Patience, surprises, pays off after many hours in tree stand

I have never hunted as many days and hours before getting a deer while archery hunting as I did this year.

True — I have become spoiled over the past decade by taking a buck each year during the first week — or the early part of the second week of the fall archery season.

But this year, I worked hard at filling two deer tags — both, in fact were filled last week.

Antler restrictions had little to do with my wait to fill tags. The 'wrong deer' simply kept walking under my tree stands.

I could have shot a doe on the opening morning, but I let two pass without drawing the bowstring. Sometimes just being out there is enough — and that's the way I felt on the first day of the season.

Of course, if a large buck had come into my shooting range, I would not have passed on the opportunity to take a shot at the deer.

Each time I went out to try to fill a deer tag with my compound bow, only smaller, sub-legal bucks stood under my stand. Likewise, when I decided to fill an antlerless tag, it seemed as if only button bucks came near.

One evening, a young three-point buck and a button buck wandered around me for almost two hours. The small antlered buck was illegal — although I would not have taken it anyway, and I refuse to take a first-year button buck if I can help it.

Not only was it a surprise to me that it took so long to take a shot at a deer this year — both deer I harvested were somewhat of a surprise when they appeared in front of me.

I was watching a small group of deer at a distance, when I looked down in front of my stand and saw a large doe munching on leaves. I had no idea where she came from, and I had to shake off the surprise and draw the bow to release the arrow that quickly took her.

It was a difficult drag up hill with the doe, but the reward of finally filling a tag this season was worth the sweat and effort.

The buck I took also seemed to "materialize" from nowhere.

A group of six does, led by a small four-point fed up the hillside toward me —-all within easy bow range.

I intently gazed at each deer head looking for a nice set of antlers that met the criteria of a minimum of four points on one side.

I turned back to watch the young buck as it leisurely fed along the edge of the field where my tree stand was located. To my surprise, when it raised its head from the high grasses, a very respectable set of antlers glowed atop its head.

This obviously was not the first buck I had seen, and I was dumbfounded as to how it appeared within the group without my noticing it sooner.

Is my age getting to the point where it affects my skills and senses•

How could that buck have walked right in front of me without my noticing it sooner•

It didn't matter that much at the moment, because I had enough of my wits in tact to draw the bow, aim at the heart and touch-off the release that sent the arrow straight and true to its mark. The buck was mine — a typical mainframe eight-point rack that has double brow tines — making it a 10-point by most standards.

The archery season runs through Saturday, so there still is time for you to fill a deer tag.

Just be sure to watch closely, because they might appear "out of nowhere" and be standing right in front of you when you least expect to see them.