Great buck! Congrats!

I've hunted this place for several years and mostly see a bunch of these.




and these




Every now and then something good shows up on camera at night on this tract. Almost exclusively at night. I have only gotten a couple good deer on camera during daylight hours, but I dont keep one out there very often. 5 or 6 weeks per year on average. This 9 pointer posed for the camera only once this year and it was near midnight, so I didn't have my hopes set too high. I never uploaded it to photobucket and the card is in the camera on another tract 130 miles away or i'd post it.

It's only 80 acres so there is only a couple of good stand sights and mostly little pines way to small for a climber. The larger trees across the ROW are in the right place to get busted by every deer in the area it seems, and a marginal view, so I shot this deer from a ladder that was propped on a tree that was only about 4" diameter at the ratchet straps. Every little move I make in that ladder is telegraphed through the limbs of the tree, so moving slow and easy is pertinent.

I had been hoping to break away from work early a few afternoons this week but Monday and Tuesday didn't happen. Wednesday I had planned to leave about 1:30, drive the 30 minutes and get in the stand. At 3:30 I finally left work. At 4:15 I was settled into my ladder against the sapling.

Sometime between 4:30 and 4:45 he stepped out into the power line while I was looking 180 degrees the other way, and started walking directly away from me. When I saw him he was about 150-175 yards away to my right, in the direction of the doe in the above pic. I got into position and grunted twice and he stopped and turned to look my way. The tree and stand was still moving a little from me getting ready, so I held my aim until the tree got still and BOOM. He went about 10 feet and piled up.

I think I'll try to do a European mount myself.

Nice deer. Congrats

That's a good buck! Congrats.

My favorite kind of shot- "I finally shot"!