Dust puffed and hung around me as I plunged to my stomach and achieved the most stable improvised

field position I could in just a couple seconds and I glued the crosshairs to the ribcage of the big

mule deer buck on the next ridge over as he hesitated just for a few seconds.

My friend whispered from right behind me, he's 384 yards.

Now this big buck had been blown hard by another hunter,

and he'd crossed the valley between us.

Well I ran for vantage point and he topped out just as I'd topped out and plunged into a prone

position and he stopped and hesitated just for a second lifted a front leg as he turned his

head to look back high alert ready to go.

Just an instant worth of curiosity giving me an opportunity.

He was quartered away and I didn't have time to screw the top, the protective cap off of my old-fashioned scope dial,

and dial up, even though I knew about how much to dial.

If I'd have had time to look at the chart in my pocket, which

I didn't.

So I just held about a hand's breadth above his backbone line. I was shooting a rifle that was a little

unfamiliar to me. I'd only been in possession of it for about a week. It was a rifle I was on assignment with as an outdoor rider.

Chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor and I squills the trigger. That bullet whispered beneath his brisket, missing him by the narrowest margin and that buck

leaped and trotted on over the ridge and out of my life forever. A few weeks later a different

hunter shot him and a friend of mine helped score that buck. He was 189 inches without any brow times.

This was an honest to goodness whoopin big buck, right? Mainframe Clean 4 by 4 that went

189 without brow times with good 3 inch brow times he'd have been a

195 inch buck and I missed him because I didn't have my system worked out

...