I figured this, the longer these deer stood there, the better chance I had of the sun filling up this valley!
Things were looking up as the shadows became deer and I was able to get a good look at what was going on. The two does where browsing and the buck was just waiting for them to move on. He wasn't totally at peace but he seemed to have chilled out a bit and slowly started moving towards me. I really believe he was curious. He had smelled something.....but the the thermals where in my favor.
Within a few minutes he was 20 yards away and I was still sitting down. I needed to stand up and fast. As he moved behind a tree I slowly stood watching the does the entire time. Success!!! I was up and ready.
His next few steps where directly at me, not good. I needed him to turn. One of the does started to move and caught his attention. They wanted to go down and for him to follow he had to turn. I tightened my grip on the string as he turned broadside at 10 yards. When he looked left I came into my anchor and the arrow was gone.
For a moment I panicked. I had not seen the arrow hit him! He ran right past my tree as I quickly grabbed another arrow and spun.....
By the time I had looked around the tree it was over. He had covered 15 yards stopped and fell over. A brief 3 seconds had summed up my season. He laid there quietly as I came completely unglued.
My first call was to my son, my second to my wife. The search and rescue team were in route.