[Sanders]

I went out and hunted Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday, I saw around 20 does and fawns, but nothing with antlers, but heard lots of people taking shots. For only 30 tags for that unit, I think all of them were hunting just that area.

I got out before sunrise on Sunday and walked down the trail I had been hunting off the previous day. It was still dark when I jumped a few, but the breeze was in my favor and they couldn't see me. As the sun started to rise I could see one standing broadside to me at only about 50 yards. I was next to a tree and able to rest the rifle on a fork, which gave me the perfect heart shot. Only problem was that I couldn't see any antlers, as the top of its head was obscured by some scrub oak. After what seemed like several minutes, just waiting for that bastard to show me his antlers (I'd only seen does the day before, so I didn't want to take the shot without knowing) he turned and went down the hill then started huffing at me. Never heard does do that, just bucks.

I followed him for a ways, but a couple minutes later I heard a shot from the road ahead. I think some jackass road hunter got him.

I didn't see another deer the rest of the day. There was so much pressure on them that they went to ground, I reckon. That's a lot more rugged country than it seems, once you get to walking around out there. Lots of places for them to disappear.