much with stand hunting, but I knew getting up and down out of the tree to relieve myself would be a bad mistake, so I elected to stay in the stand until after sunset. After 4 hours in the stand I was greeted with the sound of chainsaws cutting firewood and the usual hunters blasting waterfowl on the river. In the midst of these distracting noises, I soon found that the ability to have cell phone service could help keep me awake. This luxury came to an end with a dead battery about noontime, and I was left back in my stand only to watch the leaves on the ground below and rattle my small antlers. Growing up as a hunter in Arizona, I never had the chance to learn how to rattle in bucks, so I ' m sure that was no help to my hunt at all. By three o ' clock in the afternoon I was ready to leave the stand and return to my lovely wife who would be arriving home from school, but I chose to stick to my plan and wait it out. My KUIU clothing did well insulating me during my uneventful day hunt, but at 4pm I felt my blood sugar and body temperature start to drop with the sun. My shooting light was fading and my hopes were dimmed. I decided that I needed some blood flow in my legs again so I put my bow back on the hook and stood up in my tree stand. I heard a small branch snap to my left and to my amazement; I caught sight of a small doe making her way along the path that lead straight to me! My stiff legs suddenly were full of adrenaline and I sat back down on my seat cushion. As the doe passed behind the only tree separating her view from me, I hooked my release on my D- loop and began to take slow breaths in
Just then another doe appeared on the same path and behind her, a buck from my trail cam photos! Now my excitement was raised, and the buck fever I was sure I had gotten over years ago, was back in full force. I transitioned my focus from the leading doe to the trailing buck and drew my bow when he passed behind the same dividing tree. He must have heard something he did not like, because he stopped with only his nose showing from behind the right side of the tree. And then, after what felt like an eternity, the buck made his last step out from behind the tree. In my mind I went over my preranged distances and knew he was at just behind my 20 yard tree. I put my top pin low behind his shoulder and let it fly. The buck reared up, spun 180 degrees, and ran back down his trail. I ducked down to see under the tree canopy in hopes to catch his direction, and then he stopped. Not 40 yards from where I had shot him at, he spread his legs out wide, and tipped over on his head. No kicking, no trailing, no wounded game. I was so blessed and lucky to have harvested my first ever whitetail. What a joyous evening it was. I stayed in my tree stand for another few minutes and enjoyed the feeling of success and the sunset. Growing up as a hunter in Arizona, I never had the chance to learn how to rattle in bucks, so I ' m sure that was no help to my hunt at all. I crawled down out of my stand and made my way over to my trophy to admire his harvest. I made sure to say a small prayer of thanks for my harvest, and started the short drag to my pickup truck. After a few tiring minutes of trying to load his whole body into the bed of the truck, I finally
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