found some blood about 15 yards from where I shot him. For the next 80 or so yards, we kept on finding good-sized drops of blood. Suddenly the trail just seemed to end and we were hepless. That's when I got the idea to go get Luger (she's my 4 month old German Shepherd pup.) I figured she would have no trouble following the buck's tracks. I ran 800 yards to the house, ditched my pack, took my coat off and switched it for a jacket, and got Luger. We ran back to where we left my dad with the end of the blood trail. I led her to about the middle of the trail and led her toward the dissappearing end. She followed it as far as the road, but try as she did, the poor girl just coudn't follow it from there. We crossed the road, but still couldn't find any blood. I reasoned that if I could find just one drop of blood, my dog could follow it from there. Well it took about 100 yards of walking where I THOUGHT the deer had gone before I fownd any more blood. The trail was so easy to follow that my dad went ahead and I followed right behind with my bow in one hand and the leash in the other. The spots of blood were getting a lot bigger and I saw huge clots along with bunches of liquid all over the corn stalks. My dad suddenly yelled "There he is!" and I almost wet myself. We approached him from behind, just like your supposed to and I was absolutely amazed by what I saw. He (the buck) was the biggest 8-pointer I had ever seen and his antlers were even bigger than my previouse 10-pointer's had been. We noticed that I had hit him in the neck, not the chest.

I got really lucky and the arrow severed his trachea and both his jugular veins.

I lifted his head and ran my hands up and down the rack. My dad then took Luger back to the house as I stayed with the deer. When he came back, we took pictures and dressed the deer. We took him back to the house in the truck and sprayed him down with cool water to keep him from spoiling. Hours later, I weighed him at 205 pounds field dressed! His rack was 21 inches wide on the outside and 18.5 on the inside. His tallest tine was 10.5" and his main beams were slightly "palmated."
When it was all said and done, I learned that I should NEVER take a shot on an animal until I am ABSOLUTELY ready. I got really lucky on this hunt, because the buck just ran until he bled out. I will wait until I am absolutely sure before shooting again..........
