Troy Walker writes, "This is a photo of the mule deer I harvested this year in Colorado. It is a 4x4 typical frame 30" wide buck gross scoring just under 200. This is my first mule deer ever taken. Yeah I know beginners luck, well kind of.

I've been hunting for over 14 years now, this is my 5th year for mule deer. It's not that I haven't ever had the chance to take a mule deer, but I have learned in the past that if you want a good quality buck that you have to be patient and have the ability to pass on other nice bucks and luck doesn't hurt either. For instance, the deer that I am pictured with here I harvested due to the fact that I ran out of things to do at work. So, I left work at noon and took off hunting. This was two days before season ended.

After the 45 minute drive to where I hunt I could tell it was going to be a good day. Not many other hunters were out, which is good when you hunt public lands like I do. It wasn't long before I began seeing deer and they were a lot calmer than the previous weekend. Then, one buck caught my eye, it was a good 20-25" buck with a drop tine on the left side. I made my mind up to get into position for a shot on him and that's when I noticed another buck bedded down in the bottom of the valley. I could tell it was a much bigger deer and after a couple minutes of buck fever I was calmed down enough to make the 300 yard shot and down my trophy. The only unfortunate thing was that my regular hunting partner wasn't with me to experience the hunt and HELP DRAG HIM OUT! But none the less, it was a hunt I will never forget."