As I mentioned before, one of my good hunting buddies is Doyle Dietz, outdoors editor of the Pottsville Republican & Herald in Schuylkill County, Pa. For those who know Doyle, you’ll totally get this. For those who don’t, let’s just say he’s a heavy sleeper.

In fairness to Doyle, those 3:30 a.m. wake-up calls we had during our Maryland hunt are a killer.

Well, I guess it just wasn’t meant to be for Brad, Doyle and I during our Eastern Shore whitetail hunt this year. In fact, it was a bad week for all the hunters in camp - although some certainly enjoyed better hunts than we did. A total of five trophy bucks - one 10-pointer and four 8-pointers, were within bow range over the course of the week (including three during the three days we were there) and not one of them was harvested. All but one of the deer was missed cleanly, and the one that was hit didn’t appear to be badly hurt because there was only a couple drops of blood and the outfitter couldn’t find any sign of the buck after an extensive search of the area where that client was hunting.

 The last miss of the week occurred Saturday morning about 500 yards from where I was hunting. The guy said he had a chance at a 130-inch 8-pointer but missed after his arrow hit a limb. Of course, I didn’t see any deer that morning, so I was just frustrated when he told me the story. On Saturday afternoon, I had a few small antlerless deer and another 3-pointer come by my stand, but I decided to pass on all them rather than take a small deer. I was down there looking for a big buck, and I just wasn’t one of the lucky hunters to get an opportunity. Of course, I’d like to think I wouldn’t have squandered my chance if it came, but as I told the guy who missed the big buck on Saturday morning, there is no such thing as a gimme shot in the deer woods.

 Saturday did work out well for at least one hunter though. There was a nice guy there from Long Island, Jerry Prinzivalli, who took a small buck that was his first deer ever. So, a big congratulations to Jerry! It’s nice that John Kostick, owner of B&J Guide Service, is flexible enough to let people like that shoot a smaller deer if they want to, because your first deer is always a trophy no matter the size.

 I included a photo here of Jerry and his deer, along with a couple photos of my evening stand location.

 Now it’s back to Pennsylvania and some doe hunting.

Well, I saw a couple small deer on the second morning of the hunt, and had a small, 3-point buck and a doe come by in the evening, but really no great action to speak of. Still, I was set up in a beautiful spot, which you can see in the video here.