The total randomness of life, and hunting and what happens definitely takes it's toll on my psyche. Today I climbed out of the stand at 9;30 with nothing spotted. On my way home I see a true giant running off a smaller buck from an evergreen treeline in the middle of a cut corn field. Right away I know he's got a hot doe there. This is right smack in the middle of my central hunting grounds. I quickly parked and started my stalk directly into the wind, plenty of cover, etc... I closed the gap from 400 yards to 100 yards real quick. Then over the next 2 hours I slow crawled under, around, and through trees, weeds, burrs, mud to within 30 yards, all the while watching him run off and beat the hell out of 3 smaller bucks. He would get up occasionally and run them off before returning and bedding in the open, allowing me to inch closer and clear a lane for a shot. Finally within 30 yards, I decide next time he gets up Im gonna stand, tuck myself in, and prepare for the shot when he comes back. It works like a charm. He ran and rolled a nice 8 pointer completely head over heels through the corn. That 8 point had mud and cornstalks dangling everywhere. When he returned, he squared up with his doe, broadside at 30 yards, I was already drawn. I touched the release. And watched my arrow almost clip his antlers. He runs out with the doe to about 40 yards and turns to look at me nocking another arrow. That's when I realized that my nock from the first arrow was still on the string. By then they split and headed across the road and walked in under my treestand. I could shoot my arrows and I have 1000's of times and never have had that happen. I've never ever noticed a noc that tight to my string before. Im sick to my stomach. This deer is a absolute beauty of a buck. Definitely 160" class. He's a main frame 5x5 with split brows on both sides, so I guess a typical 12 point? He has great tine and main beam length and a chocolate colored rack. Man oh man. The only thing I can think is I pulled that arrow on and off 4-5 times while inching closer into position. Maybe I bumped the noc and squeezed it, I dunno. Just a sickening feeling. Only positive is he is in my main area, but for how long, who knows?