When I was 20, I came back from college around Thanksgiving. My mothers boss let me hunt on one of his properties. He led me out to the spot in the darkness. He told me to head out "there" to hunt and to not worry about anything because he and the adjoining land owners were cool. I walked into the woods for 20-30 minutes or so after the sun rose because I had never seen this property before and wanted to get a visual. I found an old ravine with some large rubs. So I set up shop on the ground, right inside a hollowed out old tree.

20 minutes after setting up, a group of does walked past me and blew my cover. They stomped and snorted for over 5 minutes, but I did not move an inch. They knew I was there but did not know exactly what I was. About 10 minutes later a beautiful 6 pointer walked by rubbing those trees! I shot him with my 12 gauge at about 40 yards. So I killed the buck 1 hour after sun-up.

As I began to drag the buck out of the woods, I realized I had no idea where I was....this was pre-cell phone days for me. I had no compass and very little water/food. I dragged that deer all day trying to find my way out. That buck was my biggest to date and I did not want to leave it anywhere out of my sight. I did not get out of the woods until the sun was setting. I was lost for over 9 hours, dragging a 130 pound deer around all day. I remember being so thirsty that I could not stand it. I drank water out of "cleanest" creeks I could find. I learned a big lesson that day.