The 2009 season turned out being pretty good to me. I got to put more time in the stand then I had in quite a few years. In November 2009 I took 3 deer. A Doe, a Spike and a small 6 pointer. I continued to hunt through December, deciding if I took another deer it would have to be a good buck.
My last hunt of the year was down in Georgia on New Years day (the last evening of season in the Northern zone). I was carrying my Bushmaster M4A3 in .223 cal. and hunting out of an Ameristep ground blind on the edge of a food plot that borders public land. I got into the stand at about 2:30PM. I didn't see anything until about an hour before dark when 3 Doe came out into the field and started feeding about 200 yards to my left. Even though I had the wind in my favor the Doe were pretty jumpy and kept looking back up on the hill in front of me. They would feed for a minute or two, sprint for a few yards toward me, look back up on the hill and then go back to feeding. Since I had no intention of taking a Doe, I figured I'd do a little calling to see how they would react.
I pulled out the Buck Roar grunt call and started grunting in the opposite direction away from the Doe. I never once got a reaction from either of them, if anything, they moved closer to my blind. They continued to be alert to something on the hillside across the field from my location. After about 30 more minutes of this they decided that they'd had enough and exited the far end of the field to my left. I sat back figuring that my 2009 season had came to an end, reflecting on all the great times I'd had.
The light was dimming and I figured I'd seen my last deer before dark. I kept looking in the direction where I'd last seen the deer when I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye, another larger deer had stepped out into the field about 100 yards to my right. I glassed the deer with my binoculars and saw that it was a good Nice buck.
As quietly as possible, I repositioned myself in the blind, putting the M4 on the shooting stick I was carrying. The buck had his head down and was quartering away. I settled the cross hairs about a foot behind his shoulder and squeezed one off. The buck went straight down but after a couple of seconds got right back up. Fearing he might get back into the timber and I'd have a track job, I put the cross hairs back on him and squeezed off another shot putting him down for good.
I love the M4 and wanted to try to take a deer with it this season but I soon found out that a larger Whitetail can easily eat the .223 round and keep on trucking. I think from now on I'll stick to my larger caliber rifles, you never know when a BIGUN might step out.
I nicknamed this 9 point whitetail the "Last Chance" buck. It goes to show...don't give up...hunt till the last minute of the season. My persistence paid off this year!! 
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