RE: What lessons have you learned?
Here's one. Indians used to stand in the smoke of sweet grass burning to kill their scent.
Here's another. A climber is noisy. In small plots where deer are no more than a thousand yards away it's better to have several permanent stands that you can slip into unseen and unheard.
Here's one for life. There are people who hunt. They don't hunt for food nor for sport. They're not hunting for bargains or antiques. They hunt for ways to take what you have away from you. If they don't know you have something you will never end up in their sites. You'll never hear their safety click off, their pins will never line up on you. You'll never feel that sharp pain off their hook being set. It's very unfortunate that we cannot show outwardly the passion that lives in our hearts freely, but we cannot, we dare not.