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.
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