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From my stand I could see a well used trail at fifteen yards, and a second at twenty five yards.  There was a third trail out of range at forty yards.  Each trail was running north and south along a bend in the river. I had the small meadow to my left and a thinly timbered hillside to my back.  About eighty yards in front of me was the river gorge.  The wind, when detectable was blowing uphill and into my face.

At legal shooting light, I had a large doe walk up the far trail from my left to my right and pass by at 40 yards; too far for me to shoot.  I checked my watch and it was 7:10AM.  Another small group of deer came feeding down a hillside slightly to my left and about 150 yards away.  They first made their way down to the river for a drink, and then back up on the bank to browse.

The group of deer was spread out; two mature does and two yearlings.  There was another mature doe lingering further back.  After a few minutes she traveled past the other deer and headed up the trail in front of me.  She passed at about 35 yards and I let her walk by. Meanwhile, down by the river I saw a stiff legged deer walking toward the two does and the yearlings.  Instantly I thought “BUCK!” And as soon as I saw his head I had my confirmation.

He moved right in on the does and pushed them around a bit.  The does and yearlings then started feeding up my trail and the buck headed down to the river for a drink.  The does had traveled about 40 or 50 yards up the trail by the time the buck returned to the bank.  I anticipated that the deer were going to walk on the close trail and would pass right in front of me.  Excited, I stood up and readied for a shot.  The deer were coming up the trail with the lead doe about 20 yards from stepping into my shooting lane.  The buck was not following them and I knew that I had to make a decision whether to shoot this doe that was going to present me with a fifteen yard broadside shot or let them all pass and hope the buck would follow.

I took a deep breath, focused my concentration and imagined shooting the doe as she stepped into the lane.  Cautiously optimistic, I hoped that I wasn’t making a mistake and was praying the buck would come my way as I let her walk away.  The doe and yearlings had left the trail and began to feed about 30 yards to my right as I kept a close eye on the buck down near the river.

A few minutes later the buck put his nose to the ground and started my way.  My excitement grew with every step and he appeared to be on a mission.  Then I panicked, “Oh No! It must have been the single doe that was hot and not one of the others”, I thought to myself. “He is on the far trail!”  I had hoped he would follow the doe and yearlings but that wasn’t happening..

The buck approached the stand of timber that my treestand was in but just before he entered the trees he turned and walked uphill angling toward me.  My heart was pounding as I prepared for a 25 yard shot.

He walked behind a couple trees and I began to draw my bow.  I was at about ¾ draw when he stepped clear.  The front half of his body was exposed and I had a good broadside shot.   As I continued to slowly squeeze my shoulder blades together reaching full draw he turned and looked up toward me.  I released. All at once the buck twisted to his left to run downhill.  But the arrow had good line and “WHACK!” I had lost sight of it in flight when the buck whirled around but the hit sounded solid.  As the buck jumped downhill I got a quick glimpse of my arrow hanging out of his opposite side.