Friday evening started out like many hunts with a nice afternoon featuring a north wind. As I walked down the gas line to a stand we call the Swamp Bottom I had to delay my progress in letting a small buck cross the gas line down ahead of me. Once settled in I was enjoying the afternoon. A small button buck was the first to arrive after about an hour. It left after feeding on one of the two plots you can view from this stand for about 30 minutes. At about 5 o'clock another buck entered the upper plot. I observed it through my binoculars and determined it was and up an comer 10-point. I was happy to see he was looking very healthy. After about 20 minutes of feeding he was working directly towards me when I saw him look to his left down towards a gap in the trees at the low point in the pasture. I immediately looked that way and saw a dark racked buck with a big main beam and thick tines. I knew this was a mature buck quickly and got my gun up for the shot. After settling in I squeezed off the shot and the buck went down where he stood. I bolted in another round and watched him kick for a few seconds. As soon as he was still I thanked God for another buck.
