It's been a long, and frankly, a frustrating season. Regular gun season opened on 11-15 here in western NY. I've hunted for three weeks, every day (nice to be retired :wink: ), haven't seen a deer! Today was the first day of our 9 day muzzleloader season. I was sitting on my stump (Yes, it's MY stump, been sittin' on it for so many years I oughta' own it!) and about 4:20 the thought occurred to me "Ya' know, I haven't heard a shot all day!" I was thankful that the amateurs were now anywhere but in the woods and now I can HUNT. About ten minutes go by and along comes a nice looking spike, moving along slow on the trail about 20 yards below me on the hillside. He stopped momentarily facing directly away from me, his head in the clear but his body somewhat obscured by brush. No way was I going to shoot him in the back and risk messing up those backstraps! I'm not a fan of headshots, but, sometimes you gotta' play the cards you're dealt.....the .54 PRB took him at the base of his skull, he fell right there. I said a quick "Thank You!" to the Lord and then proceeded to break my drag rope three times trying to get him into the clearing! Finally I had to drag him by the antlers to the clearing, walked back to my friends house, got the 4-wheeler out and proceeded to haul him back to my car....what a comedy! I finally got him hung up and skinned in my garage about 7:30 tonight and in the process I asked myself "Why do you even bother hunting in the regular season anymore?!" LOL!