First successful hunt ?

[BT]

Just wondering
I got super lucky with my first deer coming in my first month

[bambeklr]

I started deer hunting when I was 8 years old. I got to hunt with my father that year in our october muzzleloader. I never got a shot on a deer. But when our november shotgun season roled around I went hunting with my grandfather. I had a spike buck walk by at 15 yards. At first I could only see all black in the scope. Then my grandfather told me to look again. When I looked through the scope this time I saw hair and I pulled the trigger. I will never forget that day. I hit the deer in the shoulder and he only went 30 yards and was down. My grandfather still laughs at how fast I shot. He said he knows I didnt aim. *lol*

[stilllearning]

I can't vote as my answer is not up there. It took me 10 years to get my first deer. Just after coming to an age that I could hunt deer the rules changed to bucks only and I had to watch a lot of does go by. The bucks I did get a chance at...... well can you see shooter error, back sight fell of the gun on one, buck feever on a couple, didn't shoot a doe when I new my father had a doe tag but just didn't feel right about shooting and in the end my 10th season I got a nice 10 point buck. Even Dad said it was worth the wait. I was just glad he was with me.
Now as far as archer I got my first one after going to NY with BT in my 3rd season. OH by the way thanks for that BT. I am still telling that story up here but now it is a huge deer. LOL Just kidding.

[tedicast]

If you had a 10 year option on your poll...that is the one I would have checked.

I started hunting late in life.My first season deer hunting was 1987, and I took my first deer, with a shotgun, in 1997, my 10th season. I was 30 years old. It was a little skipper, but I will never forget that deer. In the 10 years previous to that, I screwed up in every way possible. I missed countless deer, and blew more chances then I can even remember. I learned on the fly, as I had no one to teach me. I hunted hard hunted state land, and I learned from my mistakes. in 1996 I started bowhunting, and the extra time in the woods, instead of just my one week shotgun lottery season definitely helped me a lot.

I wish that there were all these hunting forums available back when I started, that we have now. It would have made the learning curve a lot less steep.

Looking back, I can't honestly say I would change a thing. My earlier trials and tribulations make me appreciate every deer I take, and evem moreso sometimes, the deer I let walk.

That piece of state land that I started on is still my favorite piece of property to hunt. It doesn't give me the best chance of taking a deer as I have better pieces of private land, but there is something sentimental about it. After 21 seasons of hunting it, I know it like the back of my hand. Sitting in one of my ground spots, or treestands, and waiting for the sun to rise, is like sitting on the couch in my living room to me.

[lockmaster]

I got my first deer at age 12, 51 years ago on the first day of my first hunt. A 60# button buck with a Marlin 30-30. I lived in Pennsylvania where we only had a one deer, 2 week season so that first deer ended my season.

My first buck with antlers was taken in my 3 rd season, a nice 8 point with a .303 British which ALSO ended my season.

My first deer with a bow was taken the first season I ever hunted with a bow at age 18 I think. That was a 4 point. Hard to believe that was 45 years ago!!! I was so excited I didn't care whether my season was over or not!!

Somewhere between all of those, and today, I have taken MANY deer but mostly learned to just appreciate nature and the great outdoors and now that is the most important thing to me.....just to enjoy the time "out there".

[BT]

lockmaster said:

My first deer with a bow was taken the first season I ever hunted with a bow at age 18 I think.

Hey!....I want to hear all about that year
You , the bow , ect.

[lockmaster]

Wow..a lot of my memory escapes me from back then. I know it was an OLD wood recurve, 45 lb. I think, but don't remember the name of it. Nice finish, with red trim, and I got more than one "purple egg" from it!!! I got three wooden arrows (with "chicken feathers" for vanes) from a friend of my Dad. (The guy made them) They were equipped with 2 blade broadheads and don't EVEN ask me what they were. As I remember, the guy had TIED them on somehow with rawhide stips that he wet and then let dry to tighten up. I learned to shoot with three fingers, 2 above and one below.

I didn't have any other heads for practice, so I used those with a cushion from a sofa as a target to practice...and got fairly decent accuracy or so I thought (in a 12 inch circle at about 40 feet) with it. I calculated that by "horseshoe pits" we had!! ;D Just before hunting season, my Dad actually sharpened them for me on a "whetstone". (He was REALLY good at sharpening things)

Anyway, I was on a ridge above my parents home mostly just "exploring" but I always carried my bow then...even hauled it in the back seat of my car, and even "skipped" school a few times to hunt deer when I spotted them in the fields as I was on my way to school!!! ;D Many times I parked and stalked deer I had seen but in those days in that area, houses were far a few between and the deer were VERY wary of humans compared to now.

I ran across a well used trail, and backed off the trail about what I then referred to as about 40 feet or so I judged, (later I found it to be more like 60 feet) and climbed up a fallen leaning oak tree about 6-8 feet off the ground. I had been there less than 30 minutes when I saw a flock of turkeys which REALLY got my heart racing, then saw movement back through the brush, and saw the head of a deer.

I was shaking so bad I could hardly breathe, but managed to get the bow up and draw just as the buck was passing by a big pine tree to my right front on the trail. He STOPPED right in front of me BROADSIDE. I sighted down the "stick" and put the tip on the front shoulder. I let the arrow fly and it hit about a foot under where I thought I was aiming and COMPLETELY missed him.

The buck just jumped, hopped about 5 feet and stood looking away from me (like it wondered "what was that"...which MUST have been the noise of the arrow disappearing under the leaves on the OPPOSITE side of him) but AMAZINGLY still stood broadside. I quietly pulled another arrow from my leather back quiver and nocked it. I put the head on the deers front shoulder but held a little higher and let go. This time, I hit him in the base of his neck and he dropped like a lead balloon. I was really shaking then as my "rubber knees" carried me from the tree.

I was so excited, I was REALLY having a hard time, but managed to field dress my 4th deer. (My Dad made me do three before that for "training") I slung my bow around my neck, grabbed the deer and don't think I even stopped ONCE until I got back home about 1/4 to 1/3 mile away...but almost all down hill. Only my Mom was home and she panicked when I walked in because by the look on my face, she thought something BAD had happened. What a thrill...and I think I stayed excited over that a lot for about 5 more years...and still to this day have that picture in my mind.

On that day, I found there was a HUGE difference in trying to "stick" a deer and shooting at an old sofa seat. One thing it DID do was make me get a lot more serious about my practice. I wish I still had that old bow, but never thought of the importance of it back then. Still.....I have that marvelous memory that STILL makes me smile from time to time.

Then my NEXT experience with my bow was a season later when I stalked and sneaked up on, and MISSED a spike "piebald" at about 30 yards.............
Well....that is ANOTHER "sad"story about what I THOUGHT was a PO'd buck!!!! ;D

[SPIKER]

Same as lock, I got my first deer the first day of my first hunt. I had been begging my dad to let me come deer hunting for years, even though I had small game hunted since I was like 7 or something (12 when I started carrying the .410). But camp was for the grownups..I think I could get my big game license at 16, so looking back, that was probably more the reason why.

I shot a huge doe with my .243 that I still have today. It was in one of those mountain areas that make the drag back quite a chore, especially for a little 16 year old. My dad and his friends got a kick out of me pulling that deer down the mountain, but I did it...I ran out of steam once I got on level ground, so I went back to the house, took my dad's buddies Monte Carlo, and drove it into the field.

I tied the deer to the bumper with my drag rope, and made my way down to the road..some dogs started chasing me down the road, so I sped up a bit...I had to explain why one side of the deer was flattened out...but I think they laughed more than anything so I didn't get in trouble....till the next day. The Game Warden ticketed me for improperly tagging a deer! I didn't know better and had just marked the dates on the tag rather than cutting them out...which these days you are allowed to do. 50 buck fine...pop paid it!..

[azslim]

Depends on what we are talking about. I took my first deer when I was 7 and my first elk when I was 9 hunting with guns. I did eat a few tags learning about desert deer with a bow and 2 javelina tags. With the 2005 pig tag I did have a chance but learned you can't anchor with a call in your mouth.

[BT]

spiker said:

I tied the deer to the bumper with my drag rope, and made my way down to the road..some dogs started chasing me down the road, so I sped up a bit...I had to explain why one side of the deer was flattened out...but I think they laughed more than anything so I didn't get in trouble....till the next day. The Game Warden ticketed me for improperly tagging a deer! I didn't know better and had just marked the dates on the tag rather than cutting them out...which these days you are allowed to do. 50 buck fine...pop paid it!..

;D ;D ;D ;D