Recounting your first couple sits as new deer hunters

[Dhurtubise]

After reading a recent post about a new hunter shooting an 18 pointer on his very first sit, I thought it would be intersting to hear how your 1st hunts went down. Mine were really surreal:

I started hunting at 40 yrs old and I saw a doe at about 40 yds after I left my gun on the other side of the ridge and was walking around in a very low density spot on my first sit.

And my very next hunt, same spot a few days later, the doe (or another) was in heat (or almost) and I saw her and 3 other bucks of which two were monsters and the other which I shot was a good sized 3 yr old 7 or 8 pointer. I saw all the other deer after I shot my buck (and was waiting 2 hours-only to later find out it was a bad hit because I hit the edge of a tree in front of him and I had passed all those other deer in the meantime) and was walking around that area like I was on a hike. Every animal was seen within 40-50 yards. One at 10.

In 5 seasons of hunting and countless hunts I've never experienced another hunt remotely as substantial as on that one. I always wonder if a non-hunter or new hunter doesn't emit the same predatory signals that an experienced one does. Do the deer perceive the same danger? I did everything wrong on both those first hunts but I was running into deer every 30 minutes on average. I figured this deer hunting the Bigwoods was going to be a piece of cake.

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[Ol'DanBoone]

Well, my first couple of "hunts" were sittin on the ground with my dad. I had a little single shot .22lr. We never saw a deer the first 4 or 5 times. I was a disheartened little fellar. If i hadnt seen the truck pull in the driveway myself, with those deer on the back, i would have sworn he surely bought all those mounts at a yardsale. It sure seemed deer didnt live in the woods. I thought i was really hunting, and in my mind i was fully intending to knock down a true monarch with that little .22.
Looking back, i see he intended for us not to see deer. Of course i got a .410 for christmas in 1996. Next year, the weak before the season we went and bought some slugs for it. Just like magic, the deer showed up lol.
I shot a little three pointer at about 25 yds. My experience was probally the best you could get. My dad intentionally made it "hard", and kept the suspense up so to speak. He did it like a man trains a young dog, he never gave me too much or to little so that it was too easy or too hard. It really set my heart on fire. Good memories.

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[cbay]

Can't recall seeing a deer when hunting as a youngster for several years. Back then it was bucks only but would have been excited just to see a deer.

[Rich M]

My first bowhunt was at the age of 8 or 9 in Rutland, VT, 1977/78. It was a wet drizzly day and I walked down by the creek and up into a meadow, about 1/2 way cross the meadow, I'm 15 yards from a large 4 pt. Sent 5 arrows at him, he'd step out of the arrow's way and look at the little boy trying to kill him. Awesome memory.

Same year rifle, dad put me next to a deadfall and said to stay put. About 30 minutes later i was gonna have a hard candy - tried to unwrap it quietly and a small doe pops he head over the opposite side of the deadfall, 10 feet away. I froze, she checked me out, ducked back down and went on her way. Another awesome memory.

Didn't kill my first deer until 7 years later. Wasn't for lack of trying tho.

[Southern Man]

The first time I went deer hunting I was alone. My father in law let me use and old 7mm mauser bolt action rifle, iron sights. I slipped into the woods right at daylight and walked up on a buck fooling around with a doe. I watched as they got to about 40 yards, but didn't even try the shot. I watched them until they left. Then I went back to the truck and drove to a small pond and went fishing. I had brought my fishing pole. Caught a couple good bass

The second time I went deer hunting was a year later. Same woods, same rifle. But this time I had went in and built a stand in the fork of a large oak. About an hour after daylight a buck came across in front of me. He stopped broadside at maybe 20 yards. I shot and he ran off. I sat there until 9:30 when my father in law came walking over. He stopped about where the buck had stood and asked me if I hit it. I told him no, I missed. He told me to come down. I did and there was blood everywhere. LOL, he died about 75 yards thru the woods.

I really didn't have a teacher.

[Ol'DanBoone]

And the way you get started will stick with you. To this day, if im carrying a rifle, i prefer to rake away the leaves at the bottom of a tree n take a sit. You cant beat the smell of oak leaf litter in the chilling fall air, lookin for deer as the long shadows start to snake across the ground.

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[Dewey]

Honestly it was 33 years ago and I cannot remember. It was totally different back then so thinking I likely didn't see anything. Back then seeing a deer was a pretty big deal and if you actually killed a buck, even an average one, it was big news and many times made it in the local newspaper.

Now if you would ask about my first kill I can vividly remember that like it was yesterday as I know we all can. You never forget the first one.

[Ol'DanBoone]

Honestly it was 33 years ago and I cannot remember. It was totally different back then so thinking I likely didn't see anything. Back then seeing a deer was a pretty big deal and if you actually killed a buck, even an average one, it was big news and many times made it in the local newspaper.

Now if you would ask about my first kill I can vividly remember that like it was yesterday as I know we all can. You never forget the first one.

I kno it isnt exactly what OP is asking for, but come on, share the story of your first deer. Start a "first kill" thread so we dont hijack this one, if we have to.

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[Edcyclopedia]

1st year bow hunting was 1994.

Got in stand and 20 minutes later a button buck came in, deflected arrow. ..

20 minutes later a big black bear, deflected arrow. ..

Next night another button buck, deflected arrow. ..

Started trimming shooting lanes...

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[john1984]

My first times deer hunting were just one weekend a year, by myself. Back when I lived in MN.

2000...2001.... Seen a glimpse of deer, across the river

My first deer was in 2003 in WI. A real nice 6 pointer.

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[stash59]

I was 13. Didn't go out opening morning of the bow season. Dad had things to do. That afternoon dad said let's go. After a stop at the old dump on the farm. He grabbed an old rusty bucket. Then we headed to a spot on a ditch bank. A small tree had partially blown over there. But was still alive. My older brother had bowhunted near this spot a couple years earlier and had seen quite a few deer.

He placed the bucket amongst the tangle and said, "sit down. I'll be back at sunset." I saw nothing.

I went and sat on that bucket every evening I could. Which was most. I didn't see a deer until the 2nd to the last weekend of the season. I was kinda bored and was day dreaming. I look up and there's a doe standing there at 10 yards. My bow was on my lap. I tried to get it into position when the doe looked away. But she knew something was up. She'd look away for just a second and all I could do was get it up an inch or 2 at a time. Finally I just tried to move in slow motion. She had none of that and busted off. Along with 3 more deer!!!!! My heart had been racing. I was shaking the whole time. What a rush. Man did that event ever catch me hook, line and sinker. I still haven'y thrown that hook!!!!!!!

[rempse2]

My first hunt was in the big woods on state lands. My dad, his buddy, my great uncle and me - I was 14 teen at the time . Back then gun season was in December. It was a cold-morning temps in the teens for the predawn hike in, day time highs in the low 30's with wind chills in the 20's with snow on the ground. We sat on a side hill watching a draw with a little brook winding thru it. Me and my dad shared a butane hand warmer to keep our hands from freezing. We all sat till about 9-10 am then hiked out to the car and took a ride to town to get some coffee, eat our sandwiches and thaw out. Then it was back to our spots for the afternoon sit. On the way in we ran into two guys dragging out a doe. I remember them saying the shot was far back and it took them a few hours of blood tracking thru the thick mt laurel before they found it. Seeing that doe had me fired up for the afternoon sit no matter how cold it was. Anyhow we didn't see any deer that day but i was hooked. I remember feeling such a sense of satisfaction as i hiked out of the woods that evening, spending the day with family and friends, grinding it out thru the cold, enjoying a beautiful day in the deep woods beside my dad. We were such rookies back then. It took us several years of tough hunting and lessons learned before we me and my dad each bagged our first deer. Wow my dad was 43 when he first took me deer hunting - he's 75 now and still at it. Just this past week he hiked 3/4 of a mile with me in the predawn darkness into one of my state land spots, he saw a doe getting pushed by 2 bucks in the mt laurel at 10 am but the action was to quick for him to draw a bead on them. I was so psyched though just to see his eyes light up as he told me about his encounter.

[Hawthorne]

My first sit bowhunting was on a popular millionaires property in southern mi. My uncle was the caretaker and he owned hundreds of acres. I saw deer my first sit and blew it on some does. I was green in every way with a bow. Sure wish I had access to that property these days. My uncle killed some huge bucks off it.

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