In the last few years I have shot more than a couple in our preferred zone...and missed two.

Hours of encounter, in no parparticular order;

Doe: 9am
Buck: noon
Buck: noon
Buck: noon
Doe: dusk
Doe: noon
Buck: dusk
Doe: dusk

I also jumped a buck this season at daybreak, and still not sure how he busted me, the odds were in my favor and he still got me. Bad luck is a thing, too.

All three of those noon bucks, and the noon doe, were within 1/2 mile of each other on one piece of property, all the dusk animals came from another piece of property, and so far over a handful of seasons, never the twain shall meet.

Our game cams, as Nick mentioned, caught only young bucks, two points or less, during shooting hours, from early on thru the rut and right thru late season...the big mature ones flat out don't venture, period...with two notable exceptions.

First exception is a single pic of one of our familiar foes at noon, once, in the height of the rut, and he was alone.

Second exception is the biggest blacktail I have ever harvested, who never appeared on a camera during shooting hours, not once, until making a mistake on an evening as hunting hours were expiring... I was there for the mistake, and that buck expired at the same time as the hunting hours did.

There will still be some stories and pics to add to this thread, sooner or later.

Fish on...

Todd