Lots of times deer hunters will get up long before daylight, so they can make it into the woods in plenty of time to be settled and still when the sun comes up. Anytime you hunt from a stand, this is a good idea. That way the noise you make getting to your stand will be forgotten. This is good in case deer had been bedded down close to where the stand is.

In my experience, I have found that getting up and getting out of the house in a quiet manner, is actually one of the hardest challenges of my day. Exiting quietly usually escapes me. I always manage to trip over something, like a dyson all floors vaccum, and drop everything in my hands with a crashing noise that would wake the dead.

Then I would have to collect myself and gather up what I had dropped, turn all the lights out again, and head toward the front door. Suddenly, the room would be echoing with the noise of my alvarez acoustic guitar being knocked over. My hunting vest brushed against it and sent it sailing to the floor.

By now, I was really losing time as far as my early start was concerned. I was losing precious minutes, and had managed to wake everyone up. I could hear them mumbling as I finally was able to get through the door with everything I needed. I threw everything into the truck, checked my new leather watch, and knew I had to really make up for time while driving.

After finally arriving at the right spot, I checked the time once again. I had gained some of the time back, but still needed to hurry to my stand and get situated. I had a few tricks for hurry-up times, and was soon on my way, flashlight in hand, along the path to my stand. I made good time through the woods to where I climbed up into the stand.

After I was in my stand, I checked the time once more. It worked out perfectly. I was where I wanted to be, and at the time I wanted to be there. I sat in my stand thinking back at how the morning had stared. I caught myself giggling out loud as I pictured what I looked like knocking things over and tripping over stuff. And I thought about how mad everybody probably was because I woke them. I grinned really big about that.

It was hours later that I realized that my giggling was the only enjoyment I was going to get for my efforts today. I never saw the first deer, and all I ended up with was a cold nose and cold feet, and a hungry belly. I still had to laugh. I was seriously considering beginning my hunting around noon from now on, and letting this early stuff go. But I found that hunting really can be funny sometimes.