The NJ extended permit season where i hunt ended yesterday.  Although i was fortunate to see many deer I held off in hopes of one particular buck. For the past two years a brusier 160 class ten point has been destroying a ridge where my stand is and for reasons only a hunter can understand...he always manages to give me the slip.  Sat was almost different.    
Walking into the stand in the fading darkness (i was late) i had noticed he had freshly cleaned a scrape that had shut down three weeks earlier...in an attempt to hit the platform before first light i put some scent out and kept rushing....bumping the bedded buck twenty yards from the base of my tree  :mad:  Amazingly he only ran fifty yards or so allowed me to climb in the tree, in time to watch him catach the scent coming from the direction of his scrape and turn and come back.  At five yards with him broadside behind me i managed to draw and turn around the trunk of the massive pine i was perched in, picked a spot and let her rip...upon feeling the thud ressonate thru the riser and watching the arrow sail just under his chest i realized the bottom limb tip of my bow hit the tree on release and all i could do was watch him fade down the ridge into the swamp king of the woods for another season...sucks yes but thus is bowhunting...and the image will be burnt into my memory till i can chase again with the bow...

And it makes for a pretty cool story my friend. Congratulations!

Great story, we've all had something similar happen at some point, and your story was a good reminder.  Memories are what it's all about anyway, at least more so than antlers or meat.  Now you get to dream about getting after him next year!