So close, but I was spotted.

Hi;

I was bow hunting last Friday from a tree stand.  The area behind the stand is pretty thick, so I concentrated my hunting to the 180 degrees in front of me. I was keeping an eye on the area behind me thinking that if I spotted a deer in that thick stuff at least I would know to be prepared should it come into my shoot area.

I did not see any deer until the last 45 minutes of light.  Not surprising due to the heat.  The first two deer were walking in front of me from right to left down the property line, which is about 85 yards away.  No shot there.  They were moving fast towards the open field. About 10 minutes later a deer came running through the woods at my back, from left to right.  Through the thick branches and leaves I could see the tail bouncing through the woods.  I saw it stop in the pathway off to my right, but in thick bramble.  I hoped it would settle down and walk my way down the path.  No, that did not happen.  I saw the tail bounce off going the other way up the path.

I've settled down in the tree stand again.  Another 10 minutes pass. I hear the leave rustle behind me off to the left.  It was a different sound from the squirrels that have been playing around me all afternoon.  I slowly turn to my left.  There is a spike buck walking oh, about 25 yards behind me.  He looks like he will walk very close to my stand as he goes from my back left to my front left.  I am looking for a clear spot to possibly take a shot.  I found three areas that he might walk into.  As he goes behind a small tree I turn, he looks up. I freeze.  He goes back to grazing. I move a bit more and raise the bow.  He looks up.  He is starring but not nervous. I stay still.  He goes back to grazing.  As he moves just about even with my left side, still in brush that could deflect my arrow he looks up again.  I have not moved, but he was down wind of me.  I hoped that he would not wind me, due to the fact that the wind was hardly blowing at all today.  I guess it was enough though!  He looked and looked, just not sure what was going on.  At that point he bounced/ran about 30 yards and stopped, partially behind a tree.  Then a few steps, then a slow trot.  I grunted twice.  He stopped on the second grunt in an area that I could have shot.  Unfortunately, he only stopped for a second, then it was off to the races and out of sight.  That was it for the hunting day.

I had planned on bow hunting again one more time before muzzle loading season, but with Hurricane Sandy running up the coast, it looks like I should stay out of the woods.  If the storm passes and the winds die down by Wednesday afternoon (Halloween), then I may grab the bow and go out.  Other wise I am going to be hunting all day on the opening day of black powder season.

Take care, good hunting and good shooting.
M.