The 2007 season opener was a bust for me, just like it was for thousands of other deer hunters in Pennsylvania. Plenty of my buddies who have been steady deer hunters report that the weather conditions gave them fits and kept the deer sitting tight last Monday.

The highlight of my day was a cup of coffee and a sandwich that was nearly waterlogged the moment that I took it out of the plastic bag.

However, not all has been lost in my 2007 Deer Season, as I had better-than-average luck in seeing bucks on my traditional West Virginia hunting trip.

In fact, I'll tell you about the story of a buck that we had spotted early in the season and eventually became part of our camp's hunting lore.

We were planning to make a last-minute trip to the hunting camp and farm that we have called home for the past 10 West Virginia hunting seasons. The main idea was to look over the stands, to bring in supplies for our hunt and to inspect remodeling work on our camp house.

Woe to us, the camp wasn't going to be ready for our 2007 hunting trip. Finding temporary housing for 15 guys is no easy task and could have been a real problem had I not arranged for motel rooms in advance.

So, we took a ride and looked over our accommodations, as well as met with our hosts in West Virginia.

I was busy spray painting a dozen 5-gallon buckets in a camo pattern to give us a better seat during the hunt. A couple of the guys asked me to come along and look at the ladder stands, so I agreed to give the painting a little rest.

During this little jaunt is when I saw the 5x3 buck up close for the first time. He was walking along the edge of some thick cover and melted back into it when he saw us approaching. We were excited at the sight of the unusual buck and talked about him all week before our trip began in earnest. The second time I saw him was on the opening day of the West Virginia season as we drove to the property.

There he was, standing in the middle of the road and then jogging along with the traffic before then slipping away from the hunters. One thing that I did note was that no one was able to discern where the buck would show up next.

At first light on the Mountain State opener, things were pretty quiet at the stands, as the warm weather was keeping the deer from moving around too much. Most of the hunters knew where to expect to see deer, but that wasn't the case on this hunt.

Deer were popping up and out of unusual places, and a man had to be on his toes lest he missed a crossing deer.

Earlier in the morning, I was watching two does wander down a trail toward my stand. They didn't have anything to worry about from me, as I was strictly looking for bucks. One thing I learned from years of hunting is that bucks often trail behind does and other times they can do their own thing and be wily.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, a lone deer appeared, and, sure enough, he was a buck. I decided that he was a pretty nice one and that I should take one in the hand and forget the one still out in the bush.

I waited — and waited — and waited for the buck to come into my range. When he finally did, he was in a thicket and I had to pick out a shot.

I thought that I had a clear shot, but my bullet was deflected by brush and my buck slipped away.

Needless to say, I was quite deflated by the turn of events and spent the rest of the morning going over my decisions.

It was about noon when I was facing downhill into a hollow when I heard one snap of a stick that was out of place and immediately I turned my attention to the location of the sound.

It was then when my eyes found the shine of sunlight on an antler, and, much to my surprise, it was the 5x3 buck. This was the third time I had seen him and I had to be patient.

All the things that ran through my head in reflecting upon my earlier miss were in fast forward review as I prepared for my shot. Everything came together on this effort as the third time was a charm.