went out this morning as the temp were around 40 degrees in virginia. didn't see any deer but what made my day was a bald eagle that flew by me at like 35 yards. It was awesome! i have seen a few while driving but never one that close in the wild. anyone else have any sightings that make your hunt completely worth it even though you didn't see any deer?

at 4:45 AM while walking into my blind a few mornings ago my flashlight caught an owl on a branchthat crossedmy path in dense woods about chest high. I kept it in the halo of my light as i approached it. I thought it would fly away.Actually got to within 5 feet and stood there just looking at each otherthen walked around it. It just turned its' head following me as i did that.
It was only about 10 inches tall, mostly white with a few brown spots.
I thought that was real cool since i've never seen an owl in the wild before. Hear lots of them but never seen one

Once I got in my treestand one morning I saw an owl sitting on a branch. He stayed there for a few minutes continuously looking around. He then silently flew off. If I had not seen him I would have never known he was there. He didnt make one noise.

Birds of prey are awesome. When I was a kid (a long time ago) we were encouraged to shoot everyone of them dang "chicken hawks".

I was firtunate enough yesterday afternoon to see a bobcat. I have taken one before, but this one was really big. The last one I took weighed 24 pounds. This one looked bigeer and never came close enough for a shot.

Earlier this season I was sitting in a treestand and watched over 20 turkeys march out of the field, into the woods behind my stand, and proceed to roost all around me. I had turkeys in everywhere around me, somecloser than 10 yards, but just a few feet higher than myself. I can't believe they didn't scatter when I got down, but I did wait until they were settled down and it was completely dark.

Last year one a morning when there wasn't a whole lot going on, I heard some wings overhead and then an owl came down right in front of my stand and picked up a mouse and ate it. One of the neatest things I had ever seen. I never realized the size of a horned own until then either. Quite the bird.