“What is that noise?” I whispered to my dad.

It seemed as if the sound was everywhere around me.  It sounded like wind going through the tall, brown grass across the open food plot.  The only problem, there was no wind.  I listened again only this time, there was nothing.  I only heard myself breathing.  I continued to listen and look around.  Then I saw it.  It was a large animal.  It was black and scary looking.

My second year of the youth hunt was very interesting.  The youth hunt in my family is very traditional.  My older brother, my younger sister, my little brother and I have all gone, or will be going, on the youth hunt.  My second year of the youth hunt was filled with fun.  Then there were moments when I just wanted to leave and go home, where I would be safe.

After I shot my deer earlier that morning, we decided to sit in the tree stand and see if I could shoot another deer that night.  We began walking towards the woods at about 3:30 p.m.

“We need to walk in here quietly.  If we walk quietly, we might be able to see a deer,” whispered Dad.
“If we see a deer can I shoot it?” I asked.

“Only if it’s a nice deer.  I don’t want you to shoot a deer and then we’d be done and leave.  I want to see what’s out here.  There’s supposed to be a really nice buck and doe that walk around together,” Dad muttered.
We started to walk towards our tree stand.

For the youth hunt, we hunted on private land.  My dad and I sat in his tree stand towards the back of the woods.  My dad’s food plot was and still is the nicest food plot on the patch of land.  He cuts the grass down each year, cultivates the soil, and plants turnips, carrots, radishes and beets.  Dad’s food plot is kidney-shaped with two pine trees in the middle.  On one of the pine trees, Dad has his outdoor trail camera attached towards the bottom of the tree.

As we started to walk back to the tree stand, we heard twigs snapping and faint footsteps.  We instantly froze and listened to our surroundings.
“Don’t move.  I’m going to go ahead and see what’s down there.  Stay here and don’t move or make noise,” Dad whispered, barely audible.
He crawled up the hill.  When my dad finally crawled his way to the top of the hill, his body went stiff and was completely still.  I couldn’t even tell if he was breathing.  He slowly waved his hand to show me I had to walk slowly and quietly.  I was expecting to see a big deer, but when I arrived at the top of the hill, I didn’t see anything. 
“What are you looking at?  I don’t see anything,” I whispered.
“You don’t see that huge black bear?  It’s right there. The bear is in the brush, it’s huge,” Dad said.
I looked again, this time noticing every little twig and tree in the woods.  I looked carefully down into the ridge, behind a bunch of brush I could see the black bear.  The bear stood about four feet tall at the shoulder.  The bear was really big.  If the bear stood on two feet, it would easily stand eight feet tall.  The bear was coming from the swamp, walking through the ridge, and trying to walk its way to the cornfield to eat.  After we couldn’t see it anymore, we continued to walk towards the food plot and climbed into our tree stand. 
A few hours later, it was almost completely dark outside.  I heard the same noise as earlier, but this time the twigs were breaking faster and the footsteps sounded like a deer running.  I was confused because it sounded like the deer were right under us, and we should have been able to

see them. 
“What is that noise?” I whispered to my dad.
It seemed as if the sound was everywhere around me.  It sounded like wind going through the tall, brown grass across the open food plot.  The only problem, there was no wind.  I listened again only this time, there was nothing.  I only heard myself breathing.  I continued to listen and look around.  Then I saw it.  It was a large animal.  It was black and scary looking.  The black bear was to the left of our tree stand.  The bear was walking through a thick patch of thorns and brush with something in its mouth. 

“Look, the black bear is back!” I uttered.

“I know.  We’re going to wait up here until the bear leaves,” Dad whispered back to me.

We sat in the tree stand until we couldn’t see anymore.  We continued to hear twigs breaking, and the snapping of small trees. 

When we left our tree stands, Dad and I walked over to where I shot my deer earlier that morning.  Dad looked around, and then we walked over to where I gutted my deer.  It still smelled like a fresh gutting.  It smelled worse than rotting eggs.  The smell was very foul, and it made me want to puke. 

“I knew there was something over here, I just couldn’t remember,” Dad said.

“Where did the guts go?” I gasped in disbelief.

“Remember the bear we saw earlier?” Dad asked.
“Really?  Wow I didn’t think the bear would come that close to us.”
“That bear isn’t scared of us.  It probably knew right where we were,” Dad said.

“Well can we go back to the truck?  I’m cold and there’s a huge bear in the woods,” I told my dad.
As we started to walk back to the truck, we continued to hear the bear in the woods.  The only part of the woods you could see, was where you pointed your flashlight.  When we reached the end of the woods, we heard the bear stomping around back into the swamp.  When we got to the truck, I unloaded my gun, and put it back it in the case.  After my dad and I put all of our equipment away, we headed back home and went to sleep. 

My second year of the youth hunt, was really fun and scary.  I did not like that there was a big black bear in the same woods as us. Especially when it was dark and you couldn’t see where you were walking.  Although I was scared during the youth hunt, the bear did not stop me from returning.  I continued to hunt the youth hunt until I was too old to continue to go.  During my second year of the youth hunt, I shot two deer and also saw the biggest bear in my life.  My second year of deer hunting, will be my most memorable year of hunting.