With Gladness

The Man Minute - sixty second investments in Christ-like manhood.

No doubt we all, every single one, go through times of incredible angst. Like acid reflux of the attitude, we have those days where things start out bad only to get worse. Sometimes those bad days turn into weeks, and even sometimes more, they can turn into a season where a reason to smile is all but impossible to invent.

Serve the Lord with gladness ... Psalm 100:2

No person is exempt from a dry season, but friend do understand this: a dry season in the life of a follower of Jesus the Christ should be but an exception in your life and not the norm. As a believer in the risen Christ, you of all persons should know of the deep riches of His grace, His benefits for those ransomed by His own blood, and of the tangible power that is reserved only for those grafted into His family tree.

There is nothing mortal about the Giver of your salvation, therefore no mortal can take it from you. If no mortal can steal your eternal security, then why give mortals the ability to feed upon your daily bread which is not theirs to feast?

Serve the Lord with gladness.

Why? Because you can.

Small Acreage and Piney Woods

I hear it every year..."man, I would have let him walk but the neighbors would have shot him!" True enough, most of us hunt small 40 to 400 acre parcels of land that doesn't lend itself to protecting bucks. In fact, biologists suggest 800 to 1000 acres as the starting point when it comes to a land base for managing whitetails. So, is there any reason to let young bucks walk on such small acreages? Before answering that, lets take a look at what a friend of mine has done on his property.
John Elliot, of Brandon, has been hunting the same 350 acre farm in Simpson county for the last 8 or 9 years. The habitat is comprised of a 22-25 year old pine stand (45%), mature hardwoods (35%), ponds/sloughs (10%) and permanent openings - roads, food plots, etc.(10%). About 5 years ago, John approached me about helping him with ideas for managing the habitat - specifically, the pine stand. Having burned in the past, John knew how effective fire could be in the pine stand; however, he also realized that burning the entire stand would drastically eliminate vital cover that the deer desired while moving through the pines. After reviewing an aerial photograph and having some history regarding how the deer use the property (travel, bedding, feeding), we decided to divide the pines into thirds. Each year we would burn one third of the pine stand which would allow for fresh, tender browse along with helping the resident turkey population. We decided to burn each stand on a three year rotation which allowed us to burn some portion of the pines annually. The deer have responded incredibly well!
I'll be the first to admit that I'm a sucker for hunting hardwoods like most folks, but when I have the opportunity to hunt John's, I'm gonna be in those pines. It's like hunting a 2 year old cutover. At ground level, you can't see 100 feet in the stands that are in their second or third year. Once you climb about 20 feet in one of those loblolly pines, visibility isn't typically a limiting factor. The deer move freely because of the cover they are provided.
Another vitally important part of John's management on this small acreage tract is to limit pressure. Like most of us, John doesn't get to hunt as much as he'd like, but this plays right into his plan. By limiting pressure and actually identifying some portions of the property as sanctuary, John's able to hold deer and increase their daytime activity.



Case in point: The photo above was taken last year right in the middle of the pine stand. Off and on for about two weeks this buck cruised the property at all hours of the day and night. We estimated him a 4.5 years old. John put some time in and actually passed on a nice 3 year old 10 point but he nor I ever laid eyes on this old boy. Fast forward to this year: after running trail cameras from September thru December, John had no sign off the old nine from last year. During a conversation one day, John pointed out to me that last year the buck didn't show up on camera until early January.



Well, on December 28th I received an email from John with a title that read "Recognize me"! For whatever reason, John was right. The buck showed up a week early this year but still waited til near the end of season before making an appearance. Once again, there were all kinds of daytime photos and all of them were in those pines!
From past history, John knows that January 12-16th is the magic time on his place. So, on the MLK holiday John was sitting in a stay he'd not hunted all year on the edge of the pine and hardwoods. Temperatures were unseasonably warm, but John had already seen a young buck chasing a doe. Soon he heard some commotion from the pines and glimpsed a 4 point walking the firelane off his right shoulder. Figuring he better survey his surroundings thoroughly, he looked around the tree off his left shoulder and immediately pick up a rack buck moving out of the pines into the hardwoods. After bobbing and weaving around trees and vines for a better look, John finally decided it was the big nine. The buck didn't like something though and began quickly moving back to the cover of the pines. Fortunately for John, he stopped briefly in the firelane. John put it right in the carburetor and the buck expired after only a short distance. All this happened within 200 yards of the property line. I'm sure you're thinking that his neighbors are "on board" with his management philosophies...well, one is but the largest one, the one 200 yards from where this hunt went down...they don't cull nothing! Fact of the matter is that once you squeeze that trigger, your management decision has been made. That buck is as old as he's gonna get and it wasn't the neighbor that shot him. Like John, if you hunt small parcels and want to manage for mature bucks, you're gonna loose a few to the neighbors from time to time. But with sound management practices and a little restraint, you just might end up with one like this!

Selfish Ambition.

The Man Minute - sixty second investments in Christ-like manhood.

For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. - James 3:16

As with many men I know, God did me a great favor when He planted my wife into my life twenty years ago. Little did I know then that she would become the one primarily responsible for slowly de-constructing my precious ego. I'm not bitter about it. That's what I keep telling myself anyway.

I feel an impulsive need to offer my disclaimer to the world, for you must realize, friend, what I was up against in my formative, early years. I was an only child. Moreover, I was the only grandchild on one side of the family. Stop right there and you have the perfect storm for a soon-to-be adult with little hope for social harmony. Add to that the truth that I was the son of a PGA Professional and thus became obsessed with the game of golf; thus, I was the ultimate test case of a man-in-the-making with an only child disposition, who also possessed an insane obsession for a game that was all about you and your personal performance. Needless to say, it doesn't take a degree in psychology to surmise that in most situations, whatever "it" was, you can bet it was going to be about me.

Marriage, and the one I'm married to, helped me quickly see how destructive selfish ambition can truly be in this thing we call life.

Selfishness is an emotional baseball bat swung wildly into your circle of relationships. Swing that bat, friend, and things are going to get broke. Selfishness breaks things, and those "things" tend to be real people who are capable of being bruised ... by you. The end result is, as James tells us, disorder and every evil "thing" that comes with it. Jason Cruise

The Skinning Rack....part II

First up to bat at the Skinning Rack is Will Thomas and a passel of young'uns! Being the awesome dad he is, Will took daughters, Adickes and Leighton along with Banks (a friend of the family's) to the woods in Yazoo county. As it turned out, those kids were better than any pack of hounds - Will shot a doe and small rack buck in one sitting! As if that wasn't good enough, Will took his daughters back to the woods (to the same stand, mind you) and harvested an awesome 14 point! I think he is going to have the girls a couple of custom made safety harnesses and climbers so they can hunt everywhere with daddy!







Next is Scott Berry. Scott has had a stellar season. The first buck photographed below was harvested on public land in the MS delta while the other two were on private land along the MS River.







Doug Baldwin harvest this cull, that's right - CULL, off an exclusive hunting club on an island in the MS River. Nice to have friends in high places!



Introducing.....Benjamin Wiley! Benjamin harvested his first of what is sure to be many, many deer. He was with his dad, Tom, hunting on their family farm in Starkville, MS. Now that you've got deer hunting figured out Benjamin, its time to get ready to take on Ol' Gallberry Joe!



Meet Scott Watkins. Scott and I have been going to church together for years now but have never really gotten to know one another. After a nudge from a mutual friend of ours, Scott and I made plans to take to the woods together in search for Scott's first whitetail. Well, we've since found Scott's first, second and third whitetail and he is hooked to say the least! One thing is for sure....my brother can shoot!
Here's to many more days afield Mr. Watkins!!





Here's a group of CATS if I've ever seen one! Gary Simon recently invited a group of friends hunting on his property in Leake county. Some were hunting for meat, some for horns but all were there for fun. From the looks of this photo, I'd say they were most successful!!!!



Gary later went back out to his place and was rewarded with a much deserved SAD DADDY! This was Gary's biggest buck to harvest on his place. The buck had 12 points and lots of mass.



Jonathon Breakfield harvested this buck on January 16th. He named in Sky Scraper for obvious reasons. Talk about down to the wire; Jonathon's wife is due to deliver their second child this week and this was his last hunt of the season. Pretty good way to cap things off!

Dungan-Polk Hunt III

Friday, January 6th marked the 3rd Annual Dungan-Polk hunt held in Columbia, MS on the banks of the Pearl River. Here's an account of the weekend's events as I witnessed them.

I arrived in camp around 3:00 pm on Friday just in time for the evening hunt. Everyone had just drawn for stand locations and been briefed on harvest guidelines. Harvest guidelines were simple: mature bucks only and bow hunters were allowed to harvest a mature doe. Les and Jeff run trail cameras extensively on the property and had identified numerous "shooter" bucks at the beginning of the season. Experiencing a better than average season thus far, they went into the weekend with only two shooters remaining (Burt & Lucky). Naturally, it was likely there were other shooters on the property that they had not photographed. However, there was one other that Jeff had shot with his bow on December 23rd and not recovered. Jeff was pretty sure this buck was one they named Crow. They had not photographed him since this incident and assumed the worst.
I quickly grabbed my gear and headed to get into Les' truck. On my way, Eddie Polk cruised by and instructed me to "get the Buff Pad fired up, I'll have a story for you later tonight"! Les, Romney and I headed to the south end of the property while the remainder of the guys spread across the rest of the property.
The afternoon hunt was pleasant. Temperatures were in the 60's and I was actually swatting mosquitos in January! My particular stand was close to a state highway which was so loud it covered a report from a rifle inside the property. Upon returning to the truck, Les relayed the news to me and Romney...Eddie had shot! As we rolled into camp, Jeff approached the truck and provided more information regarding Eddie's kill. According to the last text Jeff received, what Eddie initially reported as an 8 point turned out to be a six point. As we walked up to the camp fire, Jeff joked about having to call a tribunal at the fire and exstinguish Eddie's torch! The joking, ribbing and teasing was fixing to reach an all time high. Soon the truck pulled up carrying Eddie and his deer. Everyone hurried to the truck to have a look.
Well, as it turned out, the joke was on us. Eddie had indeed killed a fine buck. In fact, he had harvested the buck they named Burt, and was messing with Jeff about shooting the six point. But as we would soon find out, this was just the beginning of the twist to this harvest.

Burt's antlers were measured carefully and found to gross a total of 118 inches. Eddie filled us in on the details of the hunt. Simply put, a doe stepped out and moved across the plot with Burt trailing not too far behind. An obvious neck wound indicated the shot placement. Plenty of photos were shot and then it was time to move to the skinning rack. The buck weighed in at 170 pounds. Kevin began the process of skinning the buck and made quick work of an otherwise long process. During the procedure, Kevin had found the mushroomed rifle bullet in the offside shoulder.

He had just removed the back strap and was working on the neck just in front of the left shoulder when his knife struck some sort of foreign object. Upon further inspection, it was a 3 inch portion of an arrow shaft tipped with a two-blade Rage broadhead!

This was the buck Jeff shot just a few weeks prior on December 23rd! We immediately began inspecting the buck's cape again and realized the wound that was so obvious on the buck's neck was from the broadhead. Dried blood around the wound validated our assumption. "So where did Eddie hit the buck...or did Eddie even hit him", Jeff quickly asserted.
We closely inspected the animals cape but couldn't find a bullet hole. It wasn't until we looked at one of the photos we had taken of the buck after the shot that we noticed a spot of blood about two inches above the larger wound. Sure enough, we looked on the cape and found his bullet hole just above the broadhead wound.

Even so, that didn't stop Jeff and a few of us from questioning Eddie about "what really happened". Several hypothesized that the buck wasn't chasing the doe at all, but simply staggered into the plot where Eddie was able to finish him off. We had quite a time listening to Jeff and Eddie go back and forth about who gets to claim the buck.
In all seriousness, we were amazed at what these animals are able to tolerate. This is the second buck in a year that I've seen shot high in the neck/shoulder area and carry on as if nothing happened. So what's the take away from all this: when bow hunting - aim low and stay away from the shoulder; when hunting River Bend - carry a video camera on every hunt so you'll have proof of your harvest.

As for cousin Eddie, he finally admitted that he walked up on the buck and finished him while he was spinning in circles trying to bite his tail.

Master of His Domain!

Friend and former co-worker, Brigg Abercrombie, submits a play-by-play of a day he will not soon forget in The Whitetail's woods...enjoy!


Well Mr. Polk, it goes a lot like this....

After ringing in the new year with friends and family, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend the 2nd day of January, 2012, than in the woods chasing the elusive whitetail. It’s this chase that brought me face to face with big nasty. The morning brought cold temperatures escorted in by the previous days dry cold front and strong north winds. The winds kinda stuck around though and had deer movement quenched a little for the otherwise beautiful cold morning. Between daylight and 8:30 I’d only seen one small deer, which turned out to be an 8 point, and watched him feed for several minutes on the acorn flat I hunted nearby. Shortly after, another deer was spotted slipping along the edge of a rim adjacent to a creek bottom. The deer acted extremely nervous and edgy, which I attributed to the wind, which by now has increased in velocity to a steady 15mph from the Northwest, occasionally gusting to at least 50. It was about that time that I caught movement in a tree top in a cutover to my north. From the top emerged 2 does, working their way up a ridge into a neighbors pasture only to disappear from sight. Being the great hunter I am, I quickly dismissed these deer as being bedded in the top, not once thinking that a monster might have been pushing them from a distance…. WRONG! The difference is this time when I caught movement, the deer was on the edge of the pasture, and the sun gleaming off his antlers made it look like he was carrying a Cypress tree above his ears. I actually think it was a nice 5 year old 10 point we’ve gotten a few pictures of but are attempting to let him grow one more year. We’ve actually started seeing a significant difference between 5 and 6 year old bucks, with the 6 year olds adding 20 to 30 inches of antler…. Or that’s what it looks like in the pictures any way, judging deer we’ve got a history of pictures with. Anyway, this deer raised his head and galloped through the pasture, apparently chasing after a doe, and taking with him any hopes I may have had on ending his life prematurely. That’s ok, he wasn’t the deer I was hunting anyway. The deer I was after was a big heavy horned main frame 8 point, with a 3 or 4 inch kicker coming off his right G2. This monarch has struck so many poses for the cameras in daylight as well as dark, it’s almost like he was on a schedule. I just figured I’d wait him out…. Besides, it’s just now 9:30 or so. After seeing these deer, I decide it’d be a wise idea to turn my attention to the cutover instead of the acorn flat I just knew the big 9 would use as his point of interest. Remember, I am the great hunter here! Well, my instincts proved true, as I began seeing deer move and feed through the cutover, but no big bucks. All said, I believe I saw 5 different bucks and 6 different does make their way through the cutover and out of my life…. It’s about 10:00 and the deer movement has absolutely stopped. With a huff and a groan, I turn my head in frustration back to the acorn flat only to catch movement within 30 yards. Like a banana dipped in liquid nitrogen, I froze…. Only my eyes moving to get a better glimpse at the deer I knew would be the big 9 with the kicker. When my eyes beheld him, I realized that right there within 30 yards, I’d let a true 1 year old cowhorn spike slip right in and get downwind of me! HA….. little sucker never knew I was around. I guess the bath worked after all! It probably didn’t hurt that the 15mph wind had now turned into a steady 25-30mph, with some gusts reaching 100. The minutes ticked by, and after not seeing another deer by 11:00, I decided I’d had enough, and that until the wind subsided I had better go get some work done, or at very least grab a bite to eat and watch some of the great football games.
You’d think that folks would schedule football games at night and wouldn’t try to interfere with perfectly good days of hunting, fishing, trapping, 4-wheelin, snorkeling or any other outdoor activities many of us hold so dear. Guess we’ll blame it on the media or something, cause it sure ain’t the boys in the SEC…. they’ll play their game at night on January 9, and I guarantee that once again an SEC team will walk away with the BCS National Championship to their name, carrying on a tradition for another year.
Like I said, you’d think folks wouldn’t interfere with hunting like this, but it’s easy to get caught up in the moment, and with 3 different bowl games going on, time kinda slips by. It’s tough when you’re stuck in the middle of the swamp with games on 3 different channels, trying to be a remote control guru only leaves you frustrated, with lots of down time between channels. Next thing you know, sandwiches are long gone and it’s 2:30. So much for the middle of the day hunt. Missing that part of the day may not be that big of a deal anyway… that wind which was blowing steady at 25-30mph aint quit yet, but the 100mph gusts have settled to no more than 60. With the winds still rocking along pretty good, and the way deer movement had subsided in the woods, I figured a nice, lush, green food plot would definitely be the place to hang my hat that afternoon. Deer wouldn’t be nearly as skittish, and would come out early into the food plots to feed up prior to the cold blustery night ahead of us. I’d by in a stand by 3:00, and figured I may even get off a shot on the way… I am after all, the master of this domain!

FOUR O’ CLOCK…….. ain’t even seen a squirrel. I’m worried that me and Toto may not be in Mississippi any more after these gale force winds lay down. .. IF they ever lay down. About 15 or 30 minutes drag by, look at my watch FOUR O’ FIVE… five stinkin minutes. You know the cow that flies by on that Twister movie…. Just passed by me. I’m seriously beginning to question my hunter abilities, and it’s now 4:30.
Getting close to 5:00 and I can’t hold my eyes open. Been up and gone since 4 something this morning, and ain’t seen a deer (or anything else for that matter, other than that one cow) since 10:30ish. You know how it is when your mind starts rambling and you start thinking about all the other crap you could be doing instead of whatever it is you’re doing at this very moment. Well, I start thinking about fishing. WAAAYYY too windy to be fishing, and since I really don’t have any other hobbies and sure don’t want to be at work right now, I guess I’ll sit here and look for the next cow to fly by, cause I’ve done concluded that I’m not going to see another deer on this day.

Quick nap later, it’s 5:05. Five minutes may not seem like that much, but I’m revived. Feel like a million bucks now and am going to concentrate and focus intently for the next ever-how-long-it-is until dark, to see if I can spot that cow again.

5:10 and I just heard something. A bird! Big deal right…. Heck yeah!!!!!!! I actually heard a bird over the 95mph winds that had threatened to relocate me somewhere else just a little while ago. There it was again. Whew, I may get a break after all. Probably means I ain’t gonna see that cow again, but I’m thinking I may at least see a squirrel now, and can almost guarantee I will be able to walk back to the golf cart without being in danger of being blown into the next county.

5:15…. I think I may have actually seen a deer. I did… I did taw a deer (think Loony Tunes). Sure enough, a big ol’ nanny comes easing into the food plot. Here comes another one… and another… and another. One minutes time and I’ve gone from seeing squat to looking at 4 deer. 2 of em are does and 2 little ones, and I’m sitting there judging the size of their backstraps, cause by now, I’m MAD. I ain’t killed a deer since somewhere in the first gun season (pre-December) and am in desperate need for more meat. My wife says just to raid her Daddy’s freezer, but she just don’t get it. It’s a pride issue, and at this moment, the biggest doe at the other end of this little stretch of grass is really looking good to my pride.
Being the great hunter I am, I choose to defer the shot just a second or two since I had seen that one beautiful specimen of a deer earlier in the morning come in after those 2 deer in the cutover. It’s funny how things like that stick with you and make you a better hunter. I still remembered that very encounter, and it had been almost 8 full hours or so…. I’m pretty proud of myself for that.
Anyway, into the plot enters another deer. And another and one more. All does, but since those winds have now all be quit blowing altogether, I hear a distinct sound. It was a grunt, and it’s repetitive and it’s getting closer. That’s right, ol’ mister bucky is grunting his way directly into this field and into the line of fire. Well, here comes a doe busting into the field around 200 yards or so away, and this buck is after it. I ain’t lying, he wanted this chick. All these other deer just look up and watch the show as this deer chases this one hotty all around the plot. Apparently he thought she was hot anyway, cause she was the apple of this dude’s eye. I’m thinking there’s 8 does watching this one buck chase this other doe around the field and I’m just sitting there hoping he’ll stop so I can tell exactly what he is (although I pretty well knew he was safe).
Earlier in the year, we’d burned the plots off and this one at one time had a strip of privet growing in the middle through the length of the plot. Not sure if you know what a deer looks like when he stops moving in a strip of once alive, burnt, now dead privet, but he frickin disappears. Finally, the sucker moves and I start seeing headgear. He’s an 8 point, with some weird stuff going on, but clearly an immature deer and definitely not a shooter according to those high standards we try to uphold!!!!! So I’m back to looking at some of the does and wondering which one has the biggest backstraps and I notice movement once again from where this other buck had entered the food plot. I see horns and a big deer coming in the field and another deer behind him. Well, being the great hunter that I am, I immediately lay my gun out the window of the stand and look to the deer that still ain’t in the field completely. You know if a big buck comes into the field and another deer is behind him it’s GOT to be another buck and there’s probably about to be a WWE cage match go down right smack dab in the middle of this field, and I’ve got a front row seat.
It’s a doe…… a stinking doe behind a jolly old giant.
Being the pretty amazing hunter I am, I take interest once again in this buck. He’s BIG…. I mean BIG. Looks like a brahma bull up there and starts absolutely ripping up a cedar tree along the edge of this field. Sounds like a logging operation as he’s de-limbing this thing and me and every other critter around are watching him. This other buck is especially watching him as he finally decides that he’s thoroughly killed that poor little cedar and begins to walk towards this other 8 point. About 3 steps is all it took and the young fella decided he didn’t want none. I’m outa here dude and he quickly exits left. Now it’s me, a scared 8-point who’s took cover at the other end, but doesn’t want to totally walk away from the hot chick he was so intently chasing, 8 or 9 or 10 more does and little ones and this big buck.
Now when I say big buck, I’m really just talking about the physical stature of this critter, cause he certainly won’t set any records with his horns, but his backstraps and hind quarters were BIG.
I’m in a zone now, and have pretty well all but skinned him out before I even pulled the trigger. All he has to do is turn sideways and that’s it. Close the curtains, Katie bar the door, he’s outa here, game over…. You get the idea. Well, dude just keeps waking straight towards me. He’ll act like he’s gonna turn sideways and change his mind. Just keeps coming my way.
It’s amazing how this stuff happens and the amount of time it takes, cause it ain’t even 5:20 yet. All this in 5 minutes.

Finally, after an eternity, or at least 45 seconds, this sucker turns sideways and starts making a scrape. Now he’s a brahma bull throwing dirt in the air. I put the crosshairs on his shoulder, slide the safety off on the Browning, and slowly squeeze the trigger. I guess I was a little closer to the scope than I should have been, cause it turned my hat sideways. No harm done, and I got to see him go down. He went down where he was standing and didn’t even think about going any further. After the other deer watched him taking a nap for a while they decided to exit premises.
I get down, going to look at him, praying the whole time that he was as big and old as I thought he was, not knowing what I’d do or how I’d feel if he got little the closer I got. Thank goodness, it wasn’t an issue, and I may have killed the oldest deer ever killed on the property.
January 2nd was a pretty good day….. Wonder where that cow ended up?



If this doesn’t get published on the Buff Pad and I get advance notice of publishing, I’m gonna be real upset

They called him FRANK!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen - here is the story of Frank. As my brother will tell you below, this is one legends are made of - and indeed it is. You see, hunting in the piney woods of south Mississippi doesn't have the glamorous appeal of the river bottoms of the MS River, the soil of the Black Prairie or the agriculture of the delta. Trophy bucks are measured many ways but for those who consistently harvest mature bucks (regardless of rack size) in the piney woods...well, they can get it done anywhere in my opinion. Kevin, aka Chunk, was not only able to harvest a mature piney woods buck but one that unofficially measured 137 inches...Congrats Brother!

The buck's name was Frank and the quest for him was one of legend. It began the first day of December. It was then my brother in law, Mark Rogers, first photographed the brute. As the month progressed, we continued to get several photos of him within a half mile area. Chad Odom, Mark Rogers and myself theorized on every aspect of Franks day to day activity. It got so intense I was cross referencing weather patterns with the trail cam photos we had taken. Crazy huh! My conclusion was Frank always moved on a southwest wind. Fast forward to the December 31st and guess the wind direction.... that’s right, southwest! I had decided that with the moon half full the deer may move mid-day. So, I caught up on a little sleep and got to the lease around 8:00 a.m. Figuring I would continue my pattern of trying a different strategy, I parked just inside the gate and walked a half a mile into the lease. Typically, I drive most of that route. At any rate, I toted my climber to a pine that over looked a three year old cutover. My plan was to get high. I’m talking so high I needed an extension on my pull-up rope....yea, that high! I was surprised how well I could see throughout the cutover. I couldn’t have been in the tree no more than 10 minutes when I spotted a doe coming up an old dummy line. This was a road we theorized the deer were using. As she continued up the road, I soon noticed her yearling bringing up the rear. My heart sank! I was confident that since she hadn't abandoned her yearling then she wasn't in estrus therefore no buck would be trailing. Any how, the two dumped into the cutover and I figured that was that. As I began to settle down from the encounter, I noticed a third deer following the same trail. I threw up my .308 to find that this deer had head gear! He gave me just enough time to know he was one of our better bucks but at 300 yards I wasn't sure which one. He progressed up the road but soon ducked back into cover. My heart sank thinking he was surely gone. Thankfully, he popped back out on the dummy line. Like a blood hound, he had picked up the does trail and was about to enter the thicket she had disappeared into only seconds sooner. It was then that I used the deer call that has worked for me many times in the pasted. In fact, I've found that 60% of the time, it works every time...I yelled HEY!!!!!!!!! He stopped dead in his tracks. As he stood alert, I settled my cross-hairs along his spine and tripped the hammer. "I pulled", I said audibly as the report from my rifle still lingered in the air. I knew I pulled and now, there was no deer was in sight. Immediately I called my brother-in-law to tell him what had happened. To say I was shook was an understatement. HAHA...don’t take much for me! Anyway, Mark advised me to stand in my stand and calm down. I'm glad he did too. It gave me time to sit and reflect and thank the Lord for the opportunity. Feeling as though my shot was off, I tried to just be thankful for the encounter. When Mark got there the two of us proceeded to the place where I thought the buck was standing. Panic began to set in. This idea of just being thankful for the encounter didn't seem so good. Mark asked me if I was sure the buck wasn't further down the road. He began walked on down the road when I heard him holler, YOU KILLED HIM....YOU KILLED FRANK!!!! Just as expected, I had pulled my shot. The bullet struck the buck in the neck, dropping him instantly.