That is a great morning of hunting! 3 deer down and you were able to enjoy the solitude of hunting by yourself. I would love to shoot a whitetail buck like that someday. Not a bruiser, but what I would be happy with for a western whitetail. Congrats
Timer. My new G12 has an articulating view finder that lets you turn it toward the front of the camera, giving you perspective of what the shot angle will be while you are set up in front of the camera. It also allows you to set the timer for up to 10 seconds and to take anywhere from 1 to 10 shots. I usually set it for 10 seconds, giving me time to get positioned and look at the view finder to see if I am set up properly.
I carry a least one Joby and have a mounting clip for my spotting scope tripod, giving me a lot of options as to how I want to do it and what I want to set up. I use all kinds of different settings and often do not know exactly what those setting do until I look at the pictures. Thus the need for volumes of pics to get one that is even marginal.