It was the night before my final hunt of the rut. My dad had told me that the rut is just now in its prime and we have a good shot of making it happen tomorrow morning. Earlier in the season I had passed up a few six pointers in hopes for a bigger buck. Little did I know it would come down to the last day of the season. I was well aware that if I didn’t pull it together tomorrow I would be hunting in some cold, frustrating weather in the second season. I maintained a positive mental attitude and was sure it was going to happen tomorrow morning.

I had a little trouble falling to sleep that night: I was a bit nervous and over excited. After reviewing all the steps of having a positive and safe hunt several times I fell asleep. Only to be woken up about 6 hours later. Around five o’clock the next morning my dad came in and woke me up; together we had a nice breakfast and talked about how to get into the tree quietly and safely. I felt confident, earlier in the season my dad had harvested an eleven pointer out of the same tree I was headed to. I gathered my stuff, put on my Scent-Lok base layers, and jumped in the car.

The ride seemed like forever even though we were only headed right up the street in hopes of harvesting a backyard buck. At last we pulled into our spot of fifteen beautiful acres. We put on our warm Scent-Lok suits and slowly made it to our tree. The day seemed to be going perfect; we got into our stands quicker and quitter than usual. We were set up and ready to hunt about 20 minutes before sun up.

About a half an hour after first light two does were coming our way. It was perfect the wind was blowing in the opposite direction and I stood as still as can be. The does wanted to cross the fence in their usual spot which was just out of range. There used to be an opening in the fence which was heavily traveled by the majority of the deer in the area. Fortunately my dad and I arranged the fence earlier in the season to divert deer travel to the other fence crossing which happened to be right under our stand. Sure enough the deer came right to us because of the time and effort that we had put into preconditioning our area by placing a synthetic scrape below our tree, and closing the fence. They came right into my 15 yard shooting lane, but just wouldn’t give me a broad side shot. As they came closer the deer saw something move and went on alert. The does began to slowly walk right back from where they came, but not before giving me a short opportunity. I came to full draw, but was unfortunately spotted by the mature doe and couldn’t squeeze off the shot. I was disappointed, but shook it off and realized that the hunt wasn’t over. This wasn’t the first time this season that the same thing had happened.

Not long after the missed opportunity; I rattled in a small but shooter buck. It was closing fast, but right before it entered my shooting range it turned off into the field with a few does. I waited patiently for it to make its way back into the woods, but it was occupied by the does in heat. We attempted to grunt the buck back in with a hands free buckgrunter. After a few good grunts the buck broke the wood line. I was shaking out of control, the combination of cold weather and excitement was taking its toll on me. The 4 point buck was coming fast. I grabbed my bow, and waited as motionless as I could. I was so excited and nervous I had watched the buck walk through one of my shooting lanes. I had completely missed my opportunity. As the buck walked off, I regrouped myself and prayed for just one more chance.

Unbelievably, the buck stopped in its tracks, and began to walk back for no apparent reason. I began to shake all over again! I could barely hold my bow steady. The deer stopped broadside 15 yards away, I pulled myself together and drew back. I carefully put the pin just behind the shoulder blade and released. The arrow hit right on target, but the deer showed little reaction at first. He just walked off like nothing had happened, but after a few yards he stumbled and went down no more then forty yards away. I couldn’t believe it—my first buck—and I had nearly missed my opportunity! It was truly a buck meant to be.

When it was all over we thanked the Lord for the second opportunity and a hunt I will always remember. My dad was very proud of me. Together we went down and retrieved my first buck, and I told Dad I wanted to donate him to Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry.