I was sitting in the tree one morning and the time was about 9:00 am. Things had gotten very slow. The deer had already bedded down,even though, it was during the start of the rut. I got down from my treestand and started scouting. 

I wasn't very happy with the stand site that I had chosen. So, I thought that it would be a good opportunity to look around for a new site. But, at the same time, I also know that it would be a good time to do some still hunting. It had rained really hard the night before and the leaves were good and wet. That made walking on
the ground very quiet.

During the rut, bucks will hook up with does and usually stay with them for at least three days. My past experiences has taught me that if you are walking around and a doe jumps up, you had better get ready!  Because more than fifty percent of the time there is a buck bedded with them. More than likely, the doe will jump up first and then the buck will stand up and look to see what the disturbance is. So, you had better be cocked, locked and ready to rock. And this
is exactly what happened to me.

I was following a real impressive rubline and decided to find a tree to hang my stand in. I had no more than found a spot to hang my stand, when I heard a rustling in a blow down.

When this doe jumped up, I pulled my Mathews LX bow. I was ready when this really impressive eight pointer stood up. He looked right at us and that is when the waiting game began.You have to be totally motionless. But,with my Realtree camoflauge, he didn't know who we were.

My dad was filming the hunt. The buck just stood there and we had a minute to a minute and a half stare down. He let his guard down and turned sideways to go after the doe that he had bedded down with. Which gave me the perfect shot. He was about 26 yards away.

I squeezed off the shot and watched my lighted Tracer nock fly right into the pocket. My Muzzy 3-blade had pierced right through his heart.He went less than 60 yards. 

I love sitting in treestands but there is nothing more exciting than the heart pounding experience of stalking whitetail face to face on the ground.When a plan comes together it is awesome!

The main thing that you need to do is make sure that you are as scent free as possible and keep the wind in your face. During the rut, big bucks make mistakes, take advantage of it!

Good luck hunting!

Thanks to all of my sponsors: 

Randy
 

Randy Oitker, age 15, is an avid bowhunter and outdoor sports writer. Randy is also a professional archer who hails from Plainville, IL. Randy can be seen giving tech tips to young hunters each week on the Outdoor Channel on Sportsmen's Outdoor Strategies and his little sister Tiffany does a lead in a commercial on this show.  It can be seen at 7:30am.on Wed., 11:30am on Friday and 7:00pm on Saturday Central time.  Randy Oitker is sponsored by:  Yamaha Motor Corp., Mathews Solo-Cam bows, Muzzy Products, Scent-Lok Odor-Elimating suits, Realtree Camoflauge, Bushnell Sport Optics, Sims Vibration Laboratories, Copper John Releases, Tracer Products, Rinehart 3-D targets, Wildlife Research Center, Summit Treestands, SKB bowcases, Eze-Eye Arrow Wraps, Walker's Game Ear, BCY Bowstrings, Arrowspeed Radarchron, Bug Tamer suits, Motorola Radios, Coleman Outdoor Products, Magellan GPS Systems, Toxonics Bow- sights, Knight Rifles, Trail-Mac Cameras, Bolle Eyewear, Primos Game Calls, Walls Outdoor Wear, Badlands Backpacks, Fulmer Helmets, Rock-It Outdoors, Morrell Range Bags, Vibracheck Stabilizers, CamoClad Camoflauge System, DPar-Sports, Tamarack ATV Accessories, Harpoles Heartland Lodge and Walnut Knob Outdoors and from Quincy, IL. Gem City Ford and Bowtree, Inc.

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