Well, son of a bitch, I missed a great buck tonight.  I'll get to that in a second...
This morning I had a wide 8 point working a trail above me.  He stopped to make a few rubs, but never responded to any calls.  Another buck about the same time came down from that trail and skirted the inner edge of a thicket.  I never did see how big he was.  The final buck of the morning snuck through below me at the lake edge.  He looked good, but wasn't positive.  Also had 3 doe come by and tyehy were the only ones that were in range.
This evening I hunted the field edge in search of Outback or the Texas 9.  What happened was totally off the script.  At about 4:30 I catch movement in the tall weeds about 75 yards to my left.  It's a tall racked 6 point.  I figure I'll mess with him a bit as he is heading toward the swampy lake in the middle of the field.  I grunt at him.  He looks my way, but never respnds.  Just then I hear a grunt come from behind me down in this steep bowl.  I can hear footsteps, but can't find the buck in the thick stuff.  I grunt, he grunts, I grunt, he grunts, I grunt... nothing.  He shuts up... so do I.  It's now a waiting game to see what buck is doing the grunting.  I hear nothing for about 30 minutes.  I finally decide to tickle the horns a little.  Knowing that buck is down there somewhere just standing, I hide the horns in front of my legs and lightly rattle.  As soon as I finsh about a 1 minute sequence I hear walking again. It seems to be heading up the hill to my left, then nothing.  
Finally at about 5:20 I catch movement where I first saw the 6 point.  It's a buck and a big one at that.  A real tall 9 point (bigger than the Texas 9) with 5" brows and a sticker off his right G2 is scanning the field for what was making the ruckus.  I quickly hit the grun tube and he looks my direction.  He does a 90 degree turn and heads right for me.  It's on!  He starts angling my way then makes another turn so he's walking broadside.  He passes behind a big cluster of multiflora and I draw.  He makes way into a shooting lane at what I estimate to be 35 yards.  BAAP!  He freezes... I release.  He bounds away down toward the lake and stops and looks back.  Did I miss him?  I look through thye binos and he appears fine.  
I hit the grunt call.  He lowers his head and starts back.  Time for a second chance.  I nock another arrow as he closes the distance.  He then starts to veer to my right... no shot.  He stops about 60 yards away and starts thrashing trees.  I grunt... he stops... he snort wheezes, and starts thrashing again.  In my mind I'm thinking, "are you fucking kidding me????"  
I snort wheeze and he stops thrashing and turns for the woods.  By now it is pretty damn dark and even if he came closer I wouldn't be able to shoot.  As I am climbing down my stand I can hear him grunitng and walking toward my stand inside the woodline.  There is a small hillside and thicket between us, so I hurried down the tree and got out before he pinpointed me.  
I had my chance at a great 9 pointer and blew it.  I'm not sure if I missed high or low because I never even saw my arrow fly.  It was just before last shooting time and, although I could see him fine in my sights, I just didn;t see the flight of the arrow (time for lighted nocks).  If I had to guess, with him in an open field, I probably misjudged the distance and he was more like 40 or 50 yards.  I have all the trees around me measured out with a range finder, but there is nothing to guage the open field.  I messed up... bottom line.  
I'm sick about it, but at least I didn't put a bad hit on him.  It's been a rough couple of days.  Kody hit one that we lost and I flat out missed.
Back at it in the morning!
Hours on stand: 51.5
 AM Sits: 5
 PM Sits: 9
 All Day Sits: 3
 Bucks: 17
 Doe: 29
 Shooters: 4 plus 1 borderline
 Harvests: 1 (Klay)
 Coyotes: 1
 Idiots: 1