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

[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

[switchXTindiana]

Well, my first kills were with a bow believe it or not. I didn't have a dad who hunted. My friend's dad got me into shooting a bow when i was 12. My first ever hunt w/ a bow, I had been once previously w/ a gun, I was 13 at his place in Adams County. He bought me a deer tag and a turkey tag since it was fall bow out there. He said "you get in this stand, you stay still, you shoot whatever deer or turkey you can boy" Well 1.5hrs later, sure enough, 3 turkeys come up on the ridgetop at 25yds and i ended up smoking a tom w/ my bow. I honestly can say that i had no idea it was a tom,jaek, hen or what, I knew it was a turkey and he told me to shoot it,lol. First kill period, first time hunting w/ a bow. I've since learned how frickin hard it is to kill a turkey w/ a bow. Mt first deer was a doe the following year at age 14, w/ my bow, at about 12yds from a ladder stand on the first sunday of bow season. My first buck was about a 100" 8pt when i was 16 with my bow. I've actually only killed one deer w/ a gun and it was a buck during a deer drive in Adams county.

[Dan]

My buddy had been hunting a small urban woodlot for a very large buck. It was the day before NY gun season and the last day to use your first buck tag. I hadn't killed a deer yet so my buddy offered to put a drive on for me at the wood lot he had been hunting. The weather was kinda crappy cold and rainy i wasn't to excited about going but grabbed a stand and my gear. We made a plan and headed into the woods. I reached my stand location and realized I forgot my steps. Since this was before cellphones I had no way to tell my buddy i didn't have steps and I needed to get them. I set the stand about 5 feet off the ground and pulled myself up and got set. About ten minutes later I heard a crash in the thicket up wind of me and two does busted out across a nearby clearing. A moment later I noticed movement coming towards me and could see it was a buck. I drew my bow as it rambled down the funnel towards me. It stopped 8 paces from me and I drilled it. It ran off into the thick cover. A few minutes later my buddy showed up and I gave him the thumbs up. He ran over thinking I had just drilled the monster he was hunting. I quickly told him it wasn't the monster he was after and told him what happened. We drove over to a local pizza shop for a slice and to give the buck alittle time. As we drove into the parking lot there stood the monster my buddy was telling me about. It was a solid 170. I was pretty impressed that my buddy would offer to push his spot and give me a shot at that trophy buck. True friends are rare. We found my little 8 point about 60 yards from were I shot it. A few weeks later the big buck was hit by a car.

[nwohiobowstruck]

My first deer was during my second season of bow hunting. It was the wed before the youth weekend. i just got out of my truck got dressed and sprayed down with sent cover and started across the field to the woods. i got about 75yards from the truck when i saw him. He was about 200 yards away layin down in the edge of the woods. So i dropped to my knees and decided to try to get close enough for a shoot. I started to crawl across the field on my hands and knees. (only a 100 yards from the state highway right behind me i sure all the cars going by were thinkin what the hell is this guy doin) I crawled to were there was a tree between me and him and kind of crawled/walked low to the ground in to about 50 yards for the woods. Luckly for me there was round hay bales on the edge of the woods so from here i started to crawl and try to get into postion. so i got up to the hay bales and peaked out around the one and all i could see was the left side of his rack but decied he was going to get shot. (by this time he is standing) So i crawled over about 2 hay bales got on my knees and went to come up from my crouched over postion while drawin my front hand bow hand hit the bale. I was to close. So i came back down to a crouched postion backed up about a foot took a breath came back up drawin while risein put my 20 yard pin on him and relased. I hit him and he took off runnin with my arrow in him all i saw was the arrow stickin out alot and i thought i was screwed. untill he turned to go up the hill and his front feet came off the ground and he fell backwards. He was done. I was so excited. the hunt over in about 20 min. i was fist pumpin and yellin i actully walked up to the farmers house instead of to my truck (truck 300 yards house 900 yards) i tryed callin my dad to help come gut it but he was not home from work yet so i had to wait. that was my first deer and buck ever and it was with my bow. that is the deer in my pic.