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First deer stories

Nutterbuster

Nutterbuster

Well-Known Member
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Oct 12, 2017
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Where the skys are so blue!
The "how many deer have you killed" thread was fun, and I thought this might be a good one too.

My first deer was back when I was 7-8. It was a strange hunt. First and foremost, it was the only time I ever remember hunting with my dad's brother. Also, it was my first hunt with a scoped rifle (Marlin 336 30-30, I think), which my dad had borrowed from a friend.

We sat on a little food plot in the midst of some young pines. Fairly early in the morning, a group of does came out. It looked like an old doe with a yearling and a fawn. My uncle and I consulted briefly, and it was decided to shoot the yearling, and let the big doe raise the fawn.

I eased the rifle up in the shooting house window, and struggled to find the deer in the scope. Due to a bit of oversight on my dad's part, I had actually never shot through one! Plenty of time with iron sights, but no scope experience whatsoever. I figured the big, black void around the tiny picture I was seeing was normal. I found the deer eventually, and pulled the trigger.

Bang!!

The doe and yearling looked up. The fawn BOLTED. He made it to the edge of the plot, and looked back. His companions stared blankly with grass hanging out of their mouths.

"Buddy, I don't think you hit her."

I chambered another round. The fawn cautiously crept back towards his momma, and within seconds they resumed feeding.

Bang!!

Second verse, same as the first. Fawn ran, does stared.

I was young, but not young enough to not be very embarrassed and very frustrated! I was quickly learning to dislike bad eye relief. I chambered the third round.

Bang!!

This time, the fawn vanished into the bushes. Amazingly, momma and big sister were nonplussed. I was out of bullets, and more than a little bent out of shape. My uncle was also hunting with a 30-30, and started trying to unload a round to donate to the cause.

"I can just shoot that one," I volunteered, pointing towards his (unscoped) rifle.

He shrugged, and handed it off to me. I slid it in the window, and noticed the fawn had poked his head back in the plot. He was obviously not down with the breakfast venue his elders had chosen. Momma and the yearling were still staring. I eased the hammer back a fourth time.

Bang!!

FLOP

The yearling hit the dirt. Momma bolted. I swear the fawn disappeared into a trans dimensional portal. He probably died of old age after living a nocturnal life.

I ended up making a perfect, textbook behind the shoulder shot. It was many years before I hunted with a scoped rifle again, and I am absolutely anal about eye relief.

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So let's hear it! What was your first hunt?
 
I was hunting edge of a field and a pipeline with a 30 acre or so bluff to the west of me. The plan was for me to post and my dad, and two uncles would push bush as I was the only one left with a tag to fill. I just reached my post and i looked to the East and there was a deer walking casually towards me. The deer veered south but still heading into the bluff to my west. Every time I picked up the rifle I couldnt find that deer in the scope. I kinda started to panic cause it was a decent 4x4 and it was just about to the bush line. Finally it stopped walking. Caught wind of me I believe cause it looked right at me. I raised the rifle one last time hoping I could find him in the scope. Bang! With the recoil if the rifle I lost sight of him? Did he drop? did he run? I was going crazy waiting for my dad and my uncles to come out of the bush. Finally I seen my dad and ran to him. He asked " Did you shoot?" I replied in a panic " Didnt you hear it???" He told me to hold out my hand.... I did as he asked but didnt understand till he grabbed and shook it. "He fell right over here" as he led me over to the edge of the bush.
I was 16 at the time. Deer were scarce around the cabin back then so this little 4 pt was a big deal. Sure was excited. Dad cracked open my first beer that night. What a great feeling.
I still love hunting. I still love taking animals home to feed the family but my favourite moments in the field are to be with someone when they get their first kill. The emotions are overwhelming sometimes. It's truly my favorite part of the hunt.

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Mine was pretty straight forward but none-the-less a a great memory.
I was in 7th grade and my dad and I we’re hunting in a wooden stand he built in a sycamore tree on the back side of our cattle farm. It was right on the outside edge of a bend in the creek and overlooked some green pasture with swampy bedding on all sides. Right before dark 3 does came out on the far side and my dad let me shoot whichever one I wanted. I still remember shaking after the shot and then watching/helping dad clean her. I didn’t get to hunt much with my dad through high school, college and grad school but now that he’s retired I’m moving back to my hometown I’m looking forward to getting in the woods with him again.

On a side note, I was using our neighbors .270 cause my dad didn’t think I could handle his .30-06. After that hunt, dad let me go pick out my own deer rifle and I picked a .30-06 to be like him. It’s never missed a deer! (Knock on wood)
 
15 y/o, sitting in a stand that was more like a old tree fort with my girlfriend. We were on her dad’s friends property in Orange Park, FL. He told me watch to the left, that’s where they’ll come from. After a couple hours of nothing, and her yapping away, I hear a branch snap and sounded like rustling. She’s steady whispering how much this sucks, so I tell her to **** up and listen. Little 7 point walks and is hooking branches. I was focused, turns out she was turned the other direction and mever saw the deer. Smoked him with my
.35 Rem lever gun, buck fell, she about fell. My heart had never pumped like that, been hooked since! Not a monster, and one of my dogs chewed one of his ears a few years back, but still proud of that first one that set this whole obsession in motion.
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I'm gonna stray from the beaten path. It's still a first deer story, just not mine but rather my daughter's. My now adult daughter and I have had a tradition for 10 years now where we share a deer blind on opening day of Michigan's rifle season. When she was a teenager we where sharing a popup on a cold, snowy opening day. I had her bundled up in my warm insulated coveralls and a pair of my pack boots. Picture this, I'm 6' tall and "pushing" 250#. My daughter in about 5'4" tall and about half my weight so she was pretty much swimming in these garments in the blind.

About 10am nature called and she decided she needed to get out of the coveralls so she could take a little walk. Well, true to form, as she was bent over at the waist struggling to get the second boot off and slip that leg out of the coveralls I saw a pretty good buck coming down the hill directly at us. I whispered for her to stay down until the buck went behind some trees. So there we sat, with her hunkered down at the waist, half in and half out of the coveralls until the buck passed into some thicker brush. Once he went out of sight I had her kneel down and get the rifle up. Since the buck was on her side I just looked over her shoulder as the buck passed into a open lane. She lined up the shot and pulled the trigger. . . NOTHING. I almost laughed out loud because I had seen in the excitement that she hadn't pulled the hammer back on the lever action Marlin .35. I whispered "hammer" and she cocked the gun and tried to resteady the sights. While she had demonstrated a perfectly steady hand on the first trigger pull, now the mistake seemed to shake her up a little and I watched the end of the rifle waiver as she tried to line up the second attempt. She sat there a minute collecting herself and then KAWHAMM. The buck went no more that 40yds before piling up.

I have never been so proud or been so excited over any game harvest in my entire life. She had had many opportunities before that but had always made "the right decision" as I like to put it about not taking a shot that she wasn't comfortable with. Now she had finally connected and I had the privilege of being able to look down the barrel as she made the shot. What a day!

To top it off, I managed to harvest a decent 8 point myself just before dark of that same day so we tagged out together. Memories for both of us that will last a lifetime.

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Great story and awesome pic!

As an AOH guy my first deer was only four years ago. At the time I was a gun hunter only and was on the Sunday of opening weekend after getting skunked in my previous rookie season. In fact I had only even seen two deer total the previous year (doe & fawn) despite a heavy commitment of hours in the woods.

I was pretty desperate for all this investment and anticipation to result in something. It was my second sit in a treestand and my buddy and I were hunting a small patch of private woods in the northeast. The "magic hour" had set in and I was definitely counting the minutes to the end, ready for another empty exit in the dark.

I heard a slight noise and caught movement through the trees out in front of me. In an endless stretch of time I waited to catch a full glimpse of whatever was clearly walking towards me (probably about 60 yards). Eventually I saw brown and knew it was a deer which sent my adrenaline surging like few experiences in my life have done. Another eternity later passed as I scoured for fleeting glimpses through the trees searching for antlers.

At about 40 yards I caught a flash of bone and my heart leapt into my throat. I still had to wait to verify that it was a legal buck (at least two points on one side). Eventually he made it to an evergreen about 30 yards in front of me and ducked his head just enough for me to see the split tines. At this point I was beside myself with excitement and in what I imagined was what people call full on buck fever.

My favorite part of the encounter was that this young 4 pointer made a scrape right by that tree in front of me. I didn't know a ton about deer behavior but I thought it was the coolest thing to see happen live. Felt like I was some kind of a ninja spy or something getting to observe while the deer was clueless to my presence.

After rubbing the branch above his scrape he turned broadside and stepped out into the one good shooting lane and just stood there as if to say "Go ahead. Do your thing. You've waited and worked long enough".

After a nerve wracking, but in hindsight short, blood trail my buddy and I found him piled up about 50 yards away and I was overcome by joy, sadness, and satisfaction, all at once. I'll never forget that feeling and I was hooked for life. Better late than never I guess.

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I grew up shooting targets with my Dad, but he wasn't a hunter. He just couldn't take a life after leaving Vietnam. I respected that but I really wanted to hunt. My neighbor only had daughters, so he would take me fishing and he taught me how to hunt. When I was 13, my Dad gave me the 20g double that had been handed down several generations.
I remember heading out into the woods of the Berkshire Mountains of Western Mass, as excited as could be. I had one chamber with buckshot and the other with a slug. The snow was very deep and had a hard crust to it. I found a really nice spot with minimal snow under a Spruce tree and settled in. I'm really not sure how long I sat there, but I remember hearing the crunching of the snow behind me. I was slow but steady as it came closer. I remember how bad I wanted to lean out and turn to see what was coming, but I kept thinking about being taught t just sit still.
After an eternity a nice large New England 12 point passed me to my right side. He hadnt gotten more than 10 yards from me when I tried to adjust and made a lot of noise. He whirled his whole body to his left and gave me the perfect quartering away shot. I pulled the trigger and off he went. Intrestingly enough my neighbor never told me to sit and wait after the shot.(at least I don't remember those instructions). I jumped up and saw blood all over the snow. Off I went following the trail. Maybe a hundred yards I saw him jump up and run. I raised the gun and pulled the trigger. This i when I realized I had actually pulled both triggers at the same time, when I first shot him. This caused a panic in me, my adrenaline was already so high, I was fumbling around trying to pull more shells from my pockets. Then I heard him crash. When I found him, I remember crying( probably puberty). After I tagged the buck, I trudged to the sawmill that my neighbor owned. He helped me dress it out and drag it to his barn.
I was so excited and happy, but I was also convinced that deer hunting was easy. Ha Ha was I wrong, I didn't kill another deer until I was 22. And I have never killed or even seen another 12 point while hunting.
I joined the Army when I was 17, and one of my biggest regrets is that I don't ever remember thanking him!! He has passed away after a battle with cancer, and I owe my entire hunting career to Wayne Phillips. In turn I try to make up for it by passing it forward and teaching other young men the Value of our Hunting Heritage.
 
I was 16 yrs. old. I was scouting and squirrel hunting and I saw a small 4pt raking a sapling. I was mesmerized. I thought I'd come back and hunt him on opening day, which was two days away. i went in opening day and found a clump of white birch trees in the area i saw the little buck, so i took a stand on the ground facing the direction of the rub. I stood, maybe an hour. Off to my left the buck came out and started cutting around behind me,I had my Winchester model 94 /30-30. I spun out from the clump of birches and shouldered the gun in one motion, got on target and squeezed the trigger and nothing happened. If you know the Winchester 30-30, you know that you have to squeeze the lever as one of the safeties, if you don't you can't fire the gun. I figured that out at the exact moment the deer figured out he should run, but I was just a little quicker and from 20 yds. I rolled him right down the bank.
 
I will add another story about a daughters first deer.

My daughter had never really shown any interest in hunting but, with a lot or persuasion from my uncle, who had raised two hunting daughters of his own, she decided to take the hunters safety course with her younger brother. After passing the course she pretty much went back to not having any interest in hunting, even though I would ask her each year if she wanted to go.

Fast forward a couple of years; when she was 14 she comes to me the day before youth rifle season and says she want's to go hunting. So I call my dad who agrees to sit with my son, who has killed several deer at this point, so that I could sit with my daughter. My daughter had shot a rifle a hand full of times but, had more experience with the crossbow so she decided that's what she wanted to hunt with.

Opening morning my dad and my son go to one stand on my property and I take my daughter to another about 300 yards away. Around 9am we hear my son shoot and my dad texts me that my son had just shot a small buck and that they had seen three different bucks already that morning. (My dad was experiencing a several year long streak where every time he walked into the woods he seemed to constantly be around deer. To the point that his luck was becoming a running joke in the family) I tell them to sit tight for a while so they wouldn't mess up my daughters hunt.

By 10am, me and my daughter hadn't seen a deer so she decides she has had enough and wants to go see her brothers deer. We hike out, get the four wheelers and take them down to pick up the deer. After some congratulations we load up my son's deer on one four wheeler, that my son begins to drive out and my dad and daughter both sit down on the back rack of the other four wheeler, that I drive out. As I am driving out the logging road that takes us back to the house I can hear my dad behind me telling my daughter; "You know where you screwed up this morning was deciding to hunt with your dad, he doesn't see any deer. If you want to see deer you need to hunt with ole Pap, I see deer everywhere I go!" "Your brother and I saw three deer this morning, yessirree!, if you want to see deer you need to be sitting right beside Pap!"

My dad no sooner finishes those woods when I look up and see a doe run across the road 20 yards in front of me and realize that trailing right behind her is a small 6 point. I yell deer, stop the four wheeler and we all bail off. The buck just stands there 30 yards off the road, clearly wanting to follow what I assume was a hot doe but, we now had cut him off. I begin to unstrap the .243 that my son had used that morning, my dad starts fumbling through his pockets trying to find a shell. By the time we got the gun loaded the buck had hopped off to about 80 yards. I find a tree for my daughter to lean against and hand her the gun. She struggles to find the deer in the scope for what seems like several minutes, and the entire time the deer just stands there looking at us. Finally, my daughter finds the deer, I tell her to squeeze the trigger and Bang!, the buck drops in its tracks. My dad immediately yells "Good Job, See what did I tell you? You gotta be sittin beside Ole Pap!"

The funniest part of this story is several days later I am talking to my daughter and I mention hunting with her again next year. She looks at me like she is about to disappoint me and says "Oh, I'm sorry dad but, I doubt I hunt next year. The only reason I did this year was because I bet a boy in my class that I could shoot a bigger buck than him." "I won. He shot a five point" She is now 19 and hasn't hunted a single day since.

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Long story, sorry...
So I tried hunting as a kid, at 12, and it was a bad experience. My uncle liked to drink more than he like to teach how to deer hunt! LOL!
I decided to get back into it when I was in my mid-30s. spent the first five years pretty well just sitting in trees looking at nature, did see a few deer and actually released an arrow on one, which deflected.
I invited a buddy of mine from church to start hunting a little piece of private that I had access to, with me. He started talking Hunting Beast tactics with me, and was working desperately to try to get me on my first deer.
About one week before I shot my first deer, I had a little button buck come out and was literally five yards from me , but I couldn't bring myself to shoot the little guy and let him walk, actually run like hell when he realized I was sitting in the tree!
Anyway, on October 19th my buddy went out and scouted the farm, and told me that he seen a lot of tracks in the field to the north side of the woods. On that upcoming Saturday, the 21st, he and I decided to go in and hunt together for a morning hunt. We both sat up on the North edge of the woods overlooking the field, probably a hundred and fifty yards apart from each other. The morning was slow and we were texting each other talking about getting out of our stands and heading out when I noticed a doe and a fawn about 400 yards across the field in the neighbor's property, then I seen a larger deer standing next to them walking the other way. Told him we might as well wait in the trees for a little while longer and see what happens, since there was movement.
20 minutes or so later, I get a text letting me know that the doe and fawn had just walked past his stand heading towards me.
I watched as the doe and The yearling came walking in, and the older deer was standing behind a large tree with just her head sticking out. Since I had never shot a deer, I highly contemplated taking a shot at her if she stepped out from behind the tree. Just then both of their heads looked up and towards my buddies direction. That's when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket again, before I had a chance to reach in and grab it I saw antlers come out of the brush! My heart was in my throat!
The doe and the yearling both walked past me to my right and out into the field. The buck was not planning on following them out into the open, and instead started walking straight towards my tree, and I remember praying Lord I need him to turn sideways so I can take a shot! About three steps later the buck turned, and walked by the tree I had ranged at 20 yards earlier, giving me his full broad side. I gave a small grunt, and he looked toward the two deer in the field. I released my arrow and as soon as it left the string I knew it was good, straight through the heart. My buddy heard the arrow hit, heard me yell out an elated gutteral yell, and then heard the buck crash about 50 yards away... He was to my tree before I was even down with the climber! I was so glad he was there to share the moment with me, and to walk me through gutting my first deer!
What an experience!
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Mine was in 2003 when I was 14. My Dad and I would go to our deer camp in Crystal Falls, in Michigan's upper peninsula(9 very long hours north of Lansing). Opening(Nov.15th) morning came and it was about 10:30. My dad came over to my blind and we were about to head in for breakfast. We talked for about 10 minutes, I turned around to walk back towards camp and my Dad whispered, "Jake there's a deer!" I turned around like "Yeah right" and sure enough a spike was walking towards us. It walked right up to us about 15 yards away when I went to pull up and shoot, it heard me. It leaped once and I thought "oh great I blew it" then it turned back around and looked at us. 15 yards broadside, I put it on the vitals and pulled the trigger on the old 30-30 Winchester. It dropped like a rock. I then noticed that I didn't kill it right away and my heart sank as this deer was looking at us. I shot it again and it finally died after a few long seconds. It was mixed emotions. I guess it was seeing its last moments really made me feel the gravity of killing a big game animal. Once it was over we filled out my tag and my dad showed me how to gut it. It was pretty special getting one with him standing right next to me. It's a moment I'll never forget.

That would be the only deer I shot for 14 years until 2017 when I bagged a 2 1/2 year old 8 point near Lansing with my bow. I hit another spike in 2011 but never found it. It was nice to break the bad luck streak. Now I'm on a 2 year streak of getting one.
 
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My first deer story is pretty unique. I knew at the time it was awesome but didn’t really appreciate how much so until 20 years of chasing whitetails later. So here it goes. I was 13 and had shot at a few deer in past seasons but never bagged one. This was illinois firearm season back when we had free access to an amazing 300 acre hill country farm. After our morning sits we decided to drive a draw that usually held a few deer. My dad and uncle were the drivers this time and me and my cousin and a family friend were set up as shooters. Not long into the drive I heard my dad scream “here he comes son, he’s coming right at you!” And so I brought my 20 ga Ithaca up into shooting position. Moments later a brute of a 10 point came busting over the side of the draw and ran past me at about 15yards. I took aim and busted off 2 slug round. After tracking for a few hundred yards I rmr my uncle saying that I probably just wounded him and maybe shot off his hoof. I was beginning to feel down in the dumps when I came upon some nice pools of blood under a thick outcropping. My dad instructed me to crawl in there and look and it didn’t take but one step inside to see him piled up. What an amazing feeling it was. Very spoiled on my first deer and he still remains one of my biggest kills. It turned out one of my slugs did break his leg but the other shot got his lungs. Needless to say I’ve been hooked ever since.
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Goldentriangle85 said:
My first deer story is pretty unique. I knew at the time it was awesome but didn’t really appreciate how much so until 20 years of chasing whitetails later. So here it goes. I was 13 and had shot at a few deer in past seasons but never bagged one. This was illinois firearm season back when we had free access to an amazing 300 acre hill country farm. After our morning sits we decided to drive a draw that usually held a few deer. My dad and uncle were the drivers this time and me and my cousin and a family friend were set up as shooters. Not long into the drive I heard my dad scream “here he comes son, he’s coming right at you!” And so I brought my 20 ga Ithaca up into shooting position. Moments later a brute of a 10 point came busting over the side of the draw and ran past me at about 15yards. I took aim and busted off 2 slug round. After tracking for a few hundred yards I rmr my uncle saying that I probably just wounded him and maybe shot off his hoof. I was beginning to feel down in the dumps when I came upon some nice pools of blood under a thick outcropping. My dad instructed me to crawl in there and look and it didn’t take but one step inside to see him piled up. What an amazing feeling it was. Very spoiled on my first deer and he still remains one of my biggest kills. It turned out one of my slugs did break his leg but the other shot got his lungs. Needless to say I’ve been hooked ever since.
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Love the grin on the proud Papa!
 
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Going with my first bow buck for now. I had 3 rifle bucks under my belt but that first with a bow is the day I became a man. Haha.

Nothing spectacular. The year was 2002. I was 14, it was the first morning of archery, I want to say October 5th. As per usual at that age I was so excited the night before I remember not sleeping a wink. Drank coffee, actually drinking it not just trying it, for the first time ever that morning. Burnt the crap out of my mouth. Thought it tasted like crap but I acquired the taste thereafter.

By now I had been hunting two years so my dad pretty much dropped me off at my tree and carried on. This was on private land open to everyone and their brother.

I sat there a couple hours uneventfully and here comes this buck. Turns broadside at 15 yards and I absolutely 10-ringed him. Didn't see him go down but I could see the blood spray from my tree. Radioed the events and my dad, pap, and uncle were all hunting the same property and were in on the recovery. I was pretty psyched about it but then I was super bored the rest of the season. I haven't killed a buck opening day since.
 
Goldentriangle85 said:
My first deer story is pretty unique. I knew at the time it was awesome but didn’t really appreciate how much so until 20 years of chasing whitetails later. So here it goes. I was 13 and had shot at a few deer in past seasons but never bagged one. This was illinois firearm season back when we had free access to an amazing 300 acre hill country farm. After our morning sits we decided to drive a draw that usually held a few deer. My dad and uncle were the drivers this time and me and my cousin and a family friend were set up as shooters. Not long into the drive I heard my dad scream “here he comes son, he’s coming right at you!” And so I brought my 20 ga Ithaca up into shooting position. Moments later a brute of a 10 point came busting over the side of the draw and ran past me at about 15yards. I took aim and busted off 2 slug round. After tracking for a few hundred yards I rmr my uncle saying that I probably just wounded him and maybe shot off his hoof. I was beginning to feel down in the dumps when I came upon some nice pools of blood under a thick outcropping. My dad instructed me to crawl in there and look and it didn’t take but one step inside to see him piled up. What an amazing feeling it was. Very spoiled on my first deer and he still remains one of my biggest kills. It turned out one of my slugs did break his leg but the other shot got his lungs. Needless to say I’ve been hooked ever since.
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Love the old Ithaca deerslayers


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