Sorry this is long, but I’m still coming off the adrenaline and the wife is tired of me talking about it already.
Let's just say saturday didn't pan out too well and leave it at that so we can jump straight to the good stuff
At the age of 5 before I could even hunt, dad had me in the woods with him.  I’ve hunted deer in 9 states over my life and average over 45 days of actual hunting days a year, that doesn’t count scouting and researching.  In the 35 years since that first trip to the woods, never did I ever dream of witnessing what I did today.  Never have I seen, nor do I suspect I will ever see such a majestic site again.
I was hunting in a long, narrow hollow, facing down the hollow on the left hand side.  Deer have been coming over the far side, angling in coming down the hollow straight past me.  In fact I posted a pic of a little 5 point here last year that came past and I let walk.  At 0920 this morning, crunching leaves got my attention.  I turned to see 2 deer directly over my right shoulder walking down the far razor back @ about 70 yds.  The sun was just over the ridge and shining on them.  The first one popped its head up and it was a real nice 8 pt.  NOW you got my attention I thought.  A few seconds later # 2 pops its head up.  It looked like a rocking chair on his head.  I'd say 20-22” easy.  About then I realize a 3rd deer is behind the bushes, head comes up…bingo another 8.  At this point, I’m not panicking, surprisingly enough I was actually pretty cool, just dumbfounded and in utter disbelief.  They were single file coming down the rim of that ridge eating acorns like a Hoover vacuum cleaner with the morning sun shining on them in all their beauty.  I caught movement behind them, there’s #’s 4, 5 & 6.  Head’s pop up, you guessed it!  A BIG 6 pt (~8” splits, 5” brow tines, probably 16”), the other 2 were 8’s.  NOW I’m freaking out.  After about 15 min, they slow turned back up the ridge, single file, dipped over the rim and came into the hollow.  Unfortunately, they angled up the hollow, not down towards me.  Single file with about 2 lengths between off went the bachelor group.   A massive 10 pt, four 8 pts and a huge 6 pt.    This is when I realized # 1 is still standing there eating acorns (that’s 7 in all if you weren’t keeping track!).  He looked around like, “WTF guys?”  Then he took 2 steps down over directly towards me.  Steady boy, we can still recover this….NOT!  He just turned walked back up the ridge and came into the hollow right where the other 6 did and got back in line, what a tease.

I just sat there in amazement and watched them disappear 1 by 1 over the horizon line.
I’m sure there are those of you that are saying right now, feel free, but as I noted never in my wildest dreams and 35 yrs with more time in the woods than most of my friends combined would I have imagined.  Here’s the real kicker fellas….this is PUBLIC LAND.  It’s remote as hell, but it’s public, and I found it.

For those of you new to this game, do your homework!  Study the topos, don’t be afraid to walk a little bit, play the wind and scout scout scout!  An arrow never left the string today, but I’ve never had a more spectacular day in the woods.  Now I know my efforts paid off, I know they're there, and I have a goal for the rest of the year.

Edited b/c I'm so amped up I can't spell and to add, don't even think about saying "pics or it didn't happen" ....digging for a camera?  Really?  Is that what YOU would have done?

One of the main reasons I bowhunt is so I can enjoy being that close to natures everyday life, and they don't even know it.  Like you said, you didn't kill anything and it was one of the best days you've ever had.  I never had that kind of appreciation of things when I just gun hunted.  

Those deer, the bigger ones especially, have no idea how close they were to death today.

I agree, I've learned far more about these silly critters since I began bow hunting.
Don't get me wrong, I still pull a few triggers throughout the year, but the passion is with the bow.

Case and point, today.  I would have smacked down one of those bucks in the first group from 100-150 yds away if I had a gun.
May never had the opportunity to witness an entire bachelor group.
It's the habits that still leave me going , and you get to see so much more of that due to being forced to be patient and observe while bow hunting.
Again today.  Cruising down the ridge, feeding, life is good.  1 buck.  1 single dude in the group decided "I'm going to cut over here and go uphill instead of down". He wasn't even the biggest/dominant buck.
I don't know about the crowd you hang with, but that would have been only lonely fellow in my group of friends!  Let me see...I'm going down hill, eating, fat dumb and happy, minding my own business and you want to go UP?  Have a nice trip.
What was that all about?  Why?  I had seen a coyote about 20 minutes before and just have to wonder if that one single buck sensed it, smelled it, what.
Nothing to set off alarm, just all of a sudden the actions of 1 deer turned an entire group of mature bucks around in their tracks an followed him like the pied piper.
Apparently I still have a lot to learn.

yeah it surprises me how one overly nervous deer will make a buck that is in to my calling and scents run. it gets annoying but it makes it fun.

I say
.



Requires you post GPS coordinates, so I can determine if this place is as good as you say.

Now if you do, don't be surprised if you come across a gut pile.




Some of the best days in the woods equal no meat in the freezer.

Yep congrats, there's no place I'd rather be, our bow season comes Oct 1 and I'll be there.

One soft grunt on a good grunt tube, and #1 woulda been yours!!!

That's a great question and one I've been wrestling with.
I'm gonna stick it out.  Way too early in the year to get silly.  They've been coming right past my tree, so I just have to wait it out rather than get aggressive this early and take a chance of blowing it.
There was a coyote in the area about 30 min prior and I'm pretty convinced that's what turned them, at least that's what let's me sleep better thinking that.

I plan to hang tough with it and if I get a chance to see any of them again hopefully it will work out, but if they do the same thing again, I'm getting mobile!

I"m always hesitant to use a grunt tube so early in the year....didn't even have it with me, but I assure you I was cussing myself at the time.

I've been deer hunting for 29 yrs, and have never seen more than two bucks together at the same time.
That is definatly a day to remember.

FH

Thats cool man.  I have seen two big bachelor groups this year.  Season is not going yet but I am out scouting almost every evening.

I saw something similar kinda....

I use to live across the street from a high fence game preserve in BFE Florida. I had heard a lot of rumors about the place, such as imported genetics and what not. Well one evening early August I was driving home around 10 in the morning at about 50 miles an hour. Now understand this is a country road in the middle of nowhere which got lost from there. Anyways, about half way from the "main road" and my house I look over in a little drainage area and low and behold there stands the 6 or 7 biggest bucks I had ever seen... all just standing there.


I left skid marks on the road for 100 feet probably if not more.  

Not near as cool, but still heart stopping for me.