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First deer stories

Kurt said:
My first and only shotgun to date. Model 37 in 16ga
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May be the best shot gun ever made, the only ones I buy anyway lol. 16’s are getting harder to find. I only try to pick up the 20’s and 16’s now.

My father and I shot both shot are first deer which happened to be bucks with the same 12 Guage deerslayer he was in his 20’s on a little 7 point I was 13 on a little 9 point.. I was hunting alone on opening day of Ohio gun. It was super warm I was in jeans and a tee shirt and he came out across a field at 40 yards acting very sheepish at 40 yards I squeezed one off and he ran about 30 yards and dropped. He now hangs in our sons room.
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I remember my first deer like it was yesterday but nothing quite compares to watching your kids harvest their first.. Our daughter shot her first one opening weekend of bow when she was 10 years old. Little food plot at the house 20 yard shot perfect shot heard it crash just out of sight. She’s passed a lot of does since then and a few small bucks she determined to shoot a big one. She only wants to hunt with crossbow doesn’t care for guns. IMG_1010.jpg

Our son shot his first one with an Ithaca 20 Guage off the same food plot when he was 9. He only cares to gun hunt. I bring him on drives with us during gun week (not carrying a gun) he usually comes out of the wood likes he’s been on a scavenger hunt lol always dragging junk home. He shot his on youth weekend. It was a miserable cold windy day, we watched the Ohio state Michigan game and then he decided he wanted to go out. We weren’t in the stand long and three foes came in trailed by a 120” ish 8 point. He came into about 40 yards but never had a good shot. I didn’t let him shoot and the buck ended up following the Doe off. His spirit was broken and he was dragging his lip and about 5 minutes later a little 8 came in and he smoked him. IMG_1008.jpg


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My first few deer were not very memorable. I remember pulling the trigger and walking up after the shot but that’s about it. They were on my uncles lease and I was instructed to sit here and shoot the first doe you see. I didn’t find it very rewarding but still enjoyed it.
My first public land deer was different. I had watched three bucks for for the last three weekends of bow season. I moved my climber closer every weekend and they seemed to move just as far each time. Rifle season opened and found me in the same area. As I had moved farther into the pines they had gotten smaller and smaller in diameter. Opening morning found me about ten feet up a little pine pushing against the front of my stand with my feet to keep me from sliding out of it. At daybreak the three bucks were about 150 yards away. As they fed by at about 80 yards I couldn’t stand it anymore. Palmetto bushes were pretty thick and I could see the top of the deers back but that was about it. I imagined where where the deers shoulder should be based on where his head and back were. Put it right behind where I thought the shoulder should be. Bang flop. I was liking this beat up Marlin in 35 Remington. My previous rifle was a 223. So here I was one shot one kill with my new to me 35 ..... Almost. Imagine my surprise as the buck struggles to regain his footing. His head would pop up every second or so and each time he would be a couple feet farther away. Well there was nothing left to do but try to shoot him in the head next time it popped up. Well hitting a flailing deer head in the brief moments it would pop up above the palmettos seemed futile. I was pretty sure the third shot connected but as I readied to climb down there he goes again. Fifth shot and I’m out of ammo. I don’t see any movement but I had thought that before so I jump down and hurry that way. It’s a good thing because had I not heard the leg twitching there’s no telling if I would have found him in the sea of palmetto. The DNR officer knew I was young and alone so came to see what all the fuss was about. I was dragging when he showed up and asked how many deer I had shot. I answered just one. He asked if The deer just stood there the first four misses. I don’t remember my answer but I had only missed once. First shot was high and broke his spine. Three of the next four were accounted for. One broke the left main beam just above the skull another hit antler but didn’t break it and one more in the back of the head. He asked why I did all that. All I could say was he was still moving. He offered to help finish the drag but I declined and said I had already shot the other handle off. This was also the first one I skinned by myself. I’ll save that story for another day.
 
My first deer, I feel guilty for being proud of. I grew up in Ohio, but much of my family lived in West Virginia. We would go down on spring breaks, over the summer or christmas vacations when school was out for a week or so. We would stay at my great grandmas house and during deer season I always remember all of my great uncles coming in and talking about what they saw that day or where they had been and I always wanted to go with them. I was probably 8 or 9 and they said its a lot of hiking so they didnt think I could hang. Looking back I probably couldve hung in decent weather, but they did cover miles a day up and down hills so cant really blame them, but I was bummed as a kid nonetheless. Finally, my uncle jim, the cool uncle, said well go out hunting tonight and see if we see anything. We go down to my other uncles house thats right on the edge of a wide open field. By the time we got down there it was dark so I was a little confused. We stepped onto the edge of his porch and my uncle shines a flashlight on 20-30 deer. All does and yearlings. No bucks. My uncle said take your pick. They only gave me a .22, I had shot bigger guns by that point, but guess maybe he thought Id be lucky to hit anything, or he didnt want the illegal shot ringing down the holler. Anyways, I picked out the biggest doe I could find, hit her right behind the shoulder and she dropped, didnt take one step. We stepped inside my uncles, everyone except me had a cup of coffee while we gave her a few minutes (probably dreading the late night gutting). I kept looking out the window to keep an eye on her like she was going to get up and run off. We finally strung her up and skinned her the next morning she ended up having an old wound that was infected and green and my uncle decided to trash the whole deer.

Now that Im older and know better, it was completely illegal way to hunt deer (poaching), the gun we used was undersized, I wasnt even licensed. That being said I was hooked and I thought I was a deadeye. I went out the following years during daylight a few times while we were down there on my own with a 30/30 (still not licensed) and never got anything, but loved it. Didnt know about playing the wind and all that so probably set myself up for failure stomping around the woods, and my nylon snow pants swishing with each step probably gave them all plenty of heads up, hahah. My dad was a no sho since 4th grade so Im pretty much self taught. All the deer I have taken since have either been in ohio or michigan, all in treestands with shotguns, licensed and during daylight. Still waiting on my first bow kill. Its kind of a bucket list thing to go back to WV and take one though.
 
@DaWiz9578, that makes for one heck of a story!

I honestly think that most really good deer hunters haven't always practiced what they preached with regards to ethics. I know a lot of my older friends and family used to kill deer however was effective. They've mellowed over the years, but they jumped a few fences and shined a few mag lights.

Not condoning illegal behavior, but I wouldn't feel too bad if your's was my first deer story.
 
Nutterbuster said:
@DaWiz9578, that makes for one heck of a story!

I honestly think that most really good deer hunters haven't always practiced what they preached with regards to ethics. I know a lot of my older friends and family used to kill deer however was effective. They've mellowed over the years, but they jumped a few fences and shined a few mag lights.

Not condoning illegal behavior, but I wouldn't feel too bad if your's was my first deer story.
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Got me into it, so mission accomplished. Sometimes you wreck a car becoming a driver. I have a story about that too...haha

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Until the late 70's, our part of Missouri had very few deer compared to what is around, even today. I was raised along the Mississippi River, so it was only natural for us to hunt, trap and fish. We hunted a lot of ducks and small game, around home in Missouri but I didn't start deer hunting until I moved to Alabama in 1982. By the fall of '83 I was spending my weekends perched in a homemade aluminum ladder stand I had built from scrap. I hunted timber company ground, around Evergreen Alabama, that was real close to Hank Williams boyhood home. My work schedule allowed me to hunt weekends only, so I hunted ever weekend from dark to dark, with my mentor David Cain. I actually missed a really nice 8 pt. with my younger brother's hand me down, Browning Cobra on my very first sit. My first bow season passed without me firing another arrow. But I had been hooked from the first sit. I didn't own my first deer rifle yet, so come gun season, I carried my old 30" full choke High Standard shotgun loaded with Winchester Super X 00 Buckshot. I killed 2 scrub bucks on my first 2 sits, both at 40 yds. from the same stand. That day is etched in my memory, like a movie, all up in there with the other highlights of my life...... I came back home to NE Missouri in '86 after, a traumatic life changing event. I've been here ever since. I've killed a lot of deer in my home state of Missouri since then, but my start was in the S. Alabama deer woods.
 
DaWiz9578 said:
My first deer, I feel guilty for being proud of. I grew up in Ohio, but much of my family lived in West Virginia. We would go down on spring breaks, over the summer or christmas vacations when school was out for a week or so. We would stay at my great grandmas house and during deer season I always remember all of my great uncles coming in and talking about what they saw that day or where they had been and I always wanted to go with them. I was probably 8 or 9 and they said its a lot of hiking so they didnt think I could hang. Looking back I probably couldve hung in decent weather, but they did cover miles a day up and down hills so cant really blame them, but I was bummed as a kid nonetheless. Finally, my uncle jim, the cool uncle, said well go out hunting tonight and see if we see anything. We go down to my other uncles house thats right on the edge of a wide open field. By the time we got down there it was dark so I was a little confused. We stepped onto the edge of his porch and my uncle shines a flashlight on 20-30 deer. All does and yearlings. No bucks. My uncle said take your pick. They only gave me a .22, I had shot bigger guns by that point, but guess maybe he thought Id be lucky to hit anything, or he didnt want the illegal shot ringing down the holler. Anyways, I picked out the biggest doe I could find, hit her right behind the shoulder and she dropped, didnt take one step. We stepped inside my uncles, everyone except me had a cup of coffee while we gave her a few minutes (probably dreading the late night gutting). I kept looking out the window to keep an eye on her like she was going to get up and run off. We finally strung her up and skinned her the next morning she ended up having an old wound that was infected and green and my uncle decided to trash the whole deer.

Now that Im older and know better, it was completely illegal way to hunt deer (poaching), the gun we used was undersized, I wasnt even licensed. That being said I was hooked and I thought I was a deadeye. I went out the following years during daylight a few times while we were down there on my own with a 30/30 (still not licensed) and never got anything, but loved it. Didnt know about playing the wind and all that so probably set myself up for failure stomping around the woods, and my nylon snow pants swishing with each step probably gave them all plenty of heads up, hahah. My dad was a no sho since 4th grade so Im pretty much self taught. All the deer I have taken since have either been in ohio or michigan, all in treestands with shotguns, licensed and during daylight. Still waiting on my first bow kill. Its kind of a bucket list thing to go back to WV and take one though.
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Your fun uncle sounds a lot like my fun uncle! Did he drink a bunch, too? I think that's a common trait of the "fun" uncle.
Glad you moved away from those teachings, good luck this year with the bow!
 
Wolverinebuckman said:
Your fun uncle sounds a lot like my fun uncle! Did he drink a bunch, too? I think that's a common trait of the "fun" uncle.
Glad you moved away from those teachings, good luck this year with the bow!
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Actually the one that took me hunting is sober...but a truck driver so hes a wild one. Still driving and a good guy to be around to this day and hes pushing 80. I do have a drunk uncle down there too. Hes fun....most of the time haha

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I grew up w/out a dad (deceased when I was 1.5 yrs old) w/no one to take me hunting. My papaw was a great fisherman and we spent countless hours in a boat, but when it came to hunting, it was outside of his wheelhouse.

I can remember when the hunting bug hit me, at age 14, and a decisive Friday afternoon in his living room. He knew the crappie bite was on (even when it wasn't it was for him) and for the first time, I wanted to go hunting instead ...squirrels. (Don't get me wrong ...Crappie remain one of my favorite things ...just ahead of smallmouth to eat but just behind them to catch ...but I digress).

Papaw had our neighbor friend come over and try to convince me to fish (we often went as a team) as it was 'too hot to hunt'. Even at 14, I knew the fix was on, so I held my ground, and for the first time, we left Saturday morning on a squirrel hunt.

To say it was a bad hunt is an understatement. He zeroed, and I killed one fox squirrel. But the bug was born.

Over the next couple of years, I honed my woodsman-ship and learned a lot ...mainly squirrel hunting but also sneaking up on wood ducks, stomping briar patches to flush cotton tails and lucking up on a covey of quail from time to time. I'd leave the house at daylight and return just around dusk with a vest full of animals. I'd take a sandwich, but when I got thirsty, I drank from the creek. When I got chilly or needed a break, I'd build a fire. I literally felt like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, although I learned more about them later in life. I also began trapping and had an older guy take me under his wing who began teaching me more technical aspects of woodsman-ship. Those couple years were crucial!

Then, at 16, I started getting the itch to chase deer [squirrels, wood ducks, rabbits & trapping we no longer enough]. Keep in mind, I'd only seen one deer in the wild during the past two years. There just weren't many where we lived at that time. I didn't have a gun so I worked all summer and saved my money to buy a crossbow (for the sole purpose of being able to hunt deer from Oct 1 - Feb 28 with no concern for seasons etc). Simply put, I had a 5 month span to hunt deer if I had the time or the urge hit me.

I had no idea what I was doing, didn't have a stand, but started going out and sitting on logs etc. I was driving by now so my range expanded. I was too scared to stay in the woods past dark so I always left before prime time. Makes me crazy to thing about that now lol.

I can remember walking out after a hunt (before dark) to a very low usage fire service road in route to my truck and saw this deer bounding down the middle of the road. I jumped in the ditch and when it stopped 10 yards, I fired 2 feed above it's back.

I watched as the deer took a hard right into cover about 60 yards away. I cocked my bow and away I went ...slipping in attempt to 'catch a deer' lol. I made it to where the deer turned right, he was there, and this time my shot was true.

I'd never been more proud in my entire life. More so than that first squirrel, my first rabbit, quail, wood duck, mink, fox, coon etc. I was elated to show off my 50lb button buck prize. It's amazing how long ago that has been and how much I've grown and learned as a hunter during the past 30 years, but that was the moment that sealed the whitetail deal for me. A 50lb button buck crossbow kill!
 
@dpierce72, that's awesome! I love squirrel hunting, and stalking wood ducks! Some of my favorite memories are of starting the morning on a remote little beaver pond to shoot a couple of ducks, and then transitioning over to squirrels.

I also killed one of my best bucks on a squirrel hunt. Always keep a slug in your breast pocket if you're toting a shotgun! May come in handy one day.FB_IMG_1558102326775.jpgFB_IMG_1558102251253.jpg
 
Nutterbuster said:
@dpierce72, that's awesome! I love squirrel hunting, and stalking wood ducks! Some of my favorite memories are of starting the morning on a remote little beaver pond to shoot a couple of ducks, and then transitioning over to squirrels.

I also killed one of my best bucks on a squirrel hunt. Always keep a slug in your breast pocket if you're toting a shotgun! May come in handy one day.View attachment 12092View attachment 12093
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now thats a good day!
 
Nutterbuster said:
@dpierce72, that's awesome! I love squirrel hunting, and stalking wood ducks! Some of my favorite memories are of starting the morning on a remote little beaver pond to shoot a couple of ducks, and then transitioning over to squirrels.

I also killed one of my best bucks on a squirrel hunt. Always keep a slug in your breast pocket if you're toting a shotgun! May come in handy one day.View attachment 12092View attachment 12093
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Squirrel Gumbo Time
 
Mine goes back to 9/1/82. My first solo deer hunt with a bow it was with a Bear Whitetail II, Easton game getter arrow with a wasp camlok broad head. Old army navy store woodland camo pattern clothes a top a Baker climbing tree stand. No head lamp just a mini mag light between my teeth and up the tree I went in the dark. I hauled the bow up and waited for sunrise. Just about 20 minutes after pink light a small rack 5 point in velvet came in to be at exactly 20 yards. I know it was 20 because he was standing next to the tree that I paced off at 20 yards. I came to full draw and settled on his vitals, took a deep breath and let the string
slip from my leather clad fingers.

Right on target! I saw him run off with the 2 orange vanes and the olive drab cock vane just visible with the broad head doing its job as he ran off. I waited all of 20 minutes, hard for a seventeen year old that skipped morning soccer practice to hunt. No blood trail for the first 50 yards, only single penetration. I followed the trail of undergrowth that had the dew had been knocked off. At about 60 yards a pile of red foam, then another and another. Dead deer at 100 yards from the stand. My buddies made me feel like a hero since I was the only guy that they knew that got a deer with a bow. There weren’t many bow hunters back then, especially in high school.

About 5 guys bought bows that Fall and we all started learning and honing our skills, scouting, target practice in each other’s backyards. I didn’t get another shot or deer in range with a bow until I was 22. i never gave up and learned a lot during those dry spells. I was hooked for life.

I hope I stirred some memories for older guys on the site, the young guys are thinking what the hell is a Bear whitetail Ii and a Baker tree stand. Boy have times and equipment come a long way.

I will try and dig up a picture.

BUXNDUX
 
BUXNDUX said:
Mine goes back to 9/1/82. My first solo deer hunt with a bow it was with a Bear Whitetail II, Easton game getter arrow with a wasp camlok broad head. Old army navy store woodland camo pattern clothes a top a Baker climbing tree stand. No head lamp just a mini mag light between my teeth and up the tree I went in the dark. I hauled the bow up and waited for sunrise. Just about 20 minutes after pink light a small rack 5 point in velvet came in to be at exactly 20 yards. I know it was 20 because he was standing next to the tree that I paced off at 20 yards. I came to full draw and settled on his vitals, took a deep breath and let the string
slip from my leather clad fingers.

Right on target! I saw him run off with the 2 orange vanes and the olive drab cock vane just visible with the broad head doing its job as he ran off. I waited all of 20 minutes, hard for a seventeen year old that skipped morning soccer practice to hunt. No blood trail for the first 50 yards, only single penetration. I followed the trail of undergrowth that had the dew had been knocked off. At about 60 yards a pile of red foam, then another and another. Dead deer at 100 yards from the stand. My buddies made me feel like a hero since I was the only guy that they knew that got a deer with a bow. There weren’t many bow hunters back then, especially in high school.

About 5 guys bought bows that Fall and we all started learning and honing our skills, scouting, target practice in each other’s backyards. I didn’t get another shot or deer in range with a bow until I was 22. i never gave up and learned a lot during those dry spells. I was hooked for life.

I hope I stirred some memories for older guys on the site, the young guys are thinking what the hell is a Bear whitetail Ii and a Baker tree stand. Boy have times and equipment come a long way.

I will try and dig up a picture.

BUXNDUX
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I also killed my first bow deer with a Bear Whitetail II, Easton arrows that I think were tipped with Razorback 5 broadheads. It would have been 1980. I was 18 years old and standing atop a blowdown in the rain when the little 5 went by inside 10 yds. I also was shooting leather finger pads (mechanical release? didn't exist yet to my knowledge). I had to track him on my hands and knees looking up at the underside of the ferns with my flashlight. He went about 50 yards. I was lucky enough to connect again that same year with that Whitetail II about three weeks later. That little 6 point actually followed my tracks right to me from my truck which was parked in a small field. I took pictures of him with the truck in the background with my 35mm camera as he walked toward me. I didn't have a Baker at the time (couldn't afford such a high end tree stand:laughing: at the time) and was just standing on a branch in a maple tree. I ended up shooting that deer leaning outward from the tree, the only thing holding me in the tree was my forehead pressed against a branch. No safety measures whatsoever. As I look back on those days I realize its a miracle I'm still alive, let alone walking.

I loaned that bow to a buddy several years later after I upgraded and I never got it back. I sure wish I had, it's one of those pieces of history that I wish I could put my hands on.
 
boyne bowhunter said:
I also killed my first bow deer with a Bear Whitetail II, Easton arrows that I think were tipped with Razorback 5 broadheads. It would have been 1980. I was 18 years old and standing atop a blowdown in the rain when the little 5 went by inside 10 yds. I also was shooting leather finger pads (mechanical release? didn't exist yet to my knowledge). I had to track him on my hands and knees looking up at the underside of the ferns with my flashlight. He went about 50 yards. I was lucky enough to connect again that same year with that Whitetail II about three weeks later. That little 6 point actually followed my tracks right to me from my truck which was parked in a small field. I took pictures of him with the truck in the background with my 35mm camera as he walked toward me. I didn't have a Baker at the time (couldn't afford such a high end tree stand:laughing: at the time) and was just standing on a branch in a maple tree. I ended up shooting that deer leaning outward from the tree, the only thing holding me in the tree was my forehead pressed against a branch. No safety measures whatsoever. As I look back on those days I realize its a miracle I'm still alive, let alone walking.

I loaned that bow to a buddy several years later after I upgraded and I never got it back. I sure wish I had, it's one of those pieces of history that I wish I could put my hands on.
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Good stuff, it sure takes me back reading your story. Yea I forgot to mention no harness no nothing back then. I was so young and stupid I never even thought about falling. Now at 53 I don’t do anything with out a harness. This will be my first time trying a saddle this upcoming season, glad I am not too old to try something new. I am confident that I will enjoy the saddle and can’t wait for the first kill using one. Thanks for the story and go team Whitetail II lol
 
BUXNDUX said:
Good stuff, it sure takes me back reading your story. Yea I forgot to mention no harness no nothing back then. I was so young and stupid I never even thought about falling. Now at 53 I don’t do anything with out a harness. This will be my first time trying a saddle this upcoming season, glad I am not too old to try something new. I am confident that I will enjoy the saddle and can’t wait for the first kill using one. Thanks for the story and go team Whitetail II lol
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I am constantly amazed how many saddlehunters are "geezers" like us. I'll be 57 this summer and love the new challenges and opportunities that this "new" method of hunting provides for me each year. Welcome to the forum and the madness!
 
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