Hunting is highs and lows, and this one was mostly lows. In this video I’m taking you through five days of rifle hunting in the Appalachian Mountains across West Virginia and Pennsylvania, trying to kill a whitetail with a 110-year-old Winchester Model 94 in .30-30. Day one was a mess—neighbors blowing stuff up, heavy fog that kept visibility to 40–50 yards, and some mistakes in the group that put a damper on the whole trip. Day two I sat in the rain for 12 hours trying to “fix” it and passed a young four point because the shot felt iffy. Day three I got skunked. Then I made the mistake of hitting Pennsylvania’s rifle opener. What I saw was the biggest display of poor courtesy and safety I’ve ever experienced—people stomping through spots, talking loud, and taking multiple shots to put deer down. The final stretch is back in West Virginia where I clean-miss a doe with the .30-30, get harassed by stray dogs, and finally make a hard call to put the lever gun down because the rear peep wasn’t giving me enough light at dawn/dusk. I switch to a 5.56 rifle I built with a Leupold 2.5-10, hunt a proven saddle, and still eat tag soup. The takeaway is simple: nature owes us nothing, and it’s healthy to see the failures, not just the “one-two step” kills.