The weather for the subsistence opening of deer hunting on Prince of Wales Island, July 24th was forecast to be less rainy than the previous days. That was a day to not be wasted in 2020. There is a ridge that reaches just above 2200 feet in elevation I love to hunt somewhat close to the house. For over 10 years I have spent most opening days there. Generally, several bucks can be spotted early in the morning. In 2018 that all changed. On July 24th, 2018 and 2019 I never saw a single deer on the ridge nor on the surrounding ridges after extensive hunting and glassing. I visited this ridge it several times trying to figure out what happened. It is quite possible that the higher elevation vegetation was sun burned with the hot, dry summers of those years. It is possible that the deer were lower in the forest. The deer generally only move down after the first heavy freeze. With all the rain of 2020, the vegetation was lush and the deer were back on top. I left the house at 3:30. I got to where my route begins at 4:30 and began my climb up. Topping out on the first ridge I immediately found several doe feeding. I had traveled less than ¼ mile down the ridge when a fine buck bolted from below me stopping at about 60 yards. He thought that he was concealed behind the mountain hemlock. I rested off one knee, bent forward, and found his sweet spot exposed between the branches. At 5:15 in morning a roundball from the Hawken found its mark. He ran just a few yards and crashed. My pack would be short and I would be home before lunch. I am so blessed to be able to the hunt public lands on the Tongass National Forest and these deer.