1st buck...

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dan
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1st buck...

Unread postby dan » Fri Dec 13, 2019 2:13 am

The 1970s seem so long ago in some ways, like yesterday in other ways... I remember some things from back then vividly as if it were yesterday, other things are forgotten or fuzzy at best... Deer hunting was a lot different. It was exciting to just see deer, and I wanted to kill my 1st deer with a bow in the worst way. I had put up a wooden tree stand I built with old boards in the crotch of a tree in a treeline between 2 fields. One morning in October I got up early and went to that tree in the dark. About an hour after light a lone buck appeared, walking down the field past me. It was very exciting for a young boy in a time when there were a lot less deer than now. I started to shake and drew my sightless bow and aimed over the bucks back as he passed 40 or 50 yards away and let the arrow fly. The arrow went high and then dropped down in a big arc striking the buck right behind his shoulder and he ran off into the woods... that's a shot that is forever burned into my memorie. I got on the trail and found the buck a short ways into the timber. It was a small 6 or 7 point 1.5 year old buck, but to me it was the biggest buck in the world. Never took a pic, and I have no idea what ever happened to the antlers... but that was the greatest hunt of my life... I have much bigger bucks on my wall mounted, that I struggle to remember the hunt or shot... but that one buck will never be forgotten. When you see kids post about that 1st deer, or 1st buck, think back to that magic time in your youth when you killed your 1st. Dont criticize the shot, the size, or the circumstances. Just say congrats, you did it! Share your 1st buck story here.


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MrT
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Re: 1st buck...

Unread postby MrT » Fri Dec 13, 2019 2:44 am

12 years old. Hunting a stand my dad put me in. About 20 minutes before dark, a doe and cow horn come walking up. I was so excited I could barely pull my bow back. By the time I finally managed to get it back those 2 deer were looking up in the tree wondering what the heck I was. I put my site on that cowhorn and let that arrow fly.

The deer ran off and I saw the arrow sticking out of the cow horn. I was so excited. I immediately got down and went out to where I shot him. It was getting darker and I was still uneasy of being in the woods by myself at dark so I got back up in the tree and waited for my dad.

Dad got there and we started blood trailing. He was bleeding good. Then we lost the trail. Searched for 30 more minutes which seemed like forever trying to pick it back up. My heart had sank. We finally retraced to last blood and figured out the the buck had made a sudden turn. Back on the trail, there was no doubt this deer was dead. Blood got super heavy. Then there he was, dead just over the hill.

I'll never forget the feeling. I was overjoyed and I think my Dad was as excited as I was. I can only compare the feeling to my biggest buck I killed a few years ago, which he was there for too. This cow horn was my first deer and buck. Now writing this out, I realize it was one of my favorite moments with my father, let alone as a hunter.
Last edited by MrT on Fri Dec 13, 2019 2:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 1st buck...

Unread postby UofLbowhunter » Fri Dec 13, 2019 2:46 am

First buck memories , the best!

My first buck happened a little later in my hunting career. I killed several does before i could get my first shot at buck! One cold November morning, i think it was the second day of kentucky gun season. I set up in a fence line T that had some thick brush in it, between 2 pasture and crop ground! I remember setting up so i could watch the crop thinking the deer would travel that side to feed and stay away from cattle. Suddenly i had a squirrel go crazy in the limb above me, when i looked up at him out of the corner of my eye i see some brown! I turned my head, it startled me so bad when i l seen a buck walking at a fast pace behind me, it startled him just as much! I think it was a blessing it happened that way cause i didnt have the time to get the adrenaline pumpin, but it set in hard in the aftermath. I pulled up to shoot, the buck stopped at 20 yards to look at me! Boom!! I can remember i followed the bead up his leg till i hit mid rib line, and pulled the trigger, He dropped like a rock! The biggest 5 point giant hit the ground that day! Well in my mind it was, couldnt have been more proud of the basket rack 5 pt, something i never forget!
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Re: 1st buck...

Unread postby stash59 » Fri Dec 13, 2019 3:06 am

My 1st buck taken, was when I was 17. I had worked construction all summer. So I bought my 1st compound. Had a 20" 10 point at 20 yards opening morning. I was waiting for the "perfect" broadside shot. But he spooked when Lil' Bro, who I had setup 80 yards from me. Missed a doe. A few days later I missed a doe myself. And another doe early October.

October 12th I got home from school and headed out to hunt as usual. Only I headed to a different spot I'd never bowhunted before. About 3/4 of a mile north, across some fields. No stand. No steps. Just shimmied up an oak tree and sat on the limbs. It was right on the edge of an alfalfa field. With the wind coming from the woods. That magic time approached. I was staring into the woods. Where I expected the deer to come from. Caught movement out in the field over my shoulder to the left. Here comes a buck from the "wrong" way. I had to turn, which meant changing limbs to stand on. Course this rattled the leaves and caused limb movement. The buck stopped to check it out. So I judged the yardage, drew, aimed, released and center punched him, at what turned out to be 18 steps. A better 1.5 YO 6 point. He ran into the woods.

I headed home and just started eating the supper Ma had kept warm for me. Pops finally came into the kitchen and asked his usual "well ?". And I calmly replied "I stuck a buck". Which got him pretty excited. It was heading toward the neighbor's land, the one that was kinda my hunting mentor. So we drove around to his place and asked him to help too. He did so gladly and was pretty excited too. Perfect double lung shot, so it only went 100 yards. With a fairly easy bloodtrail to follow. My second deer and second bow kill. And first gut job!!!

Aaahh, simpler times!!!!!
Happiness is a large gutpile!!!!!!!
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Re: 1st buck...

Unread postby MNarrow » Fri Dec 13, 2019 3:16 am

Great story Dan.

1995, I was 12 years old. My dad doesn't/didn't hunt but I was super excited to go and he took me out opening morning in Minnesota gun season. It was COLD. Saw a lone doe in the swamp but didn't try to shoot with my smooth bore, open sight, 20 gauge. Next day my uncle graciously brought over a scoped Marlin lever 30-30 for me to use. Hunted by myself after that opening morning (illegal in MN to not have someone with you when that young) morning and evening every day from Saturday until the following Thursday.....before and after school every day and didn't see anything. That Thursday the farmer combined the corn......little did I know this had a huge affect on hiding deer. Friday morning before school in the gray light I see a doe and two fawns hurrying across the cornfield........knowing what I know now she probably had a buck trailing not too far behind. I tried to shoot the doe and missed (and luckily I did miss her clean since I really had no idea how a deer reacts after getting shot but I didn't know)......put the crosshairs on a fawn and dropped the button buck at 100 yards away (I had no idea which deer was the doe and which were the fawns since I was so excited). I'll never forget that season.......most of the deer seasons after that are a blur/fuzzy but this one is ever ingrained in me.
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Re: 1st buck...

Unread postby Carpkiller02 » Fri Dec 13, 2019 3:17 am

I was 12 years old, I think roughly November 8. I got off the bus and quickly put my camo on and grabbed my bow. I walked across the road from the house to the edge of a swamp and quietly worked my into a really thick area. I sat on a log and waited quietly for about 20 minutes and then gave a soft grunt with my call. 5 minutes later I hear crashing behind me to my right and a seven point 2.5 year old pops into a clearing right behind me. There is a pile of brush between me and the buck who is probably 8 yards away. I slowly stood up and turned, drew back and somehow sent an arrow through the brush. I walked over to where he was standing and found blood so I was on cloud 9 at that point. I followed his blood trail and there he laid about 30 yards from where I shot him. I remember it all perfectly and now when I think back I guess I always had a little bit of beast in me.
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Re: 1st buck...

Unread postby treeroot » Fri Dec 13, 2019 3:34 am

Seeing bucks for me just didn't happen much when I was younger. I had missed a 4 point clean over his back and didn't see another buck for years. I can still picture the entire hunt.

Many years later I got a call from a buddy that invited me to sit in his stand on a narrow stretch of timber between to fields. I got in there an hour before first light and i had non stop action at daybreak. Doe after doe came in and hung around the stand. There was well over 10 does and fawns hanging out in this 50 yard wide stretch of timber and brush. I'm a bit adhd and not moving can get pretty hard, but at only 10' off the ground I didn't have much choice. Eventually some doe moved off, others were in there eating apples and a basket 6 point came in. At the time he was the biggest buck I'd ever seen hunting. I took my time watching the does and him and readied for the shot, clean miss under him into a dead log. Does and him took off. An hour later some does came back in and bedded. A small fork horn came in and again I readied for the shot, missed clean over his back into a tree. But he only jumped and moved a few steps. The does stood and were watching him so I grabbed my last arrow. It connected and I double lunged him.

Shortly after my buddy came over and saw arrows sticking out of various things and couldn't stop laughing. We tracked him 50 yards and he expired in some brush next to the field. I'll never forget that hunt.
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Re: 1st buck...

Unread postby SplitG2 » Fri Dec 13, 2019 4:52 am

Remember it like it was yesterday, 1 was 14, 39 now. My dad, myself, 2 uncles and a cousin were crammed into an old dilapidated 16 foot Scottie camper and it was pouring down rain at usual wake time for the camper during gun season. We decided to sleep another hour or so and see if it had eased by daybreak. Luckily it had but there was a surprise in the bathroom when we awoke. Everyone used the shower curtain rod to hang there hunting close but last one in the night before failed to close the vent. Likely me but I wasn’t owning up to that crap.

Anyways, everyone else opted out of hunting and drove home to dry their clothes but I begged my dad to go and he reluctantly gave in. So we put those wet clothes on and took off. It was about a 3/4 mile walk before we were really hunting. My dad was a still hunter and a tracker on days it was raining and to say he was damn good at what he did would be an understatement. To me, he was the master at those 2 things and even tho he has been gone 15 years now, he’s still the best at those 2 things I’ve ever known.

Upon arriving at our destination, not 40 yards into the woods my dad cut a buck track. From that point, on for the next 6 hours it was take your son to school day. In that 6 hours before I made the fatal shot, I learned a ton, mainly how impatient I was and how patient he was but there were a lot of other things too. It was hard for a young man like myself at the time to be patient whenever my dad cut a fresh buck track because from the age of 4 he had been dragging me around every gun season and every single time he cut a track and could keep my but from being figgity and keep deer from seeing me, he almost always tracked that buck down and killed it. And way more often than not, shot it in its bed before it knew he was even there.

Anyways, before I stretch this out longer than it needs to be, 6 hours and a 1/2 mile later I had my very first deer. We had tracked this thing from the time it crossed the road onto the 196 acre farm that we hunted all the way to the other side of it. Upon reaching the shot site, before any shot was fired, my dad told me where the deer could likely bed around that brushy rim of a ridiculously steep hollar and where he thought he would be bedded. He sent me to a thick multi floral rose patch by myself 60 yards away. I didn’t go 20 yards when the buck stood outta that patch of brush and I threw a slug right thru his heart. It was just a fork horn but as far as I was concerned it was the new world record when I seen him tumble all the way to the bottom of that ridiculously steep hollar and never move again. Still don’t know who got to the buck first, me or my dad but he was as happy and proud that day as he was any day of his life.

The real kicker to the story is in nearly the exact same spot on that brushy rim is where my dad and uncle had killed their very first deer back in 1970. I miss those days when gun hunting was as important to everyone in town as xmas was to a child. I miss the days when gun hunting wasn’t frowned upon, the days when no one hunted from a blind, there was no such thing as a fair weather hunter and nobody hunted over a cornpile. It was guys from all around hunting hard, hunting the sign and using knowledge they had learned the hard way to get it done so as not to be the only one in camp that didn’t kill anything.
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Re: 1st buck...

Unread postby jcraig0313 » Fri Dec 13, 2019 5:52 am

I shot my first buck way way back on Oct. 5th, 2019. :lol: I had scouted a piece of public in September and had gone straight to an oxbow a mile in at the back of the property. Before I had taken more than a couple steps from my kayak I looked down at a wash and found an arrowhead. I figured if the Indians had hunted the spot, that was a good sign for me.
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The oxbow had lots of buck sign. I came back a couple weeks later when season opened and decided to hike in from the road and scout my way to the back of the property. I set up on the other side of the creek across from where I had scouted before.
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I hadn't been in the tree for 30 minutes and I saw a couple of bucks feeding towards me. Buck fever set in and I shot the smaller of the two bucks that was closest to my tree at 7 yards. I watched him run 40 yards and fall over.
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It was the coolest moment I had experienced in the woods. The adrenaline dump was insane, and that's coming from someone who's jumped out of planes quite a bit (skydiving). I've been hooked ever since!
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Re: 1st buck...

Unread postby Huntress13 » Fri Dec 13, 2019 6:19 am

I got my first bow buck this year, after 30 years hunting, at my ripe old age of.... well, I think I'm older than Dan... :D
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Re: 1st buck...

Unread postby The_Real_Jmill » Fri Dec 13, 2019 9:23 am

Youth shotgun with my dad.

Set out in the cover of dark to a ridge my dad regularly bow hunted. Got settled in on the ground at the base of a hug old oak that had one of my dads stands in it anxiously waiting day break.

My anticipation built with the increasing amount of light. Shortly after day break my dad nudged me to signal he had eyes on a deer and in those moments my eyes locked onto a spike buck working right to left 20 yards in front of us.

I slowly shifted to get the intended target in my sights and as the deer stopped momentarily I slowly squeezed the trigger of my dads Mossberg 500 slug gun.

The shot rang out and the deer bounded off down the ridge. The shakes set in and there was an unexplainable excitement.

My dad decided that he would walk a bit down the ridge to ensure we had blood then come get me to follow the trail. As he walked down the ridge toward the swamp edge I heard a snap behind me and a decent fork horn was peek a booing me at only 10 yards away. All I remember was having a smile on my face as this was all unfolding........the deer eventually wised up snorted and took off.

The old man came back up the ridge with a big smile asking what happened and I was at a loss for words. We ended up picking up the blood trail that led straight into one of the nastiest swamps I have ever seen. I was bobbing and weaving through thorns etc. and my legs looked like I had got in a fight with some razor blades. Finally finding the buck there was a momentary celebration and then the work began. We field dressed and started dragging.

We got back to the truck and headed home and I knew the hero shot picture would await.

I will never forget this day and am grateful everyday that I was introduced and am apart of this lifestyle and I only hope my kids follow suit when the time comes.
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Re: 1st buck...

Unread postby Hookslinger » Fri Dec 13, 2019 10:11 am

I was 19 I believe. Up to that point I had only shot 1 deer (a big doe with muzzleloader). I was sitting in a ladder stand on the edge of a river, on some private land I got permission to hunt. It was a morning hunt, and around 9am or so a lone spike came wandering up a deer trail that I was set up on. He started browsing, and gave me a perfect 15 yard broadside shot. I pulled my old Alpine Lightning Force compound back, put the pin just behind the shoulder, and let that aluminum Easton arrow fly. I was shaking like a leaf, and could barely control my breathing, but somehow managed to put it right through his heart. Watched him tear off and crash about 20 yards away. I was so pumped. I'll never forget that feeling. It was my Michigan 11 pointer!
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Re: 1st buck...

Unread postby wolverinebuckman » Fri Dec 13, 2019 12:06 pm

I tried out hunting with my uncle when I was 13. It was fun being out, but some of the other 'extra curricular' activities he linked with it became a turn off, and I gave it up.
After listening with interest to some hunting stories from guys in the shop, I decided I wanted to give it a try again...I was 36.
The first five years were mostly spent on a buddy's 40 acre farm. In that time I got to release one arrow at a buck, but a branch caused a defection and miss. I got close to a couple other bucks using spot and stalk methods, but couldn't get a shot.
A buddy I had invited to hunt the farm with me was determined to help me get a deer. We had worked the season together trying to pattern them, and he loaned me his climber so I could be more mobile. On the morning of 10/21/17, we set up 20 yards into the woods off the bean field, about a hundred yards apart. He seen the two does come by first, and shot me a text to keep my eyes open. I caught their movement, and was seriously considering shooting the big one (would have been my first deer). She was hiding her vitals from me at 30 yards, and I was just waiting on her to step out. My phone once again vibrated with a text, but I didn't want to move to look at it. Little did I know he was letting me know a buck had just slid by him, just out of his range.
Both does started looking behind them, and suddenly I saw him step out! The sudden rush of adrenaline told me he was the one I was looking for. He was walking straight toward me, and I was worried I wouldn't get a good shot angle. "Lord, I need him to turn if I'm going to shoot him", I prayed silently. As if on que, he turned and passed broadside right at a tree I had previously ranged at 20 yards! I pierced his heart, and he made it about 50 yards. My buddy heard the hit, my gutteral yell of joy, and the buck crash. He came running full speed to my tree, rejoicing! It was very cool to share that experience with him.
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Re: 1st buck...

Unread postby Tennhunter3 » Fri Dec 13, 2019 1:16 pm

I was 13 hunting behind the house.
My parents didn't hunt and they bought me a 3006 to use.

I hunted over this oak flat where it met pines and hunted the same stand every sit. It just so happened to be the coolest looking spot on our little 22 acres. It was the first monday of gun season I climbed in about 5am at 8.20 or so here come a buck walking along the transition I shot him at 75 yards he appeared to just keep standing their so i shot him again and disappeared into the pines.

When I walked over I noticed 2 blood trails in different directions. And thought oh crap I think I shot 2 deer by mistake.

When i walked over i tracked the blood trail to a old 6 point with a broken right beam with a single point with 5 on his left side. After I shot several bucks off our property over the years I learned all they were almost all non typical in the area.

I killed a 6 -2 -7 -4 -8 point on that little 22 acres in my teens.

I cleaned the deer and walked to the house covered in blood my mom started screaming thinking I was seriously hurt. I told her I shot a buck she looked at me completely surprised. Looking back how I drug that buck to the house I have no idea.

I then followed the second blood trail and led to a dead spike laying in his bed. So i cleaned him and drug him to the house. I called my dad and he came home from work to take deer to processor. He turned in the spike on his tag.

I was so excited I shot a buck and will never forget it. I do still feel bad about shooting that spike by accident.
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Re: 1st buck...

Unread postby matt1336 » Fri Dec 13, 2019 1:35 pm

I shot my first buck...a 2.5 y/o 8 on a drive as he was running and jumping through a bunch of brush. It’s absolutely one of the best shots I’ve ever put on a deer. One shot, blew up the heart. He died where he was shot. I was probably 13 or 14.
The drive before that one, my gun misfired on some does. I hated that shotgun. It misfired on a big 8 as it stood broadside to me at 50 yards...maybe closer the year before. I’m pretty sure old dad got it a pretty cheap.


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