While hunting deer near Ft Laramie a few years ago, me and a buddy, Mark, were walking up this draw. I was about halfway up the right side and he was going up the left side, but not as high on the his side as I was on mine. I saw something move in a fork in a big Cottonwood tree about 7' from the ground. Mark was closer than I was to it but didn't have the angle to see what I was looking at. What I could see that he couldn't was a pair of coon ears and the top of a scrunched down coon head hiding in a small hollow in that tree.

"Psssst Mark," I got his attention, "Lean your rifle on that tree over there," I pointed to a different tree. And in a just loud enough whisper and hand signals I continued, "Now pick up that stick," pionting," and "Go to that tree and poke around in the fork of it just there above your head". I still can't believe he done each step that I had told him and never asked why, but he did. That coon sure was pissed when he thought he was hid but got poked with a stick. He jumped outa that tree growling and hissing right at Mark who's running backwards till he fell down, but fortunately, the coon didn't eat him, it just run off mad. Mark was kinda mad for a few. "Why did you tell me to do that"? he asked, "I just wanted to see if you were dumb enough to do it without wondering why," I told him, "Guess we both know now". "What was you expecting to happen anyway"? "I never thought about it I guess," he says. "See, that's what I mean". 😁

Later that day, I pointed out a knothole to him and said, "Hey Mark, come put your finger in this here knothole". "[bleep] you, you do it first", I patted him on the back laughing and said, "See you are a lot smarter this afternoon than you were this morning thanks to me".

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