How Many Years, And How Old Were You?

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Spysar
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How Many Years, And How Old Were You?

Unread postby Spysar » Fri Mar 07, 2014 10:50 am

How old were you when you started deer hunting? How many years did it take you to get a deer after you first started deer hunting? Include your first gun deer and first bow deer. AND how old were you when you got your first big buck? And how many years had you been hunting when you got your first big buck?


For me I started bow hunting deer at age 14. I didn't get a deer for a while...years. I think I was 18 or 19 when I got my first deer with a bow. It was a button buck. I got a small buck , it was a 3 pointer, the first year I tried rifle hunting. It was so much easier with a rifle!

And I got a few decent for my area bucks, 8 and 9 pointers, but no really what I would call a big one. One day I started to travel to where big ones lived, and I didn't kill one until I was about 30. On a guided hunt to Saskatchewan. Shortly after that I started the DIY stuff....so, it all took a while.


A buck will see you three times, and hear you twice, but he's only gonna smell you once.
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Spysar
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Re: How Many Years, And How Old Were You?

Unread postby Spysar » Fri Mar 07, 2014 10:55 am

My first buck hanging. Only pic I took, lol.

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And other one shortly after.


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Re: How Many Years, And How Old Were You?

Unread postby Ghost Hunter » Fri Mar 07, 2014 11:22 am

I took my first deer an buck in 1979 it was 8 point. He was around 175lbs an about 14 inches wide. I got him with a 20 gauge shotgun. My first bow deer were in 1986 with two does with the first season.
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Re: How Many Years, And How Old Were You?

Unread postby Crazinamatese » Fri Mar 07, 2014 11:54 am

I started deer hunting at age 12 in 1994. I didn't kill anything that gun season. The year after I got my first buck (9 point) gun opener that year, and a doe when I was 13. I began bowhunting in 2007 when I was 25. I didn't get my first bow kill until 2010 which was a young doe, I was 28. I haven't shot any monster bucks yet. I do see them once in awhile.

My first buck in 1995.
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Re: How Many Years, And How Old Were You?

Unread postby Bowhunter4life » Fri Mar 07, 2014 12:07 pm

I started hunting at a young age. I killed a deer my first year out and it was a small doe. I always had a problem with letting a deer walk when I was younger but I wanted to kill a buck so bad I couldn't stand it. I believe it took me 6 years of hunting before I actually killed a smaller 8 point. dad would always tell me to let the does walk but I just couldn't do it. this was all with a rifle. When I was about 20 I was rifle hunting and had one of the biggest bucks that I have ever seen still to this date come up on me. He came in behind me and I got so nervous I made my move too quick and had to take a rushed shot. Hit him pretty far back so I searched and searched for this deer but never found him. That hunt really changed me and I started to study bucks more and read everything I could get my hands on to learn about them. I started bow hunting hard that following year and killed a buck my first year out but he wasn't a big deer... maybe a 100 inch deer. Set my standards higher the following year and was able to killed my first mature buck.
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Re: How Many Years, And How Old Were You?

Unread postby oldrank » Fri Mar 07, 2014 12:15 pm

I started hunting at 12 n killed my first deer at 16 with bow... i killed my first gun deer at 19

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Re: How Many Years, And How Old Were You?

Unread postby JoeRE » Fri Mar 07, 2014 12:40 pm

First deer - a nubber at about 40 yards taken with my trusty 20 gauge smoothbore & bead sight on a youth season hunt. That was the first year I went deer hunting, taken by my older brother. I was 12 years old.

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First bow buck - a 2 year old I shot my first year bow hunting. I was 15 years old. It was pretty cool because I packed in a home-aid hang-on stand with me on the hunt, set it up in a spot I picked out myself, and killed the deer...but it really wasa lot of luck. Another bow hunter drove his quad toward his stand across a nearby CRP field and pushed this buck right to me. I held it together enough to make the 30 yard shot. I killed a big momma doe the year before that with my bow when I was 14, on the first hunt I ever went out with a bow in hand.

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I think one of the worst things that happen to a young hunter is too much success too fast. I killed that doe and then the buck with a bow and thought I had some god-given deer killing super power, its easy to mistake luck for skill when you are a kid (although there is something to be said for instinctively picking the right "spot" that results from not being trained in the bad habits of "typical" hunters yet). The next few years were really ugly bowhunting-wise and put me back in my place.
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Re: How Many Years, And How Old Were You?

Unread postby Kraftd » Fri Mar 07, 2014 12:49 pm

Started deer hunting in WI, gun and bow, at 12, almost 13 (December birthday). Got my first deer my first rifle season, button buck, 1992 if my math is right. First buck was a busted up 8 the following year, I'd guess at 2.5, but could have been a 1.5.

I shot instinctive with a compound until about 5 years ago, practiced plenty, and could shoot great without deer in front of me, but had a terrible habit of not bending at the waist that cost me quite a few high shots on deer. Finally connected at age 20 on a spiker.

First 3.5 plus was with a rifle in 2004, so 26 or 12 years of hunting. Decent 9 point following a doe through on opening morning.

2010 and 2011 got two nice ones with a bow in IL. Nothing huge, an 8 and a 9. The 9 was probably a 3.5 and the 8 may have been 4.5, neither P&W though.

I've screwed up my fair share of bruisers though! Keep on trying.

First decent one with a gun.
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Here's my first nice one with a bow (though they are all nice to me!)
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Re: How Many Years, And How Old Were You?

Unread postby PK_ » Fri Mar 07, 2014 12:50 pm

Spysar wrote:
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I was 34 days old.
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Re: How Many Years, And How Old Were You?

Unread postby Bucky » Fri Mar 07, 2014 12:53 pm

Killed a 5pt second day of gun hunting in 1992... I was 12. Shot my first bow buck when I was 16... in Waupaca Cty, grunted him in. That adrenaline rush hooked me for life! First big one was 2001 or 2002 in college.
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Re: How Many Years, And How Old Were You?

Unread postby BassBoysLLP » Fri Mar 07, 2014 12:54 pm

I started bowhunting when I was 12. I shot my first deer, a buck fawn, that fall after countless misses. Like most, I shot instinctive those days. While my skills were adequate on paper targets, I struggled to hit the broadside of a barn with a bow in my hand and a deer in range. The kids in the family were always encouraged to "shoot" and "learn to kill", so we did. We shot until our quivers were empty. Then we'd climb down, fill our quiver, climb the tree again, and continue shooting until we found success. We learned to track poorly hit animals and diagnose different types of blood trails. It was great way to learn. Shot my first good buck at age 13, sitting all day, shot him in the afternoon.
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Re: How Many Years, And How Old Were You?

Unread postby BigHunt » Fri Mar 07, 2014 1:00 pm

bowhunted my first year in 99 killing a doe also killing a doe gun hunting that year..killed my first buck with the bow in 2003, 5 point chased a doe by my grandpas ol latter stand
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Re: How Many Years, And How Old Were You?

Unread postby dan » Fri Mar 07, 2014 1:04 pm

Sometime in the mid 1970's I shot my 1st deer with a gun a button buck... in the late 70's i shot my 1st bow killed deer, a 5 pointer. I don't have any pictures.

In the late 80's I started getting nicer bucks.

Here is an early 1980's buck:
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around 1980
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Re: How Many Years, And How Old Were You?

Unread postby Dhurtubise » Fri Mar 07, 2014 2:37 pm

I started 2 years ago (2 seasons) at the ripe old age of 40.

I got a gun yearling buck that season.

I haven't shot a deer with a bow.

I haven't shot a big buck yet, but I passed one up (for an hour+).
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Re: How Many Years, And How Old Were You?

Unread postby olivertractor » Fri Mar 07, 2014 3:19 pm

I started rifle hunting at 12, I give my dad all the credit in the world for getting me out in the woods and really appreciate it! One thing he failed at was preparing me for the hunt as I had never shot my hunting rifle and missed an 8 pointer at point blank range 4 times, but maybe that's why I'm so anal with my equipment now. :-) I shot my first deer during 1991 mega storm year, a 6 pointer! Started bow hunting when I was 18 and started muzzle loading in 2008.

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