Hunting Early Morning Deer

The third weekend of rifle season had arrived and I was ready for a break from work. I got up early on Saturday morning and was ready to go kill a deer but had to stop first and pick up one of my hunting buddies. I stopped and got James Flowers and as we drove to the farm I had pick out to hunt I explained which stands we would be hunting in and the direction the deer should be moving from. We got to the farm and I got James set in his stand then told him I would be back in about 15-25 minutes.As I went to my stand, which was further back on the farm, I could tell it was a good day for the deer to move and figured that I should see deer early coming to the persimmon trees by my stand. Getting to my stand and having gotten set up just as the sun was starting to come up, I spotted movement in the woods to my left. Not able to see the deers head I grabbed my rifle and got ready for a shot when it stepped out into an opening and I seen horns. I hesitated for a moment then squeezed the trigger and the buck was mine. A fine 5 pointer with a heavy body which ran 20 steps before falling into a tree top and dying. I tagged the deer then drug it about half way back toward the truck before deciding to let James help me finish getting it to the truck. I walked slowly down to where James was and found him still looking for a buck to come out into the field but so far only does had shown up. We sat for awhile longer then decided to give up for the morning,went and got my deer to the truck and off to the checking station we went. That was probably the fastest hunt I've ever had and I attribute that to my pre-season scouting and timing of the deer herd. Knowing the area,the food availability,the weather and the movement of the herd all come together for this hunt to end up with a great memory with another of my past hunting buddies.