N2chuckar,
The quick version;
I watched him bed, but had to back out of that spot and go around him to make the stalk due to the wind. It took me 2 hours to get around him. I was actually sneaking up to a tree about 90 yards above his morning bed thinking he would get up and move when the sun got to him. He did exactly like I thought. Except I hadn't got to the tree yet, I was 15 feet away from it coming up from the other side. I was standing in the open, nothing over a foot tall, with my bow on my hip when I looked up to make the next step and there he was 20 yards away coming up the hill feeding on the other side of the tree I was heading for. Talk about timing. I had no cover at all, but I was able to kneel down, get my bow in front of me, knock an arrow. All this in full view of him. Talk about shaking. I was sure I had blown it. I mean really, what are the odds you can pull this off against a mature buck at this range with the cards stacked in his favor. I just got lucky. He looked hard at me once while I was moving my bow in front of me. This caused me to freeze for a minute before he went back to feeding. Then one of his buddies came up from behind him, walked under this tree and took a hard look at me. That's 7 yards from me. He didn't find me to interesting and put his head down to smell the area he was about to bed in. I came to full draw and put that arrow between his neck and front shoulder. It was no more than 20 yards max. He was quartering toward me( we have been taught to not take that shot) but frankly there is a nice opening there that you can get great penetration on if you hit it. Make sure you miss that front shoulder bone or you got trouble. I started laughing as soon as I knew I hit him. I couldn't believe I pulled that one off. THe arrow head is just starting to stick out behind the front shoulder there, you can probably tell where that is.
Good luck to everybody this year, may you be as fortunate as I have been.
Post those pics!
