But that big spike kicked my butt the second Saturday. I hunted hard all week but just couldn't seem to figure out when to be in the stand. Heck I had pictures of deer a half hour before I got in the stand and a half hour after I got out. Seemed like the had under cover agents feeding them data. That all changed that Saturday morning as I decided to go out about 8:00 that morning.
It was cool out and I was worried I'd messed up again, but that wasn't the case. I'd only been in the stand for fifteen minutes when I caught some moment and sure enough here he came. I thought for sure he was going to wind me but he circled too close to my stand and my scent must have went safely over his head. He then walked right in and put his head down to get some of the oat sprouts that had just started growing. With a mouth full he looked up and around as he chewed, then down went his head again. I let him do this a few times before drawing and as his head went down I came to full draw and put my sights on him for a heart shot.
As the arrow left my string time went into slow motion. He reacted to the string almost immediately, but it wasn't a duck, it was more of a front end hop and turn. My arrow cleanly passed between his legs and stuck in the ground.
He bounded away three or four hops then stoped and started looking around. He was looking at all the trees and his eyes passed by me a couple of time. He then started walking his circle again and believe it or not came right back into almost the same spot and started eatting the oats again. Slowly I pulled out another arrow and got it nocked. He was eatting still but wasn't taking as big mouth fulls before looking around. He was not a claim as the first time but he wasn't totally nervous either. I let him go for what seemed like an hour but it was more like five minutes. It was then that something caught his attention and he looked dead away from me so I took the chance to draw. This time I took aim center mass, if he wanted to hop, I'd fix him. Once more thing seemed to move in slow motion as my arrow left the string. I was amazed as he reacted this time by dropping straight to the ground, his belly completely laying on the ground. Of course my second arrow flew over his back and planted itself in the gound not more than four feet or so from the first one.
He jumped up and ran about twenty yards then looked around again. He again started circling and just when I thought he was going to come back and give me a third shot, he headed off into the thick stuff. I sat in the stand totally drained for about thirty minutes before getting down. I ended up losing one broad head as it was planted in a root or something and the insert pulled out of the shaft. I kept thinking to myself that I should have listened to Chunky and hunted with my longbow. Well this coming weekend that is what I'll have, and sure hope Mr. Spike comes back for another round.....