"We're going to get one tonight" JD whispered as we settled in for the evening hunt.  I was a little more skeptical because as I cut a thread on the burlap surrounding the stand with my CRKT "Brow Tine" knife a bead of sweat dripped from my forehead.  It was a very warm October 15th.  The double stand that we have set up faces west and with little shade the bright sun had JD and I squirming for any available shade.

Do you remember your first deer rifle?  If you're like me you probably can remember just about everything about your first rifle.  My first deer rifle was a Remington Semi-Auto .243 that my Dad bought at a local gun shop.  It was a heavy gun and because of that we traded it for a Remington Model 700 .270 the next year.  It was with the .270  that I killed my first deer. 

When I was twelve years old my Dad gave me my first knife.  If I close my eyes I can still picture that day and remember thinking how cool it was to have my own knife.  It wasn't much to brag about but you couldn't tell me that at the time.  I spent many hours whittling on sticks in the woods with that knife.  It was a small black folding knife that to this day I have tucked away in a special place.

As I drove down an old farm road the other day I was immediately reminded that deer season is just around the corner.  Velvet antlers caught my eye as a young buck stopped at the sight of the four wheeler.  As the buck slipped into the thicket I sat there for a few minutes and soaked in the silence.  It was then I decided to make a detour and head down to one of my favorite spots in the woods.