Thanksgiving afternoon found me in a big Red Oak that I've had a stand in for several years and it has produced several deer over the years as well. The stand is no more than a couple hundred yards from my house, I can actuallly see it through the trees. Around 4:00 PM I heard something and looked up toward the house and saw my wife, she was feeding our dog that is on a long cable run at the edge of the woods I was hunting. A little while latter I heard something down the hill from me and spotted a beautiful fox squirrel, he was a golden brown color with a black ring around his head, a white face, white ears and four white feet. I enjoyed watching this squirrel until he finally decided to move on. About 30 to 45 minutes before dark I heard something that sounded like was below me in a thicket, I listened and in a minute or so I finally heard it again and realized it was behind me. My stand is in a fork of the large Red Oak and I had to strain my neck to see around the fork of the tree. The first thing I saw was antlers and he was extremely close, it's amazing how these deer can get on top of you befpre you know it. I gently squeezed the trigger and eased the hammer to full cock and then let off the trigger, this made no noise and I was now ready for a shot. I thought about standing up and turning around but since I couldn't see him for the fork of the tree I decided to let him make the next move. I heard him start walking again and I finally looked straight down between my feet and there he was. I had to slowly lean out to get the muzzle clear of the stand, I actually checked to make sure the muzzle was clear before looking through the old steel tube Weaver V9-II which from past experience has taught me to always leave scopes set on there lowest power while hunting.
I put the crosshair at the base of his neck and touched the trigger on the Handi 30-06. The only trouble I had was getting out of the tree without tripping over the deer!
Here is a view from my tree stand.
GOOD SHOOTING!
Slufoot
