Hunting early season (Oct) in Louisiana. To the stand before first light. All is going well. Thermacell on, mosquitoes gone. Beautiful morning. 9:30AM movement on the ground 5yds from stand. Can not see what it is. Is it a rat? Nooo. Is it a huge bug? Noooo. Finally you take binos out of pack to get a close-up view. Ahhh yesss. The infamous Mr. Copperhead, wiggling thru the leaves with some sort of prey in his mouth. Nice. Now you try and keep track of him for the next 1.5 hrs. All is well. He stays 5 to 10 yds from your tree. 10:30AM rolls around. Time to go. Uh, Oh. Where is the snake. You search with both binos and the naked eye and no snake. Now you have to get out of the tree and make your way back to the ATV. Hoping you don't run into the little friend who demands it, with little to no hesitation. Sort of reminds me of the infamous Mudbone (aka, Richard Pryor) line when Mrs. Rudolph says, "Oh don't you worry. If you don't bring my Christmas turkey, you will see that spider again."

LT