I've had the luxury of stepping on a diamondback's head. I was with my father on an island in a WMAthat had great deer hunting. We took a boat to get there, and the reeds were tall...with you only being able to see the ground as you put your foot forward and seperated the reeds.

Needless to say I froze, and that snake was trying his best to get his head out from under my size 13 Rocky's, and rattlin' like crazy. Unfortunately, in VA where I was at the time, it is illegal to shoot them. I had to somehow get my foot off that thing, which I thought for sure was going to bite me. My old man came back and calmed me down and talked me into slowly raising my boot. I'll be damned if that didn't work. That snake looked like it was running with legs in the opposite direction. I was glad my old man was there, we hadn't hunted together in almost 10 years. He helped me out, and it is a great memory to have.


A very scary story with mother nature:

I got scared as sh!t last bow season during the opener...at 9am in the morning! The sun had been up for hours by that time. It was a nice morning, mostly sunny. The stand I was onfaces due East, and I was enjoying the sunshine. Saw a nice 6 point that was just out of range. As soon as he moved out of sight, I hear a rumble in the distance.

In all honesty, that sound is made 100 times a day, especially in October by the tractors, spreaders, etc. that work the fields on the farm. I'm in a 15-acre woodlot with soy beans, and cut corn on all 4 sides, with the nearest woods 400-500 yards away. So, it is very open, you can see through all four sides from my stand. I paid no attention to it, until the sound started moving slightly from my left to right. It was the biggest, baddest thunder storm I had ever saw coming. When I turned around and looked west, the sky was black. Lightning was hitting the ground in the distance (which I could see far away, and it was impressive), and the thunder was making my ladder stand rattle.

On a metal stand, and 600 VERY OPEN yards away from my truck, I decided I needed to get down and out right then and there. I didn't care about hunting anymore. I ran so fast, I think I only took two or three breaths. Lightning was hitting the open field adjacent to me to the west only 400 yards away. As I was halfway to the truck in the middle ofthecut corn field,I distinctly remember hearing and watching a tree on a hedge line get popped by lightning. It made a big fireball and a loud bang, knocking down the tree.Somehow, I made it to the truck as the rain started to hit, and by the time I had the bow inside, and turned the key, it was storming like crazy.