as previously mentioned in another thread, worst opener ever in terms of deer numbers seen - however, this was the only guy that gave me a decent shot inside 200 meters. if you're only getting one, it's not a bad one to get.
wish i could get a better angle on the rack to show off more but the taxidermist's got him now. first buck ever, no less, i'd been passing on smaller ones and shooting does for the past few years waiting for one worth hanging up.
backstory:
second morning of the season, about 0645 he comes bounding in tail up but slows in the corner of the clearing. he seems to be heading up the hill at a slow walk after that to other folk's property and out of range. i'm in a fairly high tree stand with some branches obscuring shots out that far, so i wait until he comes into one of my holes and figure i'd better shoot or somebody else is getting him on the neighbor's property. little shaky from my perch but now or never, i shoot and he goes down. however, because of the tall grass, i can't tell whether i hit him (i figure some bucks are wiley enough to duck when alarmed), and especially not if any wound is mortal. i decided not to wait and see, but rather to be closer for any followup shots, unhitching and laddering down quickly. takes me a minute to find him in the brush, he was a bit further out than i'd initially estimated. paced it at about 175, i forgot my rangefinder on this trip so it's the best i can do. shot was high and left, hit neck and the bullet deflected inside somehow, coming out behind the outboard ear. 30-06 remington premier accutip 165gr out of a charles daley mauser. the draw i was in was steep - way too steep for my gator, even for the neighbor's ATVs - and it took 3 of us to get him up the final near-vertical edge to the crop field. butcher guessed him about 210 field dressed. 6 points on left side including the split brow tine, 4 on the right, with some nice mass. pretty happy, and will hopefully be happier with some does this weekend.