20 years ago, a deer hunted southeast of Fort Worth, Texas, outside the town of Palestine.

We hunted on over 10,000 acres of woodland forests leased by Texas Parks and Wildlife.

On one of my hunting trips with my friends we ate and geared up for a day of bow hunting,

it was 4.30 a.m. and I was going to put up my tree climbing stand. Along the trail were

old growth oaks and pine trees and thickets.

Halfway to my hunting location in the thicket next to me, I heard a loud noise, and it sounded

like someone or something heavy lifting itself off the ground. The only light I had was one

I had strapped on my head.

I turned to the left and looked into the thicket, but it was too dense to see through.

And at first I thought it was a wild hog because a couple of mornings earlier I ran into a bunch of those.

A sidestepped three or four steps to my right.

With heavier footsteps, the creature did the same and made a snorting noise in my direction. I'm six foot three inches tall and I weigh two hundred and

twelve pounds. Whatever made that noise was bigger than me. Every hair on my body stood up. My compound

bow and five arrows were the only weapons I had.

I pulled one of my arrows from the quiver, brought the arrow to the string, and had the bow

in a firing position.

If I had to, I was going to fight to the death.

I sidestepped again to my left, three or four steps, and the creature did the same.

I looked into the thick and in front of me, and I told whatever was there that if it did not

hurt me, I wouldn't hurt it. And I slowly turned to my right in the direction of the trail,

and I started walking away. I looked over my shoulder, and I saw nothing behind me, and I did not hear any footsteps.

I finally made it to my tree, and I climbed up to the stand, and I hunted the rest of the day

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