OK, first let me apologize for this picture. It's not good. My excuse? I had only my work-issued SLR camera with me Saturday morning and I don't know how to set the self-timer on it. Actually, I don't even know if it has a self-timer. So I couldn't set up a typical hero shot. (Is a doe worthy of a hero shot? It depends on the hunting circumstances, of course. I'm proud of every bow kill.)

The bottom line is my great season continues, which is especially sweet after last year's tough autumn.

I shot this nice doe at 10:10 a.m. Saturday on private land in Bedford County, after a pretty memorable morning on the stand.

First, I had a walk of about a mile to reach the area I planned to hunt. It was an area I haven't hunted this season so carried in my climbing stand, a Summit Revolution. It's a great, comfortable stand and I can sit in it all day. But it is one heavy sucker, weighing 27 pounds (5 more than advertised, but every stand I have is heavier than advertised). Including my gear I was hauling about 50 pounds. That's not bad in a decent backpack, but it's not good when your're using the straps attached to the stand.

I got up the tree just at first shooting light. It was 24 degrees but thanks to the extra layers I packed in I was plenty warm.

Pretty soon I had turkeys flying down around me, but they didn't get close enough for a good view.

I didn't see a deer until well after sunrise but that didn't seem to be the case for hunters on adjoining properties. I heard bunches of shots, confirming just how popular the muzzleloader opener has become. Finally I caught a quick glimpse of a buck about 80 yards away. Later I saw two yearling bucks sparring in that same area. That was pretty cool.

Still later, two more yearling bucks walked by my stand. One was a pretty five-pointer that passed at about 13 yards, offering a perfect quartering-away shot. I drew, aimed and whispered, "Whack, you're dead." The property isn't trophy managed but we do our best to pass on yearlings. Plus, I'm just not ready to burn the second of my three buck tags. As he got farther away up the hill above me -- and downwind -- he finally winded me and took off.

The bucks didn't seem too anxious, so I think we are still in the relatively casual seeking phase of the pre-rut, although things are certainly becoming more intense by the day.

Later a doe passed by about 27 yards but was quick getting through the shooting lane so I held off.

By 10 a.m. the muzzleloader shots had all but stopped so I figured the deer were pretty much finished moving. I nocked a practice arrow and was picking out a leaf to shoot at before climbing down when I decided to take one more look around. That was a good move as I spotted two does that had silently entered the field adjacent to the patch of woods I was hunting. I quickly grabbed a Thunderhead-tipped arrow and waited.

The deer came straight to me so I never had a good angle as they approached. When they were directly below me they stopped and milled around for several minutes. It was pretty nerve-wracking.

Sidenote here. For years I was a believer in packing an empty bottle into my stand for those times when nature's call hits. I haven't been doing that lately and Saturday morning provided some proof that it's unecessary. That five-point buck and the two does clearly were not alarmed by that scent.

Finally the does started moving away. I let the larger of the two get about 7 yards away before I decided to shoot. She was quartering away and the shot was perfect. She crashed about 50 yards away. That was nice after the stress I went through with the buck I hit bad on opening day.

I had planned to donate my second deer of the season to Hunters for the Hungry, so that's what I did with her.

I won't be able to hunt for a couple of days but hope to get back out there toward the end of the week. Unfortunately the weather is supposed to warm up and that could limit daytime deer movement.

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• Posted by Mark Taylor in Deer
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