Had my velvet buck dead to rites last night and couldn't finish the deal.  I've been debating on wether this buck was a shooter and after struggling to pin down a couple larger bucks I had picks of, decided to hang a stand and get on him this weekend while the velvet is still on.  I sat this stand on Sat night in 102 deg sweltering heat with no sighting and decided to leaave it till last night.  
At around 6:30 the does started filing into the beans....I snapped a pic of one standing 15 yds from me and text it to KentuckyTJ saying "mmmmmmmmm backstrap"  LOL.  He had just text me asking if I'd shot when 4 bucks stepped into the beans about 200 yards away.  I didn't have to raise my binos to know who it was....
I text Tom  "Big bucks  gotta go"  Within 4 min this buck was feeding 15 yards from me hard 1/4 too...I stood frozen w/ tension on the string...waiting for that little turn...he turned..a little more.....just a little more and I'll have both lungs......then a doe 150 yds away blew for who knows why....and he bolts...

Wow I was stunned!  I had this dude hanging on the wall.  
Crappy night....
Gets worse....
One of my buddies hunting 300 yds from me text me 15 min later and says "You're not gonna believe who I just killed"
yep.....What's the chances?

Oh well....wasn't meant to be I guess....

50 yd blood trail and we backed the atv down the hill to load him up....on the way up I manage to roll the polaris on top of me.  Smooshed my rt hand up pretty good, but all in all I came out unscathed.  Just another Monday right?  LOL!

As I lay in bed last night at 3 am I contemplated what a crappy day it had been...then my mind turned to how fortunate I was to have an encounter with such a great animal and to not have been injured or killed in the atv incident.  Not as bad a day when you look at it that way!

My stand was located in the Cherry tree just to the rt of the bucks runp in the top pic.  Only straight tree I could find.  Great 3-1/2 yo deer.
Still don't know why the deer blew..maybe a wiff of scent...I guess I'll never know.

 

 

 

It smelled your buddy!  Good friend huh?

Great buck to have an encounter with, some people never see one that big much less have a buddy kill one that big.

Congrats!    

I hope your hand injury isnt enough to keep you from shooting.

What Mike's not telling you all is he had sole hunting rights on this farm and let a young hunter join him last year as he had no where else to hunt. We often talk about how deer tend to come between friendships and we would never do that and believe me Mike lives it.  While talking to him on the phone today he said "When they are throwing dirt in my face this is what I want them to remember". Good on you Mike.

This only means there is a bigger one out there for you. Don't let this get you down, hunt hard.

Glad you are ok brother.

Hope your hand gets better quick.

Glad your ok Mike. Now you can kill one of the bigger ones running around. You guys still have a lot of season left. Good luck!!

Here is the deer.

yeah..he had a little more velvet on him prior to the atv mishap....

 now that's funny.

Hand should be fine...thanks....I have a swollen spon between my pinky and ring finger that looks worse than it feels.  Looks broken, but doesn't feel it.  Pinky is black and blue.....Even a cast wouldn't stop me from hunting..LOL.

Next Target....."Bishop"

 

Go get him Mike!!

All I can say is...  

At least you are still in the game, and the Bishop isn't that shabby either. Good luck on the rest of the season!  

Wheelie Kill ??

If it didn't get so hot down there it looks like Kentucky is a great place to live! Hope your hand feels better!
Glenn

I feel your pain, good luck with the bishop and hope your hands ok.

I wouldn't want to be "Bishop"...good luck bud    

Mike, Glad to hear your okay....now go get him!!!

Good luck on the next one bud!  Like you said, it just wasn't meant to be for that one.  He had another destiny.  Take care of that hand!

Mike glad to hear you are all right. I flipped a 4 wheeler 3 years ago, kept it off me, but tore my rotator cuff and had to have surgery. Severla guys kille around here last few years in mishaps. I am on some pretty good deer to, no shot oppportunitys. Coyote might have spooked them, alreadyl had problems with them, got 4 on 1 pic in my trail camera.