By Jeffery Troyer

Saturday night, October 2nd, was my first night out. I made it to my stand at 4pm and before I could get my bow up two little button bucks came in. For the next few hours I saw five does and four bucks. The first buck was a little spike. The second was a fork horn with a kicker on his left tine. The third was a nice six point - tall and thick with about a 14 or 15 inch spread. All of these deer came out of the marsh and passed by me on the exact same trail (right beside my treestand). Then I heard something come from behind me. I grabbed my bow just in time to see nine turkeys filing thru into the marsh. About 20 mins passed when two turkeys came back out of the marsh about 40 yards away. I was watching them (getting a close up) thru my binoculars when I noticed legs in the background. I dropped my binoculars to find a nice 8 point working his way towards me. At first I debated whether he was big enough or not then I picked up my bow. Just like the others he walked on the same path - straight at me. When he got to my shooting lane he picked his head and walked the entire way to my tree with his head up. I couldn't draw back until he was right beneath me. Then when I drew back, I only made it about three quarters of the way back when my safety harness got in the way. I released very slowly and luckily didn't get caught. I reached behind me and unhooked by harness, turned completely around and decided to take the shot when he stepped out from underneath me. He stepped out about 10 yards from my tree and I gave him a doe bleet with my mouth. He stopped and I released. The arrow entered three inches behind the shoulder and right of the spine. It went completely thru and out just on the inside of his front left leg. He took off like the world was going to end and it did for him in about 35 yards. A nice 8 point with a 17 inch spread.

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