Since it's Veteran's Day (one of the best rut days in my areas) and since I saw the "big 8" I've been after walk right under the stand I wasn't hunting on Saturday morning, I decided to sit there this morning and hope he returned enroute to his nearby bedding area. High winds, high temps and rain were predicted, but I thought, "it's the rut, anything can happen." The wind didn't start until I left the house. The rain didn't start until I got in the stand. The high temps were already there (62 degrees at 4:30am) and just before I left, they announced the tornado watch in effect until 11:00am in my area. The lightning began as I secured myself to the tree. I was toughing it out for the hour or so before daylight when one of the lightning strikes was a bit too close with the immediate thunder following. Since I was standing on a metal stand, using strap-on metal ladder sections on the tree and was in one of the taller trees in the area, I decided that becoming a lightning rod wasn't the brightest idea after all. After sitting there in the wind, rain and lightning for over an hour, I descended the tree. I was back at the house before sunrise.

The rain is so hard at times you can't even see out the windows and winds of 55mph are being predicted as I type this. Is anyone else this stupid?

Today's small bucks are tomorrow's trophies.