My plan was to once again sit in hopes of an old buck that I hunted without success last year. I slipped carefully into my stand and looked out onto a doe and a nice buck which was just walking away. Sometimes in the very moment it's obvious that I arrived just a little too late..... but then as he got down in that low place with too much plant growth screening him for a shot.... he turned, 130 yards. I had gotten a quick look with my binoculars and noticed 4 points up on his right side and that deep chest of a mature whitetail. I got the scope on him as he paused with his right side exposed. The slug left the barrel and I saw him buck a bit as he turned toward me and toward the doe. He ran still closer and swung toward my left to stand looking back. I put in another round as he started his run again but I could see there was no need for a follow-up shot- he crashed in the deep weeds and I saw one tall weed switching back and forth for just a short while. When I approached the buck he was still, 4:15pm. I do not "know" this deer, no trail cam photos of him. It's that way this time of year as the bucks range far from their normal places. This finishes my deer season as he's my second buck for the year and even though he's not the one I was waiting for his antlers are better- not wide at all but for the place I was hunting he's a very decent mature animal. I could never have killed this buck today except that I have a stand positioned for a sneaky approach and departure allowing me to get in even when deer are present. Yes, luck was big in this hunt but my favorite part of it all is the surprise of taking a mature buck that might have been at this spot for his very first time.
