These close calls will be the end of me. I hiked in nearly 1.5 miles (according to Google Earth) to hunt a secluded public ridge Friday morning. Setup was blind, never been in there before, I was going based off map research and using my HuntStand app to navigate. I set up pre-dawn in a saddle (in my Tree Saddle, hunting a saddle). As soon as the sun came up, I saw a bench below me out of range connecting the two points below me. My immediate thought, "Well I'll see deer down there." I liked my setup enough I didn't want to move, though. I saw nothing until nearly 9:30AM, when a good 8-pointer came through the saddle across from me and hit that bench. He skirted beside me at about 40 yards. When he stopped (it was windy as hell, noisy), I gave a loud grunt and he looked my way. Then he thrashed a tree. Then another one. I thought he's coming, but he turned and walked around the knob out of sight. A few minutes later, he came back chasing a pair of does, but again he never came closer than 40. On my way out, I checked out the bench where he was and it was shredded with sign. Rubs everywhere. This was one I watched him make.
I marked a tree on that bench on my app and thought I'll come back in the morning tomorrow and kill him if he does it again. I had a good entry that morning, got right to my tree, he didn't show. I saw the same pair of does (probably) but none of them came into range.
I think I'll get a shot at a buck in this spot. It sets up beautifully. A bench connecting two brushy points, with the opposite side of the ridge being very open and the hollow below/behind me being extremely steep. Literally 20+ rubs on saplings in that spot as well as a couple of scrapes. It's a great travel corridor that pinches down narrow in the middle. The tree has great cover. I'm probably going back next weekend.