Many years ago, a buddy and I bought a brand new piece of land, 100 acres out in the middle of nowhere. Literally there was nothing there (no house, trailer, roads, trails, stands, feeders, foodplots, and prior to inexpensive game cameras, etc..) Truly raw and primitive. We decided there was no way we were going to be able to take a deer that season, so we decided to camp out and rough it, scout around and game plan for the following year. I get up early and find a place to just sit and glass a little meadow by creek, thinking any game activity could be seen there as the rest of the area was just too thick. I also have my 30.30 for just in case.

As I'm sitting against an old oak, just relaxing and admiring our new slice of heaven on earth and thinking about all the potential this place has to offer and how I'm going to justify the additional expense I'm going to need to my wife. After about an hour of sitting there, I hear walking behind me. It must be my buddy stomping through the woods. I say "can you be a little more quieter, you're messing up my zen moment" no response.

I turn around, and I kid you not, there standing no more than 10 yards from me is the biggest 12 point buck I've ever seen. It's like he towering over me.

I'm shaking from the adrenaline rush. He's looking around trying to find where the voice came from. He looks away, long enough for me to raise my 30.30, I place the notch right behind his shoulder - squeeze the trigger - click! He now see's me and bolts like the wind. I forgot to chamber a cartridge. While this didn't end with a buck down, I would say that was pure luck to be that close and have the opportunity to see a buck of lifetime.