DuckSouth.com

My wife used to love playing the "find the hidden objects in the picture" games. I got to play in real life yesterday morning.

While I was getting strapped into my ladder stand, I pulled the safety rope out of my pullover pocket to wrap around the tree and a second later, heard metal-on-metal alerting me that my streamlight microstream flashlight had fallen out of my pocket when i pulled the rope out. Fortunately it hit a rung on the ladder on the way down. Otherwise, I would have no idea where I lost it.

So there I am, 16 ft. up a tree looking at a leaf and branch covered forest floor with about three and a half hours until I had planned to get down for lunch. Using my trusty 7X42 Nikon binoculars, I searched the forest floor until i finally found it.

several years ago i lost a flashlight when i left it on my four wheeler fender and drove off... My father in law found it a year later randomly and clicked it on and it worked. This was once of the cheaper chinese LED's that uses those 18650 batteries... I still have it and it's working 100%.

I thought that thing was a loss.

I'm bad to leave the ramp/gate pin (just one side) on the fender while I tie the 4-wheeler down.......and drive-off.

I've been lucky though.....lost/found it two different times in 3 weeks. I've since painted them blaze orange.

I've lost AND found knives, flashlights, and such several times while out hunting on the family farm. That's why everything that went in the field when working for my Dad as a surveyor was painted blaze orange - field books, pencils, hammer, calculator, etc. - EVERYTHING. (I still carry orange flagging in my game bag.)

Thought that was one of those "find the copperhead in the leaves" pics - which I'm never able to do.