My first deer

[doug1980]

I found these pictures in an old shoe box and thought I would share. It was 1995 so I was 15. My Grandpa took me out with two of my uncles for my first ever deer hunting experience. The location was near Riceville IN in the Hoosier National Forest. My family had hunted that area for years and had several tree stands up. We got in the woods before sunrise and my Grandpa took me to his stand. He hunted that stand for several season, but never got a deer. It was cold, but I was so pumped up I hardly noticed. As the sun came up I started hearing gunshots all around. I thought that was pretty cool. My senses were going crazy. I kept hearing the leaves rustling and was certain it was a deer, but it ended up being two squirrels. It was now 8 am and out of nowhere I seen this deer about 30 yards away. I can still see it like it happened yesterday. It was eating something and it's tail was wagging. I raised my dad's single shot 20 gauge that he let me borrow up and took the safety off. I tried to aim for the front shoulder, but my legs were shaking so much it was difficult. I steadied the shotgun the best I could and fired. There was so much smoke I couldn't see if it went down or not. I sat there for a few minutes trying to gather my composure and decided to check it out. I was so excited I practically jumped out of my stand. I walked, more like ran, to the spot the deer was and there it lay. My shot placement was a bit off, severed it's spine, but it got the job done. Of course it was my job to drag it out of the woods back to the truck. It ended up being a small button buck weighing in at 95 pounds. This was a very memorable day in my life, one that I will never forget. The whole hunt took only 2 hours.

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[Camp10]

My first deer story would read very close to yours. My grandfather was never a hunter and that might be the closest difference. I dont remember the noise of the gun, the kick or any smoke but I remember the deer running about 20 yards and dropping.

I have no pictures of the early years though..we never had enough money to keep film in the camera and it was only used for important events and hunting was just for getting food.

Oddly, there is a picture of my little sister's first (and only) deer someplace. She wanted to prove to my brother, father and I that a girl could get it done too..she went out with the single shot 20, dropped herself into some bushes in a small clearing in the middle of some big pines and came out a few hours later with one less shell and a 180 lbs deer waiting for me to clean and drag. The picture I've seen is her massive deer hanging in the same tree as my little deer! LOL! Cant figure out why mom thought that was worth the film!

Thanks for sharing Doug.

[klickitat]

As a kid I remember just wanting to be a part of what the men in my family participated in. There is a transforming experience that nothing else could ever replace, then when a young man/woman enters that fraternal order with the taking of game to feed the family.

[kyratshooter]

Mine was a bit different. I was 25 before there were enough deer in my area to hunt. I sniped it from the crest of a ridge down into a hollow at about 250 yards using a 7x57 Mauser.

My son's first deer was a memory though. He used the same rifle, only his shot was one of those next to impossible things you only see once. 6 point in a low fog with only the neck and head clearly visible.

I was a proud Papa.

[FVR]

My first deer was a 6pt piney buck, shot him when I was 17. Shot him in the face with buckshot, he got up and I shot him again in the face.

I cried.

Got him out of the woods and gutted him, hung him, skinned him and ate him. First deer hide I ever tanned. I just last spring made the rack into a set of rattling antlers, got tired of seeing them hanging on the wall. I'm 47 now.

I've since turned all the racks from the deer I have taken into knapping tools or knife handles.


Doug, awsome pics.

[flandersander]

My first deer was the best deer I've ever shot. Scored 154 I believe. 30 yard shot. First shot hit him in the spine, second shot hit him in the lungs, third shot hit him in the neck, fourth shot went over his back and the fifth shot took a chip outta his main beam. I was so excited, I kept cycling the action and pulling the trigger, even after I was outta bullets. Needless to say he was down after 3 kill shots. HAHA.

[Rick]

Great pics, Doug and a memory you'll have of your grandfather for the rest of your life. Thanks for sharing.

[DOGMAN]

This is Boots in the Field from yesterday....

My 2 year old son, and his Grandfather harvested this nice Whitetail buck behind the house and kennel- it was down by the creek. Its rack is 19 inches wide and has 11 points. Little Man was there for the entire ordeal- stood next to Gramps as he pulled the trigger, watched the field dressing process, and helped drag it up. He was excited about it the whole time, and is still talking about it...

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[doug1980]

This is Boots in the Field from yesterday....

My 2 year old son, and his Grandfather harvested this nice Whitetail buck behind the house and kennel- it was down by the creek. Its rack is 19 inches wide and has 11 points. Little Man was there for the entire ordeal- stood next to Gramps as he pulled the trigger, watched the field dressing process, and helped drag it up. He was excited about it the whole time, and is still talking about it...

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Man that is a nice buck. Sadly I have never gotten a buck, hope to one day though. I hope my sons get that involved too.

[DOGMAN]

I'm sure you'll get one...there out there! That was a nice first deer in your original post! Getting the opportunity to hunt with your Grandfather though is better than any trophy

[JC87]

I scouted and guided a hunt for my best friend's son who's only 12. He shot a four point who was grazing along with a doe, and helped me field dress him. Great experience for the kid.

[crashdive123]

Hey there JC87 - how about scouting your way on over to the Introduction section and tell us a bit about yourself. Thanks.

[hunter63]

I guess I missed this thread back when.
My first legal deer wasn't till I was in my 20's.
I didn't/couldn't hunt with my father as he was a forest ranger and was a deputy warden during hunting season.

We had plenty of venison from confiscated deer, so we didn't hunt deer, much.
There was the little problem of always working at something as well.

Then I moved to the big city to make my fortune, actually followed my city girl girlfriend back to the big city at the end of summer.

She was my wife to be, her folks hunted, so I was included in the hunting party.

This is when I got into it and using my prior knowledge, I was good a finding spots from my central Wisconsin boyhood stomping grounds.

After a few years, and I still remember my FIL, a WWII paraplegic vet, asking my on opening morning,"Well where are we going to hunt today?" Was like passing the torch.

Hunted with my son at an early age, he did well in the short time I had with him, and DD hunts with the SIL here in Louisiana, to this day.

I began taking my nephew with me/us at age 13, and now has grown up.
Still hunts with me, but now has his own group of buddies that he sometime hunts with.

Having the younger guys have success means more to me than actually getting a deer myself these days, I guess I just getting old, LOL.

When taking hunter saftey classes with DN, (I needed the certifict for some out west states anyway), there was a lots of single parent kids in the classes, that you know didn't have anyone to hunt with or be a role model.
A sad thing.............Maybe a new projcet?

I don't remember taking a lot of pictures, back then, as film and development was expensive, didn't know how they came out till you paid for them.
Didn't seem important at the time.

I really liking the digital cameras these days, you can shoot and shoot, just deleting the bad pic's, then print what you want.

[hoosierarcher]

My first deer was 37 years ago and I remember it vividly. I was sitting on one trunk of a twin trunked maple that had fallen over in a Summer storm in Norther Michigan. I used the other trunk to cover me in front and had put some other branches up for additional cover. My makeshift blind proved to be 50 yards too far from the main deer trail as I discovered the first morning I Hunted out of it. I saw at least 50 deer go by that far away to my right. I was stuck there for now so I just watched the show and felt excited as a 12 year old boy can in the woods. Suddenly I heard a sound to my left and turned slowly to see a big doe looking right at me from just 10 feet away. I swung my Wing Red Wing Hunter recurve bow up and drew in one fluid motion. I was doing it on autopilot. I came to full draw and loosed the arrow and watched as the fletching stopped just in on the spot I had picked where her throat and chest came together. She dropped dead in under 2 seconds. My arrow had actually entered higher than I had though and had severed her spine as well as apparently hitting main arteries or veins or both. I shook for 15 minutes as the adrenalin bled off. Then I dressed her out like I had been taught and put my tag on her ear. Then I drug her up to the logging round where I had been dropped off at and waited for my father to come pick me. I have rarely seen that big of a grin on my fathers face. He took his index finger and got some blood from the doe and made a line down my forehead to the tip of my nose and one diagonal line on each cheek, then had me put a smudge of blood on my bow's riser. He said the blood on my face was to show the others in camp right off that the deer was mine and my first. He asked me how I felt and I said, "Proud and sad, proud that I had done something cool and sad because the doe was dead." He told me,"Boys have been feeling that way for centuries after their first kill. You're in good company and that is just exactly how you're supposed to feel. Good job, Butch! Let's get her back to camp and hung up to cool." Oh I don't know if I ever told you guys; but my boyhood nickname was "Butch."