After filming & hunting for 3 days at the St. Regis lodge in southern Alabama, Mike Scott the operator of the lodge gave us permission to hunt for white tail deer on the last day. He said that he has seen a few nice bucks about 1/2 mile back into the woods. He pointed me in the direction and off I went.

Once in the tree stand I took in the beautiful views of the thick forest that surrounded me. Birds were everywhere, squirrels were chasing each other and clambering up & down trees, three white tail doe passed by within 30 yards of the stand. The view was great.

Darkness came and the bucks never did, but I stayed in the tree stand as long as possible to possibly in hopes of capturing some footage of that big buck Mike was talking about. As it got darker I started hearing strange sounds that hadn't been there when the sun was up. The night critters were coming alive. Being a Colorado /Arizona boy those sounds are not normal, the mind starts to play tricks on you. I eased my way down the tree & started making my way back to the lodge. Suddenly I heard leaves shuffling in front of me about 25 yards away. I crouched down, started the camcorder with the "IR" infra red switched on and was hoping to see that big buck coming my way. I couldn't see anything with the naked eye but looking through the viewfinder I could see fairly well out to 15 feet. "IT" got closer & closer but I couldn't see what "IT" was. The shuffling was coming closer but I couldn't see a silhouette, then I started thinking, what if it isn't a buck, it could be something looking for dinner "ME"!!!!!!!!!!

How was I going to fight this thing off if it was looking for dinner? I pulled out an arrow from the quiver & kept the camera rolling so that I could document my predicament.

I stood up, shuffled my feet, "IT" bolted away, stopped & peered back at me. My heart was about to jump out of my chest.

I thought, "this is it, "IT" will either attack or run off"; I still couldn't see what "IT" was!!!

I looked through the viewfinder, moved to get into better position to see the beast that was going to eat me. "IT" with a powerful burst of speed moved to my left, and then to my right I was ready to fight the beast off if "IT" lunged at me.

With a better position I was able to get a good look at the beast that was about to attack & to my surprise it was only an Armadillo. I felt like I was 12 years old again scared of the dark. WOW what a rush!!!!!!!!!

All the way back to the lodge, I was laughing at myself, all the while peering into the Alabama darkness left, right and behind me.

Next time your in the woods after dark, keep an eye out for that critter lurking behind that bush. You never know what it might be.

Rick Williams

Arizona Wilderness Productions