Wes Coffey

He says the strap probably blew off in the wind.

He says the bolts were probably loose to begin with, and I just didn't notice.

I don't argue with him.

I don't try to convince him.

He wasn't there.

I know what walked under my tree that night.

I don't mean I know what species it was.

I don't mean I have a name for it.

I mean I know what it was in the only way that matters.

I know what it felt like.

It felt like something that had done this before.

Something that knew what a tree stand was.

Something that understood what I was doing up there and how long I could last.

Something that had waited for Dale Poole in 2014 and was waiting again for whoever came next.

And the worst part, the part that I will carry with me for the rest of my life, is that it wasn't angry.

It wasn't frantic.

It wasn't desperate.

It was patient.

it circled my tree six times each time a little closer and then it started working on the stand it tested the ladder it tested the straps and when i screamed when i made the loudest sound i've ever made it stopped not because i scared it because it wasn't time yet it let me go that night i am certain of that

Whatever calculation it was making, whatever process it was following, my scream didn't interrupt it.