Yesterday was opening day of regular (gun) deer season. I got to my stand about 20 minutes before sunrise but still a bit late. There was a buck standing in the middle of the field so I went past him and came to my stand from the next field.
I got to my stand and there were 4 deer camped out there and I spooked them. Fuck it. I got in the stand and waited about an hour.
The buck came back and I had a perfectly clear shot at him but
1) he was sort of skylined. (There was a hillside across a road at the far end of the field.
2) He was only a 3 pointer and the guy who was mentoring me said I could take a 3 pointer since it was my first time, but I also knew that it's good to let them go another year.
OK So I let it pass.
Then I find out that
1) Even if I had missed, since I"m shooting 1 oz slugs they never would have made it al the way to the far side of the field
2) In the east we count all the spikes, not just the ones on one side.
So I let a 6 point buck just walk away.
It's a steep learning curve.
