Well, things came together tonight and I killed a good 'one.
It's ironic in that all I've seen from the stand on our property this Fall are spikes and small deer. Wife killed a spike last week in spite of her busy work schedule, so I decided to hold out for a good buck, but I just haven't seen any, or even any sign indicating a good mature buck was to be had.
I hit the stand about 3:15 tonight in spite of a suspect breeze--the does around here won't tolerate my stink, last night was a good case in point.
I went anyway, Nov 19th is typically THE DAY for deer here for me and my family.
About 3:40 two deer popped out, a hot doe and a spike buck...I actually watched the young buck tend the hot doe right behind my stand.
I was a bit frustrated thinking, "What the heck, is this the dominant buck around here?"
He mounted the doe several more times, and I just enjoyed the show.
About ten minutes later I caught movement to my upper right and could tell there was a good antlered deer in the scrub. I blew a few times on the grunt tube and he jumped the neighbor's fence and walked through the woods onto my property and into my crosshairs.
13 scoreable points and about #200.
This was an especially enjoyable harvest in that I built this rifle this fall, an ultralight LH 700 SS in .280.