Working with the neighbors to make things work for both of u

Last year my wife and I were lucky enough to purchase our dream home, a log cabin in the middle of the woods with 20 acres. We live in Henry county and this isn't something we have a lot of in this area. We borrowed from everyone we knew and sold everything we had to make it work but I wouldn't change that. The lady we bought the home from told us she see's deer all the time and even left a mule deer head on the wall and a deer antler chandelier.  As soon as we moved in I started making food plot and selecting tree stand locations.  I met all the neighbors who also own between 5-40 acres and only one of them really liked to hunt so that was encouraging too!  The neighbor directly behind me shot a really nice 10 pointer last year and I helped him get it out of the woods and that's where this story began.  We realized that we both had the same goal in mind, to try to grow big deer and let the little ones continue to grow.  So this year we have been sharing camera photo's and texting back and forth what we were seeing.  A few weeks ago on a Sunday evening he texted me BUCK DOWN, he had shot (what I consider) a nice 8 pointer and I had it on camera just a few days before.  Opening day of gun season rolls around and I decide to hunt our lease, we have seen a few nice deer there as well and I saw one on opening morning but it just didn't work out.  Sunday morning we went to church and when we got home I changed and headed to the tree.  I choose to hunt over my clover plot that is about a 1/2 acre hoping the does would come in to feed for the evening and bring their boyfriend along.  Not long after getting in the stand, I'd say about 2:30 two does filtered thru some brush and were standing right at the edge of the food plot for about five minutes.  Just watching, not feeding just looking all around.  Finally they stepped out and a gust off wind came along and one of them instantly blew and they were gone.  I didn't think they would come from that direction at all because that were in a small corner of the plot that was almost totally destroyed and gone now.  So they are gone and we had agreed we wouldn't shoot any does off of our places.  The neighbor and I both have other opportunities to hunt and I had already taken 1 doe at Big Oaks a few weeks prior.  So as I'm sitting there checking scores on my phone and the current deer count on DNR's site I hear a twig break and I look up and there stands the biggest deer we had caught on camera this year!!  He came from the north and came in directly behind a large pine tree that I can't see around or thru but offers great cover.  He was at 15 yards!!!!!  He steps forward right to where I stepped into my stand and at this point I'm 8 yards away from him and can see that his is totally focused on the food plot and starts grunting.  My gun is sitting next to me and he is so close I can't move.  Finally after what seemed like 20 minutes he walks on down into the plot.  I stand up grab my gun and turn and realize there is a doe that had came into the plot and she was looking directly at me while he was focused only on her.  I put my Marlin 44 magnum on him, after having to turn my scope down, because he was at 28 yards.  He instantly started pouring blood out as soon as the shot rang out.  He went about twenty yards and piled up in the food plot.  Before I even had time react my wife had sent me a text asking what is it???  I told her to get the boy and just walk to the bottom of the hill.  When they got there and stepped into the food plot I was still in my stand pumping my fists and texting my dad, buddies, and of course the neighbor.  We let our 4 year old little boy Solomon "find" the deer.  When my wife asked what we should do with the buck he said cut him up and eat him and put his head on the wall!  While some people would think that was a weird statement for a child, it made me proud.  I know it's a long post but I thought it would be encouraging for those of us with smaller amount of ground to know that if you work with your neighbors it is still totally possible to grow and hold big deer.  Just last night I drove around block only to see an even bigger buck bedded down right next to the road, so that insures more years of enjoyment for us to come.