Your first deer pics and stories

[RollTide88]

Interested in hearing some of your stories about your first ever deer. Hopefully I'll be able to contribute this fall as well. Pics if you've got them, and details about the hunt in general.

 

[infoman jr.]

September 24, 1994 Phipps Bend Refuge

I was hunting with my Dad and using his double trigger muzzleloader shooting a patch and round ball. This deer came in to probably 30 yards and I shot it in the spine. Game over. It was all down hill from there...

 

[Hunter 257W]

I honestly do not remember which deer was my 1st. Having no adult to take me when I started at about 15 or 16, my 1st deer hunts were chaotic and haphazard at best. I've tried and tried but I do not recall which deer was #1.

 

[Mike Belt]

Somewhere around 1973 on the bluff above Walls Ms......My cousin and mentor had scouted an area. This was my first trip doing so and I found what I thought at the time to be a likely spot off the side of a steep timbered ridge leading into the cove of a bean field. I didn't own a stand at the time so my plan was to climb a tree just below the crest of the ridge. We got there just before sunrise and I shimmied up while my cousin waited watching me. I don't think there was a limb on that entire tree that wasn't covered in knots. I took a seat on a couple of them as my cousin disappeared over the ridge top. It wasn't 5 minutes and I heard him coming right back in my direction but was soon to find out it wasn't him. Instead it was about a 90" 8 pointer and he dropped over the side right into my lap. He had to have watched as my cousin walked right by him and then came tipping out the back door. The rest is history. I was a deer hunter. I was a buck killer.

 

[THEdonkey0515]

My first was on the Juvenile hunt when I was about 10 years old, weapon was a Marlin 30-30 my dad had bought for me as a birthday gift. Still have gun.

Setting on the ground with my dad, A coyote had walked in Behind us,But I was to slow, and to inexperienced to get turned around, and get the gun on him to get a good shot, he walked off I never shot :(

An hour or so later I seen a doe making its way toward us. I poked my dad, cause he had not noticed it yet looking the other way. Then I raised my gun.

Well I had practiced shooting and finding targets in like a
Field/gun range, I had practiced loading/unloading, God knows I practiced gun safety with dad many many times, And I had already took the hunters safety course also.

The one thing I had never practiced was finding a Brown deer in the Brown woods through a scope while my 10 year ole, 5 foot nothing body,was setting on the ground with every single thing taller then me, in my line of sight, And not being able to see over/Around anything Hardly.

I could not find this deer in the scope to save my life, Then the panic set in I just knew it was about to late and she was gonna get away. I took my eye off the scope and looked up, She was looking right at us 40 yards out. She had spotted us trying to figure out want we was.

I can remember my dad whispering outta the side of his mouth "you better hurry" knowing she was about to turn an run.

I pulled the gun back up and scanned, and looked for what felt like forever. And I finally found her. it took me about a half a second to pull the trigger when I did because I was so scared she was gonna take off.

She dropped in her tracks done deal. I can remember every moment like it was yesterday. I can even remember the conversation we had driving out, were we went after the kill, And so on. Amazing.

 

[WORM82]

September 24, 1994 Phipps Bend Refuge

I was hunting with my Dad and using his double trigger muzzleloader shooting a patch and round ball. This deer came in to probably 30 yards and I shot it in the spine. Game over. It was all down hill from there...

Up until a few years ago that place was full of deer, I used to ride down there after work and could usually see over 100 deer. There was an almost all white 8pt there for a few years. I think they leased some of the land along the river to farmers and they have been hunting there.

 

[backwoods7]

when i was about 10 or 11 on my family farm in Ky. opening day of rifle season was kind of windy that morning, so come evening hunt the wind had died down. and we were walking back out to hunt and saw a couple of deer 200 or so yards away dad shot and missed, the deer took off and we ran to cut em off. As they came around the hill they saw us and skidded to a stop just stareing at us. I took a 100yard off hand shot with dads savage 30-06 dropping a young doe in her tracks

 

[dgolden]

I did not come from a family of hunters. My brother and I decided we wanted to give it a try when I was about 10 and he was 15. My dad was learning how to hunt with us. I remember we were on the juvenile hunt on a friends land. We were sitting on the ground behind a bush when I saw 2 doe walking towards us. My dad was not paying attention and decided to turn his pager on to see what time it was. The deer heard the phone turn on and took off. Then I hear dad say "Look! There's 2 deer!" I said "I know I was about the shoot one!" One year later, we are sitting in a tree stand together. I see a button buck walking towards us and I tell him "Be still and shut up!" 3 shots later I have my first deer on the ground! I will definitely remember that day for the rest of my life! It is amazing how far along we have came as hunters. The only photos of my first deer were polaroids so I cannot upload them.

 

[7mminatree]

1971, got permission to hunt a piece of property off of hwy 107 next to the Nolichucky river. Had only been on the property once, so I wasn't familiar with the lay of the land. Right before dark I killed a 6 pointer. While I was dressing out the deer a pea soup fog rolled in and it got DARK! My "trusty" everready flashlight died and I was SOL lost. Finally go to my truck around 10:30 PM. What a teachable event. lol

 

[WORM82]

1997 on buffalo mountain in the Cherokee national forest. Big doe on the juvi hunt.

 

[Daniel n]

I was 13 and on a juvenile hunt with my dad. I had missed on me Saturday morning and Saturday evening. Sunday evening we were sitting in a friends pasture and 6 deer walk out at about 100 yards. I emptied my 30-30 and never hit one. After looking for signs of a hit and being unsuccessful a yearling walk out about 30 yards. Dropped her. My dad out her in the back of the truck one handed. My dad has the only pic and won't give it to me.


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[catman529]

Nov 19 2011 Maury co TN

First solo deer hunt, happened to be rifle opener... had been deer hunting with a friend twice during the previous season, both of us were clueless

I had gotten a bit of advice on a good funnel from a friend, and I scouted it 2 days before rifle opener, saw a couple deer then, and I went and hunted it on opening day with a borrowed 30-30 Marlin 336.

About 8:15am or so, I heard a slight noise behind me and looked to see a little buck look at me no more than 5 yards away. He put his head back down to follow that doe he smelled and walked right by me, stopping at 8 yards for a heart shot. I heard him crash.... also I got this video of the recovery:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R010GBAbIwU

 

[muddyboots]

1980. Lone my family hunted. My mom asked her hairdresser if her husband would take me. He said yea have him buy me a box of shells and a tank of gas. I did. He took me and walked out to a big acorn flat. Wasn't long 2 big doe and 2 fawn came up to about 25 yards. I aimed at biggest doe and another deer appeared to the left. I turned and looked at that deer and fired at same time. Miss. They all scattered but one little button. Thankful for an automatic and I beared down on him and waxed him. I was elated. We walked to it and good see his man parts and I got real fired up. A buck! Lol v

 

[redhunterZ71]

I'm thinking the year was 1987 and have loved it ever since. It was me and my dad and we wasn't prepared to get one at all. He had to gut it with a tiny little pocket knife that I still have and going to use to gut my sons first when he gets one. We also drug it out with his belt. Lol

 

[rem270]

It was either 1996 or 1997 on a ky juvi hunt. A lady's husband that we went to church with invited us to his brother in law's farm. There were 3 of us juvi's that morning and 2 of us killed a doe. Me and dad were in a small wooden stand about 10' high. It was uncomfortable and we made a lot of movement. But luckily had a small doe come out anyways i put a gut shot on her. I was happy as can be.

I now on that farm and i don't know what i'd do without it.

 

[TNRifleman]

First deer was a doe and I was 16 and hunting with my dad on Gamelands 63 in PA. Had seen a spike the year before but did not get a shot because he was behind a tree. He ran off when two other hunters came down a trail. Could've taken a head shot but was not confident enough to do it. Swore that wouldn't happen again so I practiced all year with my Remington 760. Doe season came in PA the next year and I am sitting on a ridge about 200 yards from my dad. I see a group of 5 does at about 130 yards and they hang up. I had built me a good rest so I put the cross hair on a doe that had moved closer. Vitals behind a tree and all I could see was a bald head. Put the crosshairs just below her ear and pulled the trigger. Bang flop. Other 4 deer take off right towards my dad and he took out another one. Got to gut our deer together and then worked hard getting them out of the woods together.

 

[Poleaxe]

December 1990 Robertson County 10yrs old.

My old man had just shot one running through the field. He sat me on a stump while he went back to get the truck to load it up and go home. He accidentally jumped a whole herd by the truck and the all came to me. When the first ran by me I turned around and the field was full of running deer. I shot and they all stopped but missed shot again missed and picked out a closer one and drilled it in the neck.

 

[Poleaxe]

I'm thinking the year was 1987 and have loved it ever since. It was me and my dad and we wasn't prepared to get one at all. He had to gut it with a tiny little pocket knife that I still have and going to use to gut my sons first when he gets one. We also drug it out with his belt. Lol

That's hilarious.

 

[Gravey]

It was 1989 and I was 16. My granddad and I were late walking across a pipeline when we looked down in the bottom and saw two deer. I was using a British 303 with iron sites and settled on the big doe. Squeezed the trigger and she took off unfazed. Pap said shoot the other one but it was facing away and when I looked through the site it was a brown dot. He said shoot it so I did and it dropped. It was a little button buck and it hit right behind the ear and blew the top of its head off. It wasn't any bigger than a German shepherd but I was pumped.

 

[DCOOK223]

Killed my first deer on October 6th 2006. 19 years old. It was a basket rack 6 pointer. Didn't find it until thenext morning and coyotes had torn it up beyond saving. I made a perfect shot with my bow but was using Eastman broadheads and didn't get a pass-thru, so we found very little blood and ulimately lost the trail after about 60 yards. I learned a lot about tracking deer and using good broadheads that day. I had been kind of deer hunting since I was about 13 and once I broke that ice I've been addicted. I'll try to find that picture

 

[buckmaster31]

September 24, 1994 Phipps Bend Refuge

I was hunting with my Dad and using his double trigger muzzleloader shooting a patch and round ball. This deer came in to probably 30 yards and I shot it in the spine. Game over. It was all down hill from there...

Up until a few years ago that place was full of deer, I used to ride down there after work and could usually see over 100 deer. There was an almost all white 8pt there for a few years. I think they leased some of the land along the river to farmers and they have been hunting there.

what happened was they let a hunting club come in there and hunt and they wiped it out shooting tons of deer

 

[TN Whitetail Freak]

I was 16 and had just been introduced to bow hunting by my older brother....he took me out and walked me to the loc on he had hung previously. I climbed up and settled in nervously. I was nervous of heights. I was to fearful to stand up in the local on for fear I'd fall out. Around 8 I seen my first ever deer walk up the draw heading to the pine thicket for the day. It was my first deer ever observed and I had to figure out how to shoot this bow sitting down....I aimed when it got to 15 yd and heart punched it....my brother was 50 yd away and the deer ran toward him. He witnessed the buck run smack into a tree and fall over dead. It was a great feeling and been hunting ever since.

 

[TboneD]

The very first morning deer hunting involved a huge nontypical with one drop tine in southern IL while in college, roughly 25 yrs ago. That morning, after the wooden stand between three trees started creaking in the wind, I got down and decided to still hunt the other side of the farm where my buddy and I had recently seen a really nice buck. I crested a hill and there he was.

Instant buck fever compounded by the fact that somehow my shotgun's sling was now wrapped around the barrel and I couldn't even see my sights. I started shooting and pumping away, and despite hitting him I never could find him. No buck equal that one has dared show himself to me since.

That afternoon I made a good shot on a doe bigger than most bucks I've shot here in TN. My buddy helped me butcher her and I'll never forget how good the "slim jims" were from the place I took the scraps for sausage.


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[Bone Collector]

1993 i was 17 and hunting in Wilson co. we had seen a scrub 6 pt squirrel hunting earlier that year and stayed out of there so we could come back and hunt it. we got there late and i set up under a big oak on the ground. Didn't have much hope as we showed up late, but about 30 minutes in I looked up the hill and here he came. I shot him in the neck with a 30-06 and he dropped right there. I have been hooked ever since.

I used to have a picture, but I don't know where it is and it was a printed picture so i'd have to take a picture of it to get it on here.

 

[7wsm]

FIRST WAS A BIG OLE DOE IN A CORN FIELD SPINE SHOT WITH A 30/30 BEEN HUNTING EVER SINCE I WILL NEVER FORGET THAT DAY OR THE NIGHT BEFORE WAITING ON THE HUNT WITH MY UNCLE WHO INTRODUCED ME TO DEER AND RABBIT HUNTING AT A EARLY AGE AND REALLY THANK HIM FOR THAT LOT OF GOOD MEMORY'S BACK IN THE DAY

 

[Crappie Luck]

It was around 1991. A buddy and myself had just gotten into bow hunting. We thought that once you bought the bow and some arrows, it would be a very cheap past time. So now you know understand how ignorant we were.

We had permission to hunt the front yard of this guy he worked with. They had a lot of deer eating his wife's flowers and their garden. It was a mowed lawn with plenty of nice oaks. But we couldn't get them to cross the fence because we were trying to hid behind the tree trunks. That's when I bought my first climber. Terribly uncomfortable POS with an expanded metal seat and no cushion. He bought a used Baker from a friend he worked with. We didn't know at the time that a friend would never sell you a Baker.

After a few unsuccessful trips, we decided that just over the fence -maybe 20 yard or so into the land we did NOT have permission to hunt was MUCH better than this guys front yard. We chose our trees and climbed up. After about 2 hrs I heard someone coming. I just KNEW we were busted and they were coming to beat our butts and run us oft. On the steep ridge in front of us there was a huge deer trail leading down to a creek and then up the short ridge on our side and it ran 15 yards right in front of my tree. The rustling of leaves got closer and closer. Just as I was about to drop my bow and get down to run across the property line a doe came busting down that trail with an 8 point "Monster" on her tail. She scurried down the ridge and past my stand. The buck came next, nose to the ground and grunting every step. Just as he got in front of my stand, I yelled "STOP DAMMIT!!!". That's all I could think to do. The Buck stopped in his tracks, I was already pulled back but I was shaking so bad. Partly from Buck fever, partly because 5 seconds ago, I thought I was going to be charged with trespassing.

I settled my pin and let it fly. I watched that arrow fly in slow motion as it entered the gut just behind the ribs on a deer quartering to me and the deer hunched up and ran off.

We didn't know better than to track the deer so we pushed that deer across three properties and onto a wildlife preserve. The game wardens came and after an intense interrogation and back trailing to prove we did not shoot the deer in the preserve, they helped find it. It was still alive 8 hrs later so they let me finish it off with a 10 yard follow up shot and helped me drag it out.

There was nothing I did right on that first kill. NOTHING. But I wouldn't trade that day for anything.

 

[tn droptine]

Grew up hunting in Indiana which at the time was a slug only state. Deal was, once you could hit a paper plate stuck to a tree across my aunt's backyard three times in a row you could go hunting. My shoulder still remembers shooting 3in magnum slugs out of a cheap New England Firearms single shot 12GA. The first season I don't remember how many times I threw up hail mary shots at running does about halfway across a 300 acre cornfield, lol.

My second season, which was in 1994, my dad and I had hunted that morning without seeing anything, and on the way home he decided to stop at another property down the road to pick up a decoy he had left in the field. He handed me his J.C. Higgins semi-auto and told me to walk the fenceline while he was getting the decoy. Crested a small hill, and as I looked over the rise I saw 4 does feeding at the edge of the fence. Busted the biggest and watched her go down - went back and got dad and he handed me a knife and said "you shot it, you gut it". While I was elbows deep trying to gut her, he reached in and got a bunch of blood and shoved it in my mouth. Told me that it was some old Indian belief to show respect for the animal.

I decided to take a different approach when my wife got her first, and just smeared it on her cheeks - don't think she would have been as receptive if I made her taste the blood. I still taste the blood of each deer that I take to this day.

 

[lightsareout]

first deer i was 14 hunting in the UP of michigan. shot an average 8pt at 250 yards with a rem 7400 in 30-06; deer ran 60 yards and how hangs on my wall

 

[backyardtndeer]

Got a late start, was 25. Dad died when I was a baby and never had anyone take me hunting, so my first deer involved a bit of luck.

Was November 26th 1994 cool and misty/foggy morning. At the time had moved off the property and lived closer to work, my mother and step father were living on the farm, had to take the 30 minute trip. Stopped on the way for gas at like 4:30 in the morning and gas spilled out on me. Got to the farm and poured some tinks dominant buck urine on my boots and walked back to the back field and sat in the tall grass on a ridge. As it got light I noticed that their black lab had followed me out and he was laying down pretty close to me. Told the dog to go back to the house and he seemed to go and figured it was a blown morning but went on and walked my way along the woods to a wooden perch I had built in a maple tree over a 5 strand fence. Climbed some limbs and got up in that wooden stand and sat for probably 15 minutes before the dog found his way back and he laid down out in front of me. I sat for another 30 minutes or so and not sure why but I turned and looked and there he was behind me. I remember having to get turned around in the tree to make a shot. Raised the rifle and put the sights behind the shoulder, deer was no more than 40 yards behind me. Don't remember taking the safety off or even squeezing the trigger, but remember well that the deer went about 2 steps and dropped. Dog took off when I shot. I don't remember getting down, but do remember running all the way back to the house and telling my wife and step dad. They asked how many points and I did not even know, said 4 or maybe 5.

Called the wifes dad, he was an avid hunter and he asked how big, said I don't know, had 4 or 5 points. Well he did have 4 and 5, was a pretty nice 9 point, still my best buck to date.

Tried to find a pic on photobucket, but having issues with their site.

Got my truck stuck trying to get to the deer and had to get the tractor to pull it out.