The 2005 Deer Hunting Season presented me with a lot of action. Not a single night or morning of hunting went by without me seeing deer. As a matter of fact, the very first day of season I had 4 does and 3 bucks pass under my stand, some giving me as much as 15 minutes of good shots each. Being the first day and none of them being really big, I decided to wait and see what would come along later. Subsequent hunts were a little slower, but I always had deer come in. Finally, after weeks of hunting and no big bucks coming along, I decided to take a nice doe. At this point I just wanted meat in the freezer!

So, one night I had a nice doe come in alone but she was moving at a good pace right at me. Long story short, I let out a "meep" to stop her before I had drawn my bow... Doh! She stopped, looked at me and I drew. Afraid she was about to bolt, I took a rushed shot and skipped it across her back. She jumped up, ran around the tree and stopped. I pulled another arrow out and began to knock it up. That's when she saw me and we both froze staring each other down for about 4 minutes. Finally, she backed out of Dodge without giving me that second chance. Note to self: DRAW THE BOW BEFORE STOPPING THE DARN DEER!

Anyhow, not long after that, the rut came in and the bucks crawled out of the woodwork. For the next couple weeks I watched one nice buck chasing does like a Beagle on a rabbit all night long. He kept them moving so much that they never could come in and give me a shot. One night I had a convoy of 11 does pass by just barely outside my bow range only to see them come running back 10 minutes later with a horny buck in hot pursuit. Well, one night, said horny buck came in before the does. He was passing by at about 15 yards broadside, but wasn't about to stop. This time I waited til his head passed behind a tree, drew my bow, and THEN I let out a "meep". Sure enough he stopped, not knowing where it came from. I took my time with the aim and let her rip. I saw the arrow pass through the tail end of his lungs and blow out the back side. He jumped up and bolted to the right.

I watched him as he faded into the woods but actually saw him drop before getting out of site. About 15 minutes later I quietly got down out of my stand and began following the blood trail, even though I knew where he was going to be. Only 30 yards away I found him laying right where I saw him drop. Yes this one was a lot nicer than my last buck, that's for sure! Again, no monster but still quite nice. Surprisingly, his rack had good width, height and a lot of mass but only had 5 points on it! I later found that I could place the 7 point rack of my last buck inside this buck's 5 point rack with room to spare. Oddly, he had no brow tines, so he probably didn't have the genetics to ever have grown a monster high scoring rack. Add the brow tines on and he would have had a REALLY nice 7 point rack. Anyhow, I got him field dressed, loaded up in the truck and off to the processor. That night I was eating the best tenderloins I have ever had. They tasted like sweet filet mignon... best venison you could ever ask for.