Pete Tschantz and I were hunting today.  In the afternoon, we went to get lunch, then took a brief nap.  At about 3:30, we split up to begin our hunts.  Stand #9, my chosen stand for the evening, gets horribly hot in the afternoons and stays that way until the sun goes behind the trees, so I spent a good two hours just trying to keep cool.  At 5:30, I saw something in the woods in front of me that about 100 yards out that looked like the butt and back legs of a deer.  My binoculars confirmed what I was seeing, and soon I could tell that I was looking at a doe. 

There was too much brush to try a shot, so I continued watching the deer, hoping for an opening.  She made her way out to the logging road, pausing long enough to give me a beautiful broadside shot, which I took.  At the boom of the rifle, the deer jumped, started to run, then stopped and looked around trying to figure out where the sound had come from.  She did not look hit, so I jacked another round into the chamber and fired again.  This time I saw her fall, and I knew I had her.

I called Pete to let him know the shooting was me, but told him to keep his place in the stand and we'd continue to hunt.  I got down, found the deer in a gulley 20 yards off the road, tagged her, then dragged her back up to the roadside.  After doing this I got back in my stand and settled in to hunt a bit more.  Within an hour, a spike had appeared.  He was standing right beside the dead doe, but never even looked at her.   He caught a scent of me at some point though and turned and quickly left the area.

The wind increased, and I started to hear thunder in the distance. I called Pete to tell him we might have to bail out before long.  We agreed to stay in our stands until 7:00.  When I saw lightning a few minutes later, I called Pete again to tell him it was over.  I drove down and got him, then we came back to my stand and loaded up my deer.  It was pouring rain as we drove out of the lease.