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I have taken my yearly journey to the woods to hunt since I was 14.

Last year started just as every other one before had, but it would

end much earlier and in a very different way than usual. Despite the weather being too warm for

hunting, I was out at dawn, on opening day like always. As the season drags on, the deer get more skittish,

so starting as early as you can increases your chances.

On the lease I had been hunting on for the past seven years,

I had a small handful of preferred spots,

and this is where I was heading.

This spot was a tree stand, setting roughly 30 feet high in an old oak, that looked

out across one of our three feed plots.

I had had good luck there more than once, and hoped to have it again.

The drive out to this stand took about 15 minutes from my cabin, so I left an hour

before dawn. I wanted to be on the stand just as the first bit of light broke. As usual,

I parked my four-wheeler about 50 yards away and walked the rest of the way in. I'm not sure if it makes any real difference, but not making a

bunch of noise right next to where I'd be hunting, seems like a wise idea. So it's a practice I try

to remember to do each time I hunt. Although I'd been up over an hour and had a couple of cups of

...