There he is...

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Friday the 28th I hunted, for the first time this season, a small property which I was saving to hunt starting the last few days of October. This property lies along the Little Miami River Valley and consists of a north/south ravine that divides a southern-facing hillside. I have only been hunting this property for a few years now and have determined that there seems to be more deer activity during the early stages of the rut, namely the last part of October and the first week of November. Bucks have been observed pushing does along the hillside and eventually crossing the ravine at a couple of preferred locations.

I have a chain-on stand 20 feet up on a tree on the side of the ravine at one of those crossings. From the stand to the bottom of the ravine is about 30 feet, and the distance from the stand straight across to the opposite hillside is around 22 yards.

Friday I climbed in the stand around 7 o’clock. There was a slight breeze from the south. The past couple of years the early deer movement came from the east with young bucks chasing does and crossing the ravine near my stand. Later in the morning I have witnessed does coming down from a bedding area at the top of the hillside across from me and then cross the ravine. On a few occasions there have been bucks on their tails during this time of the season. Last year I videoed a nice buck do just that.

As the morning went on I sat there with anticipation of seeing some activity. Time passed surprisingly quickly and before I knew it, it was 10 o’clock and I had not seen nor heard a deer. I just figured that the rutting activity had not started yet and that things would get better as the days went on. I was comfortable so I decided to stay another hour or two and passed the time eating my snacks.

At 11:20 I heard a loud snap up on the hilltop at the bedding area. I looked up the hill and saw movement among the abundant honeysuckle. It was a deer, now noisily moving through the brush and it was heading down the hill towards the bottom of the ravine. Soon, when the deer was about one third of the way down the hill, I could make out a decent set of antlers. I unhooked my Excalibur Micro 335 crossbow from the hanger and got ready for a shot. Soon the buck was straight across from me and down the hillside about 10 feet above the bottom of the ravine. He then stopped for a second and was standing quartering toward me a bit. I put the crosshair behind the right front shoulder and squeezed off the shot.

Instantly I could see the red lighted Lumenok hit its mark. The buck bolted and ran down a few feet to the ravine and then ran along the bottom before running up a point that splits the ravine into a Y. He then hit a clear path that runs up the point and when he was about 2/3 of the way up he slowed, stopped and toppled over.

He is a 10-point with split brow tines and a few other character sticker points. The broadhead was stuck in the opposite rib from the entry point. The top of the arrow was broken off.

With the help from my brother-in-law and the landowners’ quad it was an easy drag.

This is the first time that I have been tagged out with a doe and a buck before November.

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