Your First Deer

[Ghost]

The deer seasons are over for another year.

The Harvest Report has been very slow for obvious reasons and I thought it would be fun for everyone to post a picture of your very first deer.

This deer started my passion for whitetails and was taken December 4th 1979.

I haven't been the same since!

Come on guys, lets see them!

First with a bow...October 31st 1981.

 

[Shredder]

My first deer was a doe with archery equiptment but I don't have any pics of it that I can find....this is the first bow buck that got me rattled about hunting....back in 1986 after 3 seasons of hunting

 

[Kat]

My first deer was in 1999. I remember it like it was yesterday.

 

[Limb Chicken]

I was always a waterfowl hunter. Loved deer but never really gave much thought to hunting them. In February 1995 my father not being a bowhunter but knowing I was interested bought me my first bow for my birthday. After missing to this day the biggest deer I have seen in the wild the year before I took this buck in 1998 and have never looked back. As you can see by the look on my face I didn't know what to do. I will never forget the details of this hunt and how I was almost too tired to make it to my stand because I had been duck hunting the previous day. I am glad I sucked it up.

 

[OneCam]

On a cool, crisp November morning back in 1988 I was fortunate enough to make the shot with my sightless Darton bow as this buck walked by at 15 yards. Probably my most memorable hunt as I shot what I considered a trophy of a lifetime my first year bowhunting. I've been hooked every since.

 

[BJohnson]

First bowkill was in 1995. I did not take a field photo since my major concern that day was getting it out of the public hunting area on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Could not find the park ranger that day and the buck was dead about 3/4 mile off the road. Finally got a hold of a CO from an adjacent county who gave me permission to drive across some fields to get closer to the buck for recovery. I had killed some small 1-1/2 old bucks (3) prior to this during shotgun but this one is what got the bowhunting passion started for me. I only wish I could have seen this 2-1/2 the next year or as a 4 yr. old. Really had some awesome potential but I did not understand that back in '95.

Brent

I finally found the first buck I shot with the 12 gauge in 1993.

 

[Rackaddict]

On the morning of October 16th, 1995, I harvested my 1st deer with a bow. It was my third season bowhunting and to date I had only shot one arrow at a young doe the previous season only to result in a VERY clean miss. I had taken two other deer before with a rifle, one eight 8 point in 1991 and one 6 point in 1992, both of which I was very greatful to have harvested. Although they may have been larger bucks, they didn't compare to the thrill that this little spike gave me when I finally walked up on him early that Monday morning.

I had a new plan that morning and entered the woods from a different direction because I thought I was bumping deer out as I went in. I got in my stand just before daylight and after it was light enough to see I blew a couple of soft grunts. It was only moments later and he came in from the Southeast of my stand, right down the path I would have normally walked in on. My heart was pounding so dang hard I couldn't swallow. I let him pass my stand, and as he did I drew back and made a good quartering away shot on him at 18 yards. He ran out of sight and dropped about 60-70 yards from my stand.

That day I was the King of the World. Nothing could have brought me down. I showed that tiny little rack to everyone I knew with more pride than any deer I have taken since, or probably ever will.

 

[MadisonB&C]

Shot this one on the second day of the 200o youth season. Dad and I decided to combine a little mid-day scouting with some still hunting. We had made a little loop through a willow thicket, and for all practical purposes we were finished when dad glanced to the left and froze. He had that bug-eyed look to him, so when he twitched his hand to motion me forward I was pretty well prepared for a shot. There was a deer standing broadside 50 or 60 yards away, and when he bobbed his head I glimpsed antlers hidden in the branches. Dad whispered, "Are you gonna shoot this one?" I didn't bother to answer, but after I pulled the trigger and the deer bounded out of the thicket I remember dad sceaming "It's a buck! It's a buck!" over and over. Apparently he had thought I was shooting a big doe, and to this day insists that a willow branch obstructed his view. Yeah, whatever.

He ended up running less than 100 yards, but the tall grass made for a memorable tracking job.

 

[horkeymike]

Here's me and my dad with my first kill, notice how one of the slugs found his ear

 

[tejay]

ahhh the first deer ever wiht a bow....i dhot him at 825 am .. and i was soposed to be out of my stand at 830 so i was getting ready to take my arrow off my rest and dad turky called to letme know whe was coming and my dad rattled him in to 10 yards and i drilled him in the boiler room.......

 

[vman]

My first deer was back in november 1987. I was 12 and this was the first age I could go hunting. I was hunting my home state of Minnesota.

A couple years later I managed to tagout the last day of september with my first bow deer.

Neither deer was big by any means but I still remember them like it was yesterday.

 

[ironwood]

The two deer on the right are something like my 6th and 7th deer, but this is the first harvest photo I ever had taken. We've come a long way but Zach still loves that Old Mil sweat shirt. The boys are 5 and 7. The deer on the left was taken by my brother Joe and had a 22 inch inside spread.

 

[alaskanwhtail]

I got this ten pointer the first hour I was legel to hunt with a firearm. I had hunted 2 years prior with the bow and my father always told me not to shoot a buck unless it has a full curl to it, and passed numerous 1 1/2 year olds. I was 16 when I got this buck, it scores 121

My brother is to the left in the picture and to the right is my father..

 

[Two Beards]

I was the last in my family to be bitten by the deer hunting bug. I had always been a avid quail hunter and spent my time each fall chasing them with our labs.

Eleven years ago things changed. My good friend Tim (Must_Hunt) talked me into buying a used wheel bow for $50 and a 1/2 dz arrows. The only piece of camo I owned was a Wall's hooded sweatshirt.

Three weeks after shooting the first arrow in my life, I shot this buck at 11 yards. Needless to say....my life took a different direction from that moment on.

 

[kansasbowhunter]

Like Limb Chicken I have been an avid waterfowler for a VERY long time.... I used to think deer hunters were nuts to shoot such a big beautiful animal. I remember telling friends on many different occaisions "I could never kill a large animal like a deer". To make it short and sweet, I was a duck hunter and only a duck hunter...

As I grew up my friends who were deer hunters did their best to try to convert me. They offered to pay for the tag, take me to their stands and let me use their equipment and even field dress the deer (IF I shot one)...

Finally, in 1995 I gave in and bought a deer tag. My neighor had a small tract of land that had a lot of deer and he offered to let me hunt it. The first year I rifle hunted and shot this 140" 9 pointer. I will never forget the hunt, it was close to the end of shooting light, I was ground hunting and like a ghost he appeared about 20 feet away from me never even knowing that I was there.... He was so close that when I got him in the scope all I could see was brown hair.... I had to raise the scope up to catch daylight and then brought it down to the vitals... When I shot him it litterally knocked him off of his feet. That is when I lost it... I was all by myself and was shaking out of control... It was a hunt that I will never forget!!!.

The next year I bought a bow and started bow hunting. I shot my first bow buck that year (1996). I actually rattled him in on a cold morning in early november....

I still do a little bit of waterfowling, but needless to say, I am now completely hooked on Whitetail deer!!!!

 

[muddy]

I was fortunate enough to start VERY young in the woods. 1987 is when it became very dangerous for rabbits, squirrels, and deer. The following photos are my "first bloods" on each of them. I was allowed to finally pack heat when I turned 9 years old. Not sure who was happier, myself or my pops. Good post Ghost, brought back the memories.

 

[blake]

Here is my first bow harvest. I believe it was 1974? Small six point, taken with a Bear Recurve bow, draw weight 48#. I was very proud of this deer then, and still am to this day.

I am sorry for the poor quality of this photo.

 

[DOR]

Great Thread! Old photos can be some of the coolest to look at. Really brings back the memories. The ist picture is during the 1990 MN gun season. It shows myself (far left), my brother and my dad's harvests. The 2nd pic is on Oct 5 1991 and is my first bow harvest. Seems like forever ago, but once you dig up the pics it all comes back. Both these deer were taken on soft pushes.

 

[docH]

This is a great thread, Ghost! It took me awhile to dig out my picture, but it really brought back great memories. It was taken during Nebraska's '89 rifle season.

 

[Rudd]

Awesome Post Ghost......TTT