Your first one - Tell us the story of your first deer!!

[Myst3rium]

My first deer was a spike buck about 7 years ago.

It was youth gun season and I was using a Sears and Roebuck lever action .410 shotgun. I still have that thing today and it still shoots awesome.

Me and my dad had stopped next to a fence just to get our bearings and figure out where we were going to go next (we never hunted from a stand, just walked around). It must've been during the rut because this little spike buck came walking up a hill about 20 yards away with his nose to the ground. Didn't even look our way. I shot him right through the lungs. We waited a while and then walked over this little hill and he was sitting there looking at us. I shot him again and that was that :D

I've shot several more with a gun but I'm looking to get my first bow kill this year :)

[TexasPete]

Lots of blood, sweat and tears (and money!) has allowed me to harvest my first yesterday. It was a great day to be out in Hocking Co.

Quartering away shot 11 yards out under my tree stand -- the buck didn't know what hit him. I let the arrow fly--a solid hit, and the lumenok danced through the edge of the woods maybe 50 yards. He bedded down and keeled over within moments with my glowing red nock pointed in the air!

What made it even more exciting was that Mushi was with me and he filled a tag too. Two deer in one morning is a nice hunt!

Safe and Happy hunting!

Pete

[Split_G2]

Wow, excellent stories guys. Thoroughly enjoyed reading each and everyone of them. Thanks for taking the time to put them up.

From the time I was 4 years old, I have gone deer hunting, altho I was not allowed to actually "hunt" them with a gun in my hand until I was 12. Late compared to some and really late compared to todays youngsters. I lived under the strict hunting thumb of my father, a man you had to prove you had what it took, a man who took his deer hunting very serious and a man to this day I will swear that before his passing that he forgot more about deer and how to hunt them than the vast majority will ever know. The man was a master.....and not just because he was my dad. My uncle was also very good at this hunting game too.

I'm just shy of 32 years of age now, I have gun hunted and bowhunted with a weapon in my hands since the season of '92, with the last 13 years being very intense and maticulous hunting. I have been fortunate enough over the years to kill many deer. I've killed some small deer, killed some big deer and even killed an elk with my bow, created a lot of great memories over the years but my first deer still tops them all. There's not one thing about that hunt that I don't remember, I probably learned more about how to hunt deer on that hunt than any to this day. Because I can remember every single detail, it would take forever for me to type and for you to read, so I'll give you the short version.

December 5th, 1992, 6:53am my dad and I arrived at our hunting grounds to a very cold, soggy, damp woods with a half-heavy fog laying over our grounds like a blanket. As we loaded our guns, he told me that we had perfect hunting conditions to spot and stalk or maybe even track a deer down....it would be my first attempt at either. Dad was incredible at tracking deer, he was a big Benoit Boys fan.....for those of you who don't know the Benoit Boys, I highly suggest you look them up because those guys know how to get it done on deer and get it done on old mature bucks in areas old mature bucks are very few and far between and they have been doing it for generations!!!

Anyways, little did I know that my dad was right, we were going to track a deer down and exactly 5 hours and 50 minutes later, at 12:43pm, from a distance of 40 yards I delivered a Winchest Super X 20 guage slug, courtesy of my Winchester 1100 20 guage, right thru the deflation station of a small 5 point buck. Just after sunrise, we spotted this buck bedded down across the hollar 150 yards from us with no way for us to do a spot and stalk. With luck on our side, the buck didn't bed long but because of the distance I couldn't shoot and had to watch the buck ease out the hillside, out onto the gasline and into the next hollar over. Instead of just going to where we last saw him and getting on him so I could possibly get a shot, my dad took me over to the very spot where the buck was bedded and upon arrival at the bed, his exact words were "boy turn your ears on and keep your mouth shut, you're in school now and I'm the teacher. Do that and you'll shoot that deer." Man, was he right!!!!

Of course we knew the general direction the deer went and the path he followed. We tracked that buck for around 800 yards before we found him in his new bed, completely oblivious to our existence. The track job to get to him sucked, I just wanted to run him down and kill him already but that track job was my hunt of a lifetime. He knew we were gonna find that buck, he knew I was gonna get my oppurtunity but he wanted me to understand how and why I killed that buck. On that hunt, I learned why that buck bedded in that spot. I learned how and why you pay attention to the wind. I learned that not every smell in the woods is "just a smell in the woods" and that I was smelling deer. I learned to distinguish specific tracks instead of just seeing all tracks as "deer tracks", I even learned how to distinguish my bucks track from all of the other tracks that I seen. I learned that nothing in the deer woods is accomplished by speed. I learned why my buck likely took this path or that path to get where he was going. And the 2 most important things I learned that day was.......never accept "just cause" for an answer as to why deer do this or why deer do that and that everything in the whitetail world can be explained, everything a deer does, it does it for a reason and its up to YOU to figure it out. And I'll never forget these words "the day the hunt becomes all about the kill and not about the hunt itself, what it takes to get a kill, is the day you need to hang it up because this game just ain't for you!!!"

That deer to me was a world record and I shot the deer as far back on the 296 acre farm as you could get from the road and in the deepest hollar on the property. Getting the deer up outta that hole and getting it to a spot where dad could drive the truck to it and pick it up was miserable at best.....a miserable, muddy, steep ass mess but at the very same time, in a situation so miserable, I have never recieved so many hugs, so many high-fives and heard so much laughter. Both he and i were at the heigth of our glory.

[quackaholic]

First deer? You would think I couldn't remember back that far. BUt something about the first one that burns in your memory.

It was 1984, on a juvenile hunt at Chuck Swan WMA. Funny I wasn't even supposed to have gone there, but Dad's work schedule messed up our original plans. We were flying blind. The morning stand only produced one doe which was off limits. TN had yet to allow juveniles to shoot does. However this was the first hunt where any buck was legal. No 3 inch requirement; after this season it was all either sex. We moved locations and we walked down an old logging road where I spotted some tracks exiting a corn field. I followed the trail back in a pine thicket and put my climber in a good opening in the pines. At 1:00 a doe came in and urinated beside my stand at 10 yards. Then bedded down about 20 in front of me. 15 minutes later I heard a deer snort. Back then I thought only bucks did this. LOL. Then I was surrounded shortly after. But where was that buck? No antlers anywhere. Deer were real small in the WMA back then as it was overpopulated and alot of inbreeding occured. Then I noticed something odd about one of the deer; it was smelling where the doe had urinated. Then it would lift it head and check the wind. When he lowered his head back down I put my scope on his head and saw the knots. A button buck!! I raised my cross hairs on the 30-30 Marlin to between his shoulders and squeezed the trigger. It fell dead in its tracks. I was so excited , I could not whistle for Dad. I know he was supposed to be beside me, but that is just not how we done it. I had been on many small game hunts and lots of scouting trips and knew how to read sign and identify trees as well if not better than most adults. Finally he showed up and I told him I shot a button, concern filled his face as he walked to the deer and lifted its head then looked up at me, grinned and said," You done good". When we got to the checking staion the warden asked how I could even tell he was a buck. I relayed the story and he was impressed. The buck was a runt that field dressed 68#, and was aged to be 1 1/2 years old. The GW said that they wished all of us had killed 1 like that as that was the goal of the hunt. Chuck Swan still has not made a full recovery, but there are better deer there than in the past. And that thicket has yielded several deer for us over the years.

[eastwoodhunter]

My first and only deer so far was a doe killed with a bolt action 12 gauge. It was my second year hunting, last year, on the last day of gun season. A friend let me borrow the gun the night before,and I decided last minute to go the next morning. The weather was perfect, 30 degrees with a light snow. I was hunting my grandmothers farm and right at daybreak I heard gunshots all around. This went on for about an hour and I thought "you gotta be kidding me, theres deer everywhere but right here?" Not long after that 3 doe came strolling along a creek bottom, and right away I knew one of them was going down! The doe dropped in her tracks and suprisingly enough one of the others came back and almost wouldn't leave. When that doe finnaly left I got down down and field dressed my deer and proceeded to drag it to the top of the hill I was hunting. Man was I exhausted after that! It was awesome though, and completely worth it. Now I am waiting for my first bow kill and first buck kill.

[mneal]

I have killed a few deer while growing up... all button bucks and does with shotgun slugs.When I was 40years old, I moved to Muskingum County, OH and that's when I was introduced to bowhunting. The guys at work all viewed trailcam pictures during lunch in the fall and talked about the deer they had captured on camera. They always got together on Thursday nights during August and September and practiced with their bows. It sounded like fun, so I asked one of the guys if he would help me find a decent used bow and teach me to shoot. He did both, and I bought a used Jennings Speedmaster from a 20 year old kid who said he had harvested several deer with it. It was a solid shooter, but noisy! I practiced for a couple weeks in early November and then climbed a tree stand for the first time the week prior to Ohio Shotgun season. The second time in the stand, I had a wide 8 pass by at 15 yards and stop dead in his tracks when i grunted. I was so excited that my leg was shaking and I forgot to use my peep sight. I shot directly under him and he sauntered away. He was killed on that same property the following Tuesday during gun week. The following year... I purchased a Mathews Outback, practiced at my buddy's house, and then attended two 3D shoots with several of the guys from work. I harvested my first bow kill (a button buck) on Monday, October 17th. The following Saturday morning I had an 11 point split brow tine 150+ deer walk directly at me within 10 feet of my same tree stand. I never had a shot other than straight on and I knew better than to wound a deer like that with a poor shot. He is still out there, and so am I! I don't think i will ever gun hunt again!

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something ! Winston Churchill

[quackaholic]

Courtney just shot her first deer!!!! Same rifle me and my son used for our first ones. Attachment 7973 She is shown with my Dad. Check that grin!!!

[quackaholic]

Hey ya'll! This is Courtney. Thanks for all of the congratulations, they mean the world to me; I've never been so proud of any thing in my life! It is a feeling that I will never duplicate again because it was my first deer. It is a feeling that I would never have experienced without my Daddy. I don't think Daddy will ever know how thankful I am that he is close to me and will take me hunting! He told me that I should get on here and tell my story so if you want to hear about it read the piece below that will be entirely longer than it probably should be!

When I got settled under the trees I sat and watched straight ahead toward the field where Daddy told me would be my best bet. I waited for about 30 minutes and heard alot of rustling in the leave by me. I texted my brother who was just over the ridge and asked if he was rustling leaves; his reply: I am as quite as a church mouse. I watched closer as the sun started to rise and discovered none other that two squirrels wrestling (got your hopes up didn't I!) I watched in that direction for a few minutes before turning my attention back to the field I was sure I would kill my first deer in. After about 15 minutes I looked to my right where I thought I heard faint footsteps; there it was, the deer I would take home. I looked at the deer and started to shake. "This is the deer I am gonna bust today. You're mine doe," I told myself. At the time my eyes were adjusting and I thought my deer was a doe! The deer looked like it was gonna walk a straight path right behind me and wouldnt give me a shot. Then about 20 yards away, it turned and started to go down the ridge beside me; just a few more steps and I would have a shot. Two more steps and I could see that this deer had a rack! "YES! A spike! Even better! Mommy and Daddy will be so proud!" I kept telling myself. I shook even harder! When I saw that I was for sure going to have a shot, I began to turn toward the spike. It was a constant cycle: He would move, I would move; He would stop, I would stop. There it was, the shot I was waiting for! I looked through my shaking scope and tried to calm my convulsing self. BOOM! BAM! RING! BOOM-the 30/30 Daddy used for his first deer, the 30/30 Tristan used for his first deer, The 30/30 I just shot my first deer with! BAM-My first deer falling less than a split second after the Boom from my rifle. RING- My phone in hand calling Daddy twice not even a second after the deer was shot and laying. "what?" Daddy asked sounding rather irritated to be recieving a phone call in the woods. " DA DA DADDY DADDY! YOU GOTTA COME GET ME! I I I I SHOT AND AND HE FELL AND AND I CAN'T STAND UP(at this point I am falling against the tree from trying to stand on my shaking knees)! DADDY DADDY YOU GOTTA COME HERE!" I exclaimed into the phone. "OK darlin! I'll be right there! I'm proud of you!" said my now very happy Daddy. I stumbled across the 20 yards between me and my spike. I approached the deer and looked down. WOAH! 4 points! Then as Daddy and Papaw(who heard the news from daddy) came to me and the deer Daddy said "Hunny thats a 5 point!" I thought that since the other wasnt over an inch it didnt count. Papaw had the happiest glow I had seen on him in a long time. I felt so accomplished! I took pictures with my deer and basked in the happiest moment I could remember!

On a side note, Daddy I love you and I am so thankful that you take me hunting and that I got to share this experience with you! I wouldnt have had it any other way! Thank you Daddy-O! I love you!

[bbowman41]

I apologize in advance for how long this is but I felt compelled to tell the whole story. On 11/19/2011 I went to the stand for a dawn til dusk hunt and I sat there all day. The Stand site is located on a south facing slope full of oak and hickory trees that funnels down into a natural field full of tall grasses and lined with a run off pond that follows a highwall. The pond is divided into sections due to beavers building dams. All in all this spot is a funnel point with a lot of deer traffic. It is the only spot for a 1/4 mile in both directions for the deer to decend down off the hill because of the high cliff and ponds that line the bottom. The wind was perfect and I thought for sure that day was going to be the day. I saw tons of activity but everything was in the field in front of me and nothing was traveling through my funnel. I must have seen 6 bucks and all of them were 75 yards and further. They all seemed to be heading to or coming from one corner of the field. I sat in my stand frustrated and texted my father at one point and told him I was going to make a mid-day move down to that corner of the field. He said I had better do it with enough time for things to settle down before they moved at dusk. The more I thought about it the more I leaned toward staying put. Because the spot I was in is a very high vantage point and I could atleast see the activity and try to submit to memory where they were moving and where they were coming from and at what times. I was in a screwed if I moved and screwed if I didn't position. Because if I moved and didn't see anything then I would wonder if there were something at my other spot, and if I didn't I wouldn't get a shot at all the activity in front of me. I decided to stay put and atleast I would be able to see if something would have moved up the trail where I was going to move. Sure enough at 5:00 pm I spotted a very nice 8 pointer moving up the trail literally 10 yards from the tree I was going to hang my stand. I tried making some grunts and tipping the can a few times. I got his attention but he wasn't curious enough to climb the hill after me. My hunt ended with me empty handed and walking the trail back home with lots of frustration but also I knew exactly where I was going the next morning and I was sitting all day again. I felt confident in moving to the new spot the next morning.

The First thing I did when I got home that night was look up the weather for the next morning. Sure enough it said 65% chance of rain with thunderstorms and it looked to be an all day occurrence. I jumped on here and read all I could about deer movement during the rain. After reading I had decided to hunt as long as it was not a down pour or thunderstorms. The morning came and sure enough it looked like rain but it was not currently raining. So I packed my stuff and headed to the stand. I had a perfect set up once again the wind was right and the position of my stand had natural shooting lanes to heavily traveled deer trails. I broke out my rangefinder and ranged some possible shots off and there I sat..... I saw absolutely no activity all day. The entire sit it looked like it was going to pour down rain at any moment, but it held off. I passed the hours by getting on my phone and seeing what you guys had to say and reading any pointers that pertained to my current hunt. Then it happened. The skies opened up and the rain came pouring down. I said to myself well great... So I got back on this site and there it was, the perfect thread to read "Does Rain effect RUT activity". So I read every post and kept myself occupied. I laughed out loud when I read Stonegod's post about dragging a couch to the woods just to be able to say it can be done. Just as I was finishing up reading I heard movement in front of me. A yearling and a doe moved in to feed on some honeysuckle about 20 yards in front of me. I sat there all day and the rain held off but I had seen nothing. As soon as the rain hit two deer moved in within 10 minutes of the rain starting. I watched them feed for 10-15 minutes or so when I was almost startled out of my stand. I doe came bent and hellbound running with a buck pacing step for step about 10 yards behind her. It scared the S@!% outta me. I watched them run in circles around my stand in literal 100 yard circles and at one point they ran right down the primary trail I was hunting and had previously ranged in at 17 yards. I grunted and tipped the can and absolutely nothing was going to interupt that chase. Once they were out of site I heard more movement and it was another buck hot on the trail. He was grunting and frantically sniffing the exact steps of the previous chase trying to catch up. I told myself this was my chance and I had just hoped he followed that same trail they did that went right past my stand. He was sniffing more than he was chasing so I thought I may be able to get him to stop long enough for a shot. Sure enough he followed the trail but I couldn't get him to stop by grunting, he crossed into my last shooting lane on that trail and he froze and bent over for a quick sniff, I had my pin set right on him and I let it fly. I made a clean shot and I watched the deer stumble about 50 yards from my stand. I got on the phone and called my dad and told him to come up and bring some lights we had a deer to find. I was worried about the rain but I knew my shot was good(I shot from such a high point that my arrow pentrated just behind the shoulder but it was high on one side and it exited the by the leg on the side in the pictures). I gave him a little time and climbed down and waited on my dad. My father does not hunt anymore but as a child he grew up on a farm and hunted with his grandfather. He told me since his grandfather had passed that he has never hunted since. When I saw how he reacted and helped my find my first deer I think I may have rekindle his love for the hunt. He never left my side all night as he helped to field dress, skin and hang the deer for aging. All in all it was an amazing hunt with a good clean kill that I got to enjoy with my father. I just wanted to thank all of you for being patient with my very amateur questions and helping me out as much as possible. This is a great community and I couldn't have got to this point without all of your help. This was my first deer ever. An 8 point buck shot with my compound bow at 17 yards, I know he is not huge and had room to grow for sure, but I'm happy. THANKS AGAIN!!Attachment 8003Attachment 8004

[tusc.hunter17]

My story is not gonna be glamourous, but here it is. My first deer was a doe shot at an ex's property during gun season when I was 18little years old. Bad thing is I started hunting at around age 14. Got my first bow at age ten and my dad made me pratice shooting instinctive with no sights and no release. Im now 29 and am still waiting to kill my first buck and my first bowkill. Boy that sounds like a sad story. Women kids and fast cars side tracked my hunting for years so maybe that's why im paying for it now. I've bow hunted hard this year with no luck I've had chances to shoot a deer with my bow this year but I was holding out for bigger deer. Maybe someday ill get mt first bow kill