First year mule deer hunting, we had second choice tags close to home. We didn't really know what we were doing.
First off, we had scouted a burn earlier in the year. Looked good and was behind a closed road system. We didn't know it, but they opened the road later that year.
Opening morning, we were watching 3 bucks at about 500 yards. While trying to figure out where they would head, BAM, lead buck drops. Dangit. The other two stand there for 20 minutes until the hunter went to claim his deer. Us dumbasses never moved in on them.
5 days later we get a good snow. I decide to skip work in the morning and hit the hills. I get to a new glassing point and soon find a group of deer including several bucks. Its going to take at least 20 minutes for me to get on them. By the time I do, I missed their tracks and looped the wrong way. Doubling back, i catch their tracks and close the distance. After about 2 hours, i can see them working the hill in front of me.
I range and it is 130 yards. Placing my rifle against a tree, I steady the crosshairs on a buck. Breathe. BAM! The buck drops.
It wasn't me who pulled the trigger, but another hunter on the other side of the deer.