Finally the cooler weather has moved in. I've seen plenty of early rutting activity and headed out for a morning sit today. Temp read 37 degrees Just what dr. Deer ordered. LOL Though to my surprise I saw nothing for the first hour despite excellent conditions. About 8:10 I heard the blue jays cackling away in the next valley over, so I pulled out the grunt tube and the doe bleat can, and gave a short serenade of a bleating doe with some tending grunts mixed in. I don't normally call in the blind like that, but experience tells me that on a cool crisp morning, when the woods are generally quiet, the cackeling of blue jays says that either deer, bear, or people or walking near by. I stood up, picked up the bow and waited. After about 20 min, I was about to sit again, when I caught the flicker of a tail. This guy was slinking his way along a scrape line about 80 yds away working his way around to get down wind of me. The trail he was on would take him right through the 30 yd shooting lane. It took him 30 min to close the distance from 80 yds to 45 yds. At 45 Yds., he turned broadside and started working a scrape. I figured that was my opening. I re-checked the distance and lined him up with the 40 yd pin just a bit high. My release fell great and I heard the unmistakable thwunk of a solid chest hit. He jumped and trotted about 20 yds and stopped. He stayed there for about 30 seconds before doing the ichy shuffle and crashing into the green briars. 
