Hey gentlemen—this one was a fun, kind of “wild card” Ohio sit that turned into a whole lot more than I planned. It’s October 26th, pre-rut, I’m in a preset ladder stand (not something I hunt out of all that often), with the wind in my face and a camera on the property showing consistent movement. The plan was simple: does on the menu, bucks on the menu, turkeys on the menu—basically everything except young bucks. I had three hours to sit, and I figured the action would be closer to last light… but this time of year, bucks get ratted up and things can change fast. Sure enough, right after that temperature drop/thermal shift, a buck was on his feet and marching my edge. He ended up hanging around inside 20 yards for a long time, but the trees kept me from getting the angle I needed. When a younger buck came in and they went nose-to-nose, I finally got a shot through a gap—only I caught a deflection and hit him high. He dropped, and I put a second arrow in him to finish it. It wasn’t pretty, but it was fast, and it’s a real reminder that tight timber can make “easy” shots complicated. Next morning I got him in the sun: a clean, symmetrical 4x4—my kind of “perfect proportions” buck—165 pounds dressed. After last year’s biggest buck of my life, I’m sticking to my rule: I’m shooting whatever gets me excited… and the shaking hands told me everything I needed to know.