15:37:58 according to my running wristwatch...
I am sitting here jotting down food and exercise for the weekend and starting (yes, just starting...) my Christmas list.
It is an amazingly mild day today and supposed to hold out till the middle of next week. Kind of a pain in the rear when you are trying to prepare for an entire day in the elements at 4a.m. But I really shouldn't complain about 65 degrees and sun in late November....
A while ago I heard a small flock of turkeys clucking their way towards me from the creek behind but then they cut across to the far right and must have continued up the hill out of my sight.
Bastards.
It's hard to explain my relationship with wild turkeys... ever since I attained a hunting license I have tried to get a gobbler but they have ridiculously good eyesight. The one time they got really close I wasn't so great with the shotgun and I am sure that I shot right over them. Duh.

The temp. is dropping as fast as the sun is setting and my nose is suddenly cold. My nose is my personal temp gauge. Let me tell you, it can get really cold...

Matt is up the hill in another stand, I think... Sometimes he moves around a bit. I generally get to my spot and stay put. Unless I really, really have to pee and then I grudgingly climb down and walk as far as I can so I don't leave my scent too close to the stand.
If I was one of the guys I could just pee in the variety of jugs that hang from a certain Uncle's stand closer to the creek...then again, maybe not Needless to say I have never sat in that Uncle's stand. Not to mention that one is alot more territorial than the Uncle whose stand I currently occupy. If I ever sat in 'pee jugs' stand and got that trophy buck I would never confess to shotting it out of his stand.

I like where I am now.... It's a quiet spot. Matt's 'upper stand' is closer to the road and you can hear the occasional truck going by. I do sit in the 'upper stand' often since it is the easiest for me to find in the pitch black of a moonless pre dawn morning.... without getting lost or really scared. If matt drops me off at the road above it I know it is exactly 252 steps from the first 'NO TRESSPASSING' sign.
The only thing about where I am now is that there is a large community of squirrels around here and it always takes an hour or so for me to really sort out the noises belonging to busy squirrels scuttling about so I may actually pick out the hesitant steps of a white tailed deer.

It's still a few days before gun season so I have my crossbow across my lap. As the season progresses the deer get smarter and lay as low as possible. In the early days of the rut in October I coule kick back here for the afternoon and get to see a dozen deer come through. I'll be lucky to see one or two a day at this point on the season. The first time I got out early I actually saw a pair mating. Pretty cool stuff.
Spending 8-10 hours in the woods by yourself is a great thing. Just me and the squirrels...maybe a red-headed woodpecker, a few mourning doves, cardinals, bluejays and the occasional PITA crow.
On a better day you'll see a few deer and a flock of 50 or 60 turkey.

We usually all meet up for lunch at the trucks for a turkey sandwich and a handful of pretzels... grab a couple more waters.

I better get my gloves on... man, my toes are getting cold too... where's that banana??