I came out of the bottom of a draw and saw a likely place for deer. It was a clearing that ran up the mountainside above me, steep, but covered in fairly deep grass. It was roughly a couple hundred yards wide and ran up the mountain for more than a quarter mile. There was one tree in the clearing about 3/4 the way to the top. I started up the edge of the clearing, going slow with my favorite old .45 Ruger in hand. I worked my way up for 20 minutes or so when at the top of the clearing two rifle hunters banged, clattered and talked loudly as they crossed over into the trees on the other side.
Disgusted at their noise and the fact they didn't bust any deer out ahead of them, I put the sixgun in my shoulder holster and walked fairly fast on up the edge of the clearing toward the lone tree, figuring to cross over the top and head back toward my truck. When I got within 10 feet of the tree a huge Whitetail buck materialized right in front of me! He did the front legs stretched out .. back legs stretched out .. coming up off the ground what looked like 10 feet into the air. I jerked the .45 out of the shoulder holster and emptied the cylinder at him without ever aiming. He ran off laughing into the trees on the other side of the clearing while I stood there with an empty gun and a stupid look on my face.
Sometimes you do it all wrong.
I learned from that episode. I learned that I was over-confident and that when you are surprised, FIND THE FRONT SIGHT! While I have made other mistakes over the years I never made that one again. It served me well. When I was hunting in Tennesseea few years ago, I was taking pictures of hogs running through the weeds out ahead me 25 or 30 yards away. I could see ears and tails was all. I heard a noise and looking through the viewfinder here comes a hot directly at me just a few feet away! I snapped the picture, pulled the .41 Magnum from the shoulder holster and shot it in the top of the head at couple feet from me.
Sometimes you do it right.
Coming at me.
![Image](http://www.reedercustomguns.net/forum/images/uploaded/20210122145716600ae7cc3279a.jpg)
A couple seconds later.
![Image](http://www.reedercustomguns.net/forum/images/uploaded/20210122145755600ae7f3ce959.jpg)