I got to spend the next 45 minutes watching him and taking his photo.
I felt so fortunate to have chosen this stand to sit tonight. This is only the 2nd time I have ever actually seen him other than on a trail camera.
Several does had now fed into the plot and one was working my way. SOG was following her in my direction and they disappeared from view due the peak of the bluff. I picked up my bow hoping he would push her over the bluff back to my side.
Several minutes had passed when suddenly I could make out the horizontal line of a deer's back in the tall grass.
SOG popped up at 45 yards distant and stood looking in my direction. Despite have the wind in my favor, despite not moving nor making a sound, that old boy swung his head left and then right and then turned tail and trotted out of sight. Taking the does with him, I spent the next hour thinking about what I just got to watch.
If this isn't why we do this then I don't know what is.