6:50 AM, My buddy and I got out of the cabin late and hurried to the stands - nearly a mile away. We needed to climb a ridge and come back down the other side. I dripped some Doe in Heat Lure on my Retract-a-Drag and we proceeded up the hill and to our stands on the opposite side of the ridge. It was already legal shooting light when I reached my tree stand and began climbing. I had gotten so good at climbing quietly with my BuckShot stand that I was able to hear the sound of a deer walking some 70 yards up the hill but the deer never heard me climbing. I got a bit higher with the stand and realized that a buck was following my lure trail. I fumbled with my hoist rope to get my bow pulled up in time, unclipped it, nocked and arrow and shot the buck as he entered a hole at 20 yards. I was not even done climbing yet!

The shot looked good, just forward of mid body with good height. The buck took off at high speed - straight away from me. I didn't hear him go down and it appeared that he was heading for the thickets.

The weather is overcast and threatening rain.

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