Do you remember your first time?

[TheBenHoyle]

I started deer hunting when I was 40. Had a couple bad years of seeing very few deer and missing everything I shot at. Finally in 2018, I had a buck sneak in behind me and bed down within 20 yards. He was situated just right that there was a couple of lone twigs that criss-crossed right over his vitals.

I stood at attention for 45 minutes hoping he would stand up and clear the brush so O could shoot him, \and reliving every bad shot I had made in the prior season. Eventually he did me the favor of walking right up to my tree and giving me a 5 yard broadside shot.

He ran about 30 yards and fell over right at the field edge. He wasn't a big buck but he was my first and I have his Euro mount over my desk. Couldn't be happier.

On top of that feeling of accomplishment, this deer was sort of a proof of concept for me. I finally believed that I could get within arrow range of a deer and make a shot that would kill it. I'll be honest, up to that point I thought it was impossible.

I've killed a doe and another buck since then. I can't wait til next season to try to get the next one.

 

[marshman]

I was with my dad, that's what I cherish most of the memories. The 4x4 Blacktail buck I bagged that day is still 40 years later one of the largest Blacktail I have killed.
Funny how that works. Still miss hunting with my dad.

 

[Shangobango]

Wish I had a pic. Thanksgiving break 1985. I was 8 years old sitting in a box stand at the lease my family had in Mississippi at the time. The same place I killed my first couple of turkeys. Anyway, I am sitting there literally twiddling my thumbs look up and there are 5 or 6 deer eating grass in the road. Everything gets a little blurry from there. I think I had the little single shot .410 loaded with slugs out and on target and the shot made in the blink of an eye.

I stayed put as I had been instructed and a few minutes later my grandpa came walking up, asked me what I shot and where it was standing. I told him it was a buck and it was standing "over yonder". We ended up finding blood about 30 yards away from where I was sitting so we started looking. We found the spike piled up about 100 yards away.

I have been an unrepentant deer and turkey addict ever since.

 

[jt13]

I started out small game hunting at 10yrs old with my grandfather. At 12yrs old, I was forbade from hunting due to a falling out between my father and grandfather. I got my drivers license and a car at 17 and it was off to the races again. I started blundering my way through it with the advice of my grandfather who had unfortunately already reached an age where he couldn't participate much himself. I had no luck that season despite having some close calls with both deer and spring turkeys. At 18/19 yrs old I was in living in a dorm room in college and guns on campus was a no-no. I may have also had other things on my mind like women, beer, and collegiate sports. At 20, I moved off campus, borrowed a few guns from my grandfather, and started hunting again.

On a snowy day in rifle season on the closest state game lands outside of my college town, I harvested a 65 lb yearling doe while walking up a power line at first light. I missed all my classes that day trying to figure out where to take the thing to get butchered. I even had to borrow money from my roommates to pay the processor. Thinking back, most of it went into a massive batch of chili for a Superbowl party we hosted at our off-campus house.

Since then hunting has became an ever increasing part of my life. I hunted the next two years with friends and extended family. I even traveled to Montana with my grandfather and hunted mule deer. I graduated college and started a career working in the outdoors. I met my wife after the police academy and she is an avid outdoors woman. Now a decade later, all of our vacations involve hunting or fishing and my house is starting to look like a taxidermy studio. We leave tomorrow to go on our next adventure and make some more wonderful memories.

 

[Europe]

A couple of members ask me to post on this thread

It was in the fall of 1945. Japan had just surrendered and Germany had done so early that year. All the sons, grandsons, fathers, brothers, and husbands were coming home and everyone was very happy.

I was with my grandfather and grandmother. The shot was a short shot, possibly 50 yards, maybe less. I was using my grandfathers 30-30

Anyway, a Kaibab, using a 30-30, with my grandparents

 

[RevJim]

I "started" hunting deer in the Big Thicket of SE Texas at 11, didn't kill my first until I was 15! (Used hounds then, and its not easy to get a shot at running deer, ha!). Anyhow, I "worried to death" a small button buck at 50yds (first shot) with an old "jammomatic" Universal M1 .30 Carbine and 86gr Hollow Point I had traded a saddle for. Poor, very poor choice. I mowed lawns, hauled hay, flagged for Crop Dusters, whatever, saved my money and bought myself "real deer rifle", a Mod 94 Classic Carbine 30-30 (we all used 150gr Corlokts) when I was 16. They outlawed dogs the same year and we had to learn how to "hunt deer" instead of posting on "deer crossings", ha.

 

[leec270]

A couple of members ask me to post on this thread

It was in the fall of 1945. Japan had just surrendered and Germany had done so early that year. All the sons, grandsons, fathers, brothers, and husbands were coming home and everyone was very happy.

I was with my grandfather and grandmother. The shot was a short shot, possibly 50 yards, maybe less. I was using my grandfathers 30-30

Anyway, a Kaibab, using a 30-30, with my grandparents

Over the years as a guide I have seen many “first time” experiences, some friends some compete strangers.

friend or stranger, after hunting we share food, beer and stories.

can I ask the question @Europe the 2 members that asked you to post have you hunted and shared bread with them?

this is the usual routine at my place after hunting with friends and guests.

the cabin I had built as my hunting room and I found an old steel bath that makes an awesome fire pit.

 

[Ripnbst]

My first deer ever was a whitetail doe, November 2nd, 2019 at about 11:00AM. It's the only deer I've killed to date, hit it at about 70 yards with a Bergara B14 Hunter in 270WIN topped with a Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40. It was the second doe to come across a shooting lane I had. I've learned a lot since then and today I think I probably should have waited to see if there was a buck pursuing them. As I approached it once it was on the ground I could hear something rustling leaves off to my left and I will always wonder if it was a buck on their trail. It's alright though as I got my first ever deer and was ecstatic.