My journey as a hunter
- WV Bowhunter
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My journey as a hunter
Well by request, although my story sure isn’t like some of ones posted and I don’t feel like I’m really in the same league, here it goes.
I’ve lived all my life in WV. I was the youngest of 4 kids and we didn’t have a ton of money growing up. We grew a garden and ate a lot of wild game. I was always busting to go hunting and fishing from a very early age. My dad took me fishing and let me tag along small game hunting as far back as I can remember. When I turned 7 I had finally bugged my dad enough that he let me hunt with a gun instead of of just carrying a stick. He wouldn’t let me have a shell in the chamber and I had to keep it in my pocket. I was a horrible shot!! I couldn’t guess how many squirrels and deer I missed those first few years but I know it was a bunch. I still think part of my problem was the old 410 single shot I used didn’t hit where it was supposed to.
I finally started killing stuff when I was around 9 and once I got the hang of shooting I wasn’t happy about going back home until I killed something. I wore out the squirrels in the fall and would be waiting on my dad to get home from work to take me out every evening. I generally shot 20 or so squirrels a week once I talked Dad into letting me spend some of my hog money on a pump 20 ga (I raised market hogs for about 10 years growing up). I killed my first buck and deer for that matter with the old 410 when I was 9. I don’t have the picture but it wasn’t much of a buck, just a basket rack 8 pt with about a 10” spread. I think I’ve killed at least one buck every year since except maybe one year since.
I think this was my second buck. My dad shot an 8 pt the same morning.
I killed several deer with shotguns and slugs those first few years. Finally Dad let me use his 30-06 when he was around me and I shot my first deer with a rifle when I was 11 I think.
All those early years with Dad I really wasn’t hunting too much because he took me to where we were going and then I was the trigger man. I did manage to pick up a lot of woodsmanship of knowing when move, how to move and not sound like a human, using terrain to move and stalk in on something, when to freeze, when to move fast for a shot, how to read an animals body language, how to reload fast for a 2nd shot (I missed a bunch early on), what I could get away with and what I couldn’t. I learned a lot by my successes and my failures. Overall I had a huge drive to hunt and to be successful.
I started passing on some smaller bucks, spikes and forks, at some point in my early to mid teens and shot a pile of basket racked bucks.
I also became a better shot with time. Here was two squirrels I killed with one shot from a 22 mag.
When I was 15 I got into bow hunting and that fall I killed my first two deer with a bow. They were both shot on the ground and both the dumbest animals in the woods, spike bucks. Here was my first one, the 2nd had slightly longer spikes, lol.
I really wanted to hunt out of treestands but all my hunting had always been off the ground. I finally bought a used warren and sweet bowhunter tree stand. Wow that thing was a death trap for a kid that was afraid of heights. After a few scary outings, one of which left me holding on to the seat platform while my bottom section bounced down the tree, left without a bunch of layers of skin from sliding down a tree, I pawned it off to some poor sucker and bought me a loc-on stand and a hand full of screw in steps.
I used to know exactly how many deer I’d killed but I long ago lost track. Those first 20 years or so I hunted I shot a bunch of deer. Most years I’d limit out with each weapon and season bag limit.
I started working when I was 14 as a surveyor helper and worked whenever I wasn’t in school, hunting or fishing. I liked being in the woods and that’s pretty much where I was when I could be. I liked to fish but absolutely loved to hunt, it was a burning inside that I’m sure most guys on this site understand.
I played basketball and when I got into high school the varsity team practiced morning and afternoon the week of thanksgiving which was the opening week of gun season. I chose to give up basketball so it wouldn’t interfere with my hunting.
I got into turkey hunting pretty heavy about the same time I picked up bowhunting. It was trial and error there as well but got to where I’d normally kill my Tom or maybe two each spring. I played baseball but it didn’t effect my turkey hunting much. I remember I shot a tom one Saturday morning before I had a double header.
I finally killed a nice buck around 2000 or so, I had never killed a buck that was big enough to score. We always just said it was an 8 pt or whatever and called it good. I’d never laid eyes on a buck like this one and thought I’d have him scored. I think he was 119” but I thought that was like a B & C. Haha I rode that buck around to show all the neighbors and all my friends all afternoon after I killed him. Most people around had never seen a buck like that around here.
That buck started me wanting to kill big bucks. I liked to talk like I’d wait on a big one but found myself shooting a smaller one when they would really tempt me for too long. But this was the start for me.
(I lost all this typing once so I’m going to post this first section and will follow up with the reminder when time allows)
I’ve lived all my life in WV. I was the youngest of 4 kids and we didn’t have a ton of money growing up. We grew a garden and ate a lot of wild game. I was always busting to go hunting and fishing from a very early age. My dad took me fishing and let me tag along small game hunting as far back as I can remember. When I turned 7 I had finally bugged my dad enough that he let me hunt with a gun instead of of just carrying a stick. He wouldn’t let me have a shell in the chamber and I had to keep it in my pocket. I was a horrible shot!! I couldn’t guess how many squirrels and deer I missed those first few years but I know it was a bunch. I still think part of my problem was the old 410 single shot I used didn’t hit where it was supposed to.
I finally started killing stuff when I was around 9 and once I got the hang of shooting I wasn’t happy about going back home until I killed something. I wore out the squirrels in the fall and would be waiting on my dad to get home from work to take me out every evening. I generally shot 20 or so squirrels a week once I talked Dad into letting me spend some of my hog money on a pump 20 ga (I raised market hogs for about 10 years growing up). I killed my first buck and deer for that matter with the old 410 when I was 9. I don’t have the picture but it wasn’t much of a buck, just a basket rack 8 pt with about a 10” spread. I think I’ve killed at least one buck every year since except maybe one year since.
I think this was my second buck. My dad shot an 8 pt the same morning.
I killed several deer with shotguns and slugs those first few years. Finally Dad let me use his 30-06 when he was around me and I shot my first deer with a rifle when I was 11 I think.
All those early years with Dad I really wasn’t hunting too much because he took me to where we were going and then I was the trigger man. I did manage to pick up a lot of woodsmanship of knowing when move, how to move and not sound like a human, using terrain to move and stalk in on something, when to freeze, when to move fast for a shot, how to read an animals body language, how to reload fast for a 2nd shot (I missed a bunch early on), what I could get away with and what I couldn’t. I learned a lot by my successes and my failures. Overall I had a huge drive to hunt and to be successful.
I started passing on some smaller bucks, spikes and forks, at some point in my early to mid teens and shot a pile of basket racked bucks.
I also became a better shot with time. Here was two squirrels I killed with one shot from a 22 mag.
When I was 15 I got into bow hunting and that fall I killed my first two deer with a bow. They were both shot on the ground and both the dumbest animals in the woods, spike bucks. Here was my first one, the 2nd had slightly longer spikes, lol.
I really wanted to hunt out of treestands but all my hunting had always been off the ground. I finally bought a used warren and sweet bowhunter tree stand. Wow that thing was a death trap for a kid that was afraid of heights. After a few scary outings, one of which left me holding on to the seat platform while my bottom section bounced down the tree, left without a bunch of layers of skin from sliding down a tree, I pawned it off to some poor sucker and bought me a loc-on stand and a hand full of screw in steps.
I used to know exactly how many deer I’d killed but I long ago lost track. Those first 20 years or so I hunted I shot a bunch of deer. Most years I’d limit out with each weapon and season bag limit.
I started working when I was 14 as a surveyor helper and worked whenever I wasn’t in school, hunting or fishing. I liked being in the woods and that’s pretty much where I was when I could be. I liked to fish but absolutely loved to hunt, it was a burning inside that I’m sure most guys on this site understand.
I played basketball and when I got into high school the varsity team practiced morning and afternoon the week of thanksgiving which was the opening week of gun season. I chose to give up basketball so it wouldn’t interfere with my hunting.
I got into turkey hunting pretty heavy about the same time I picked up bowhunting. It was trial and error there as well but got to where I’d normally kill my Tom or maybe two each spring. I played baseball but it didn’t effect my turkey hunting much. I remember I shot a tom one Saturday morning before I had a double header.
I finally killed a nice buck around 2000 or so, I had never killed a buck that was big enough to score. We always just said it was an 8 pt or whatever and called it good. I’d never laid eyes on a buck like this one and thought I’d have him scored. I think he was 119” but I thought that was like a B & C. Haha I rode that buck around to show all the neighbors and all my friends all afternoon after I killed him. Most people around had never seen a buck like that around here.
That buck started me wanting to kill big bucks. I liked to talk like I’d wait on a big one but found myself shooting a smaller one when they would really tempt me for too long. But this was the start for me.
(I lost all this typing once so I’m going to post this first section and will follow up with the reminder when time allows)
Luck is when preparation meets opportunity!!
- Lockdown
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Re: My journey as a hunter
Good stuff! Love all the old pics. I know you’ve got some slobs under your belt... looking forward to part 2!
- WV Bowhunter
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Re: My journey as a hunter
I mentioned earlier that I hunted off the ground a lot growing up. I still enjoy it but now will just pick my times to hunt from the ground. One of my most memorable bow hunts was stalking up on a bedded doe and shooting her while she was still bedded and she had no idea I was there. Another memorable hunt was sneaking in to a preset stand and on my way I noticed a doe and a fawn bedded within 10 yards from my tree. I slowly worked my way to the tree, climbed up and pulled my bow up and neither deer knew I was there. I think sometimes we don’t know how quiet and sneaky we can be if a guy really tries.
I knew I wanted to shoot big bucks but really didn’t know what I was doing. I still had the mindset of my first years of hunting and hunted deer. I decided that if I wanted to kill a big buck I would have to go across the river to Ohio so I found a guy that would let me hunt. I walked around a little bit, found a spot that looked deery and hung a stand. I hunted it that day and didn’t see a deer. The following weekend I was back to the tree and it was pretty uneventful. About 4 in the afternoon I heard the unmistakable sound of a deer walking, I looked in the direction of the noise and saw a big buck walking along looking for a hot doe, just sorta cruising. He was on the flat above me and about eye level with my stand. I drew my bow, he stopped on his own and I let my arrow fly. It looked perfect in flight and then smacked a sapling about 5 ft in between me and the deer that I’d never seen. That buck jumped a few feet and stood there for what seemed like an hour but was probably 5-10 minutes. He had no idea what had happened and just slowly moved his head back and forth looking around. I had no shot due to brush in the way and I looked for any hole I could find. He was a 9 pt about 20” wide and looking back now he was in the 150” gross range. As he walked off, I kicked myself for not seeing that sapling and missing him and letting him walk out of my life. Less than an hour later that same buck chased a doe right under my stand. I was at full draw as he approached and when he was in a shooting lane I bleated with my mouth to stop him and he paid no attention, I said stop, he paid no attention, and when he was in my last window for a shot I yelled at him , he stopped and I let loose with an ill advised shot and missed him again. Biggest buck I’d ever seen and I missed him twice in an hour or two. Talk about feeling like a total idiot.
I was a pretty slow learner with big bucks or too ingrained with what worked on past little deer to do anything different. I read the magazines and books but most of what I found didn’t apply to the type of ground I hunted.
Probably the turning point for me was going on a bear hunt to Canada in 2006. I shot a decent bear and wanted to get it mounted.
I took it to a taxidermist and was amazed with the wall of bucks he had killed. They all looked like the wide 9 pt I had missed in Ohio. I picked his brain for hours asking questions and he invited me to hunt with him and a few buddies on public ground in Ohio. I had never hunted public land and had always heard horror stories about how bad it was and how small of deer they have.
So as I said before, I’m a slow learner and still sorta had and itchy release/trigger finger. I started scouting and bow hunting public land and was amazed at what I was finding. I saw an absolute slob giant buck on my first bow hunt over there. I decided I would rattle and grunt and call him in. To my surprise that didn’t work anything like it did on the outdoor channel. I’m fairly certain that the buck was in buckmaster magazine after he was shot the opening day of slug season. It was a big non typical that scored over 200”.
I didn’t kill a buck over there for a few years but was still killing them over here in WV.
Slowly I started killing better bucks, I was still a determined hunter but now I was married and started having kids. My time to hunt was going to drop off some now due to family obligations and I needed to hunt smarter. I started looking for certain terrain features and ground growth that I was seeing big bucks moving and started to find a similar pattern for big bucks and how they moved. I started keying in on the slight deer trails that were lower on the hill than all the well used trails. Bingo, started seeing bigger deer. I still never even thought to find a single deer bed, but would seek out those slightly used trails near thick bedding areas.
I still didn’t have a good grasp of making good access and exits from my stands. I didn’t understand thermals and how the deer used them. I didn’t understand how a mature buck used terrain and wind to avoid hunters. But I knew that a big buck is a different creature and that I did see certain tendencies. My years of being a killer and knowing when to shoot, when to move, when to be ready and how to execute a shot has allowed me to make the most of the big buck opportunities that I have. Looking back through a bunch of my big buck encounters over the last 10 years or so, almost all were associated with either buck bedding, doe bedding or brushy points with a lot of small saplings that seem to be a hot spot for rutting bucks tending does.
I’ve been lucky enough to kill my best bucks of my life in WV and Ohio in the last 5 years. Some were I’m sure dumb luck of being in the right spot and now looking back there was a reason (at least in my mind) for everyone of the encounters.
This buck was shot as he stood up in his bed, still hunting.
Brushy point tending a doe
This buck was killed on public on an escape route from a bedding point.
Still hunting, mid morning, feeding near bedding
Returning to his bed
Returning to his bed, public land, clear cut
Leaving bed, early season, I planted a small kill plot of power plant that year and he was bedded within 50 yards of the small plot. Best WV buck
I shot this one about a month later in Ohio, this is my best bow buck. Chasing a hot doe, late morning, rut hunt
On the ground, walking out from morning hunt, grunted in
Exit route from buck bedding, killed at noon on opening day of rifle
Downwind of doe bedding, rut hunt
Leaving bed going to small kill plot of turnips, probably was just looking for a doe
Thermal tunnel between doe bedding areas, rut hunt
A few of my mounts that are in the living room
I’ve never really had great managed hunting ground to hunt. Everywhere I’ve hunted, the private gets hit harder than the public does sometimes. I’ve been lucky enough to kill a lot of the bucks that I’ve had on camera. The one buck I killed this past fall was one I’d been after for 3 years, I’m a little slow sometimes but I’m persistent and he finally made a mistake I could capitalize on.
Hope this is what you guys were looking for in a hunter profile from me.
I knew I wanted to shoot big bucks but really didn’t know what I was doing. I still had the mindset of my first years of hunting and hunted deer. I decided that if I wanted to kill a big buck I would have to go across the river to Ohio so I found a guy that would let me hunt. I walked around a little bit, found a spot that looked deery and hung a stand. I hunted it that day and didn’t see a deer. The following weekend I was back to the tree and it was pretty uneventful. About 4 in the afternoon I heard the unmistakable sound of a deer walking, I looked in the direction of the noise and saw a big buck walking along looking for a hot doe, just sorta cruising. He was on the flat above me and about eye level with my stand. I drew my bow, he stopped on his own and I let my arrow fly. It looked perfect in flight and then smacked a sapling about 5 ft in between me and the deer that I’d never seen. That buck jumped a few feet and stood there for what seemed like an hour but was probably 5-10 minutes. He had no idea what had happened and just slowly moved his head back and forth looking around. I had no shot due to brush in the way and I looked for any hole I could find. He was a 9 pt about 20” wide and looking back now he was in the 150” gross range. As he walked off, I kicked myself for not seeing that sapling and missing him and letting him walk out of my life. Less than an hour later that same buck chased a doe right under my stand. I was at full draw as he approached and when he was in a shooting lane I bleated with my mouth to stop him and he paid no attention, I said stop, he paid no attention, and when he was in my last window for a shot I yelled at him , he stopped and I let loose with an ill advised shot and missed him again. Biggest buck I’d ever seen and I missed him twice in an hour or two. Talk about feeling like a total idiot.
I was a pretty slow learner with big bucks or too ingrained with what worked on past little deer to do anything different. I read the magazines and books but most of what I found didn’t apply to the type of ground I hunted.
Probably the turning point for me was going on a bear hunt to Canada in 2006. I shot a decent bear and wanted to get it mounted.
I took it to a taxidermist and was amazed with the wall of bucks he had killed. They all looked like the wide 9 pt I had missed in Ohio. I picked his brain for hours asking questions and he invited me to hunt with him and a few buddies on public ground in Ohio. I had never hunted public land and had always heard horror stories about how bad it was and how small of deer they have.
So as I said before, I’m a slow learner and still sorta had and itchy release/trigger finger. I started scouting and bow hunting public land and was amazed at what I was finding. I saw an absolute slob giant buck on my first bow hunt over there. I decided I would rattle and grunt and call him in. To my surprise that didn’t work anything like it did on the outdoor channel. I’m fairly certain that the buck was in buckmaster magazine after he was shot the opening day of slug season. It was a big non typical that scored over 200”.
I didn’t kill a buck over there for a few years but was still killing them over here in WV.
Slowly I started killing better bucks, I was still a determined hunter but now I was married and started having kids. My time to hunt was going to drop off some now due to family obligations and I needed to hunt smarter. I started looking for certain terrain features and ground growth that I was seeing big bucks moving and started to find a similar pattern for big bucks and how they moved. I started keying in on the slight deer trails that were lower on the hill than all the well used trails. Bingo, started seeing bigger deer. I still never even thought to find a single deer bed, but would seek out those slightly used trails near thick bedding areas.
I still didn’t have a good grasp of making good access and exits from my stands. I didn’t understand thermals and how the deer used them. I didn’t understand how a mature buck used terrain and wind to avoid hunters. But I knew that a big buck is a different creature and that I did see certain tendencies. My years of being a killer and knowing when to shoot, when to move, when to be ready and how to execute a shot has allowed me to make the most of the big buck opportunities that I have. Looking back through a bunch of my big buck encounters over the last 10 years or so, almost all were associated with either buck bedding, doe bedding or brushy points with a lot of small saplings that seem to be a hot spot for rutting bucks tending does.
I’ve been lucky enough to kill my best bucks of my life in WV and Ohio in the last 5 years. Some were I’m sure dumb luck of being in the right spot and now looking back there was a reason (at least in my mind) for everyone of the encounters.
This buck was shot as he stood up in his bed, still hunting.
Brushy point tending a doe
This buck was killed on public on an escape route from a bedding point.
Still hunting, mid morning, feeding near bedding
Returning to his bed
Returning to his bed, public land, clear cut
Leaving bed, early season, I planted a small kill plot of power plant that year and he was bedded within 50 yards of the small plot. Best WV buck
I shot this one about a month later in Ohio, this is my best bow buck. Chasing a hot doe, late morning, rut hunt
On the ground, walking out from morning hunt, grunted in
Exit route from buck bedding, killed at noon on opening day of rifle
Downwind of doe bedding, rut hunt
Leaving bed going to small kill plot of turnips, probably was just looking for a doe
Thermal tunnel between doe bedding areas, rut hunt
A few of my mounts that are in the living room
I’ve never really had great managed hunting ground to hunt. Everywhere I’ve hunted, the private gets hit harder than the public does sometimes. I’ve been lucky enough to kill a lot of the bucks that I’ve had on camera. The one buck I killed this past fall was one I’d been after for 3 years, I’m a little slow sometimes but I’m persistent and he finally made a mistake I could capitalize on.
Hope this is what you guys were looking for in a hunter profile from me.
Luck is when preparation meets opportunity!!
- tgreeno
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Re: My journey as a hunter
Nice write-up and some great bucks!
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It's better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid, than to open it an remove all doubt
It's better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid, than to open it an remove all doubt
- Dewey
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Re: My journey as a hunter
Great job. From the looks of the bucks you killed over the years you had a heck of a fun journey. That's what it's all about.
- WV Bowhunter
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Re: My journey as a hunter
Lockdown wrote:Good stuff! Love all the old pics. I know you’ve got some slobs under your belt... looking forward to part 2!
It took me awhile to get to killing good ones, wish I would have caught on about 10 years sooner.
Luck is when preparation meets opportunity!!
- WV Bowhunter
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Re: My journey as a hunter
Dewey wrote:Great job. From the looks of the bucks you killed over the years you had a heck of a fun journey. That's what it's all about.
Thanks. I used to get super pumped shooting all those scrub bucks. Rifle season back then was bucks only for two weeks and then a 3 day doe season. I got to hunt way more in rifle season so any legal buck 3” spike or larger was fair game.
Luck is when preparation meets opportunity!!
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Re: My journey as a hunter
Great write-up. You have some great bucks under your belt and I'm sure many more to come!
- SouthpawSwitchback
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Re: My journey as a hunter
Good stuff WV I always enjoy reading the journeys of successful beast hunters. I got a little chuckle out of the two squirrels with one shot. Now that's some shooting
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- Jackson Marsh
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Re: My journey as a hunter
You've killed a pile of big bucks! Heck of a hunter.
Great write up.
Great write up.
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Re: My journey as a hunter
Great stuff wv. Heck of a wall to look at too!
- Divergent
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Re: My journey as a hunter
Don’t look too slow to me Thanks for posting. I enjoyed the write up.
- Lockdown
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Re: My journey as a hunter
man you have an impressive line up of bucks!!
- Dewey
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Re: My journey as a hunter
WV Bowhunter wrote:Dewey wrote:Great job. From the looks of the bucks you killed over the years you had a heck of a fun journey. That's what it's all about.
Thanks. I used to get super pumped shooting all those scrub bucks. Rifle season back then was bucks only for two weeks and then a 3 day doe season. I got to hunt way more in rifle season so any legal buck 3” spike or larger was fair game.
I killed a bunch of spike bucks in Northern WI. Some seasons it was the only buck we saw so couldn’t be too choosy. Rifle season is for filling the freezer and spike bucks are pretty darn tasty.
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