lets hear about your first harvest :)

[Liv4Rut]

Hi everyone, I’ve always sat here and pondered what was all your folks first whitetail harvest. Since we really cant all get together and shoot the bull for hours like most hunting camps mines well talk about here, I love to hear about first harvests and how people got started. If you would, could you give us a good description of the hunt and what age you were back then. I know all of you remember that hunt like it was yesterday if you are all anything like me, which I know all you are. : ) I’m also sure that I’m not the only one that wouldn’t mind hearing about the spark that started the fire, we call hunting, deep and I mean REAL deep in ourselves. Here’s mine…….

It was a cool calm night, Oct .13 1993. I was ten years old, and I was armed with an old pearson target bow set at 45 pounds and spray painted camo by my dad. My dad and I walked to my tree stand and he said “ Well we are here, get up that tree and goodluck†after him making sure I felt comfortable I told him I would be fine, and he headed about 300 yards to his tree. As soon as he crossed that fence I got a feeling of WOW im out here all alone without my dad. I was full of emotions that day not really knowing what to expect and not really knowing what I would do if a deer came in. I had a very very low birds eye view of everything probably around 12 feet up in a oak tree with a crotch and a stick that was cut off about a inch out and stuck into my back. As I sat the woods came to life and it wasn’t long a small six pointer came strolling in, I grabbed my bow and stood up. All the sudden he turned towards me and stood on the base of a hill 15 yards away, eye level with me just staring at me. OH my god, I thought, my heart starting racing, my body erupted into uncontrollable shakes, once shallow soft breaths turned into deep hard breathing as I stared into the eyes of my quarry. My arrow was rattling against my bow shelf so hard It was making a little ticking noise. I had so much pent up excitement in me, I almost wanted to just scream and let that deer get out of there, I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, then as things were escalating deeper and deeper into me, SWOOOOSH and he was gone. I let out a huge breath and just sat there shaking so hard. Even though I was kind of disappointed it was the most amazing feeling in my life. Soon it was getting dark and I mean very dark. A deer came sneaking in behind me, I thought for sure it was the monster six pointer I seen before. As it edged nearer and nearer I got shakier and shakier again. Once It got to about 5 yards from my tree, I pulled back and couldn’t see my sites. Oh crap now what? Being the crafty thinker I was, I raised my site into the skyline to see my pin and centered it in my peep, keep it steady and raised it down, until right behind the shoulder was all I could see in the middle, I let go. SMACK!!!! As the timber erupted into a loud ruckus I just sat there and didn’t know what happened or what I even just shot. Didn’t know if it was a buck or doe. About 5 minutes later my dad came over and said he was up standing by the fence taking a smoke and thought he heard me shoot, I told him I did, and he taught me that it was a little to late to be shooting, but also that he was so excited that I got a shot. We got out the flashlights and nothing, no arrow no blood nothing, I kept telling him, that it ran over that way and I heard a crash and everything went silent. We slowly walked over there and he found a drop of blood, awesome I thought. A little farther as he looked up the trail I looked down and ten feet down was my first deer harvest a 105 pound doe. I still don’t know if he didn’t see it first or let me find it, either way it was the most amazing feeling ever. When we got her back up to the barn, once an hour I would walk out into the barn and admire my trophy!!!. Sorry it’s a little long, but lets hear about that magical hunt that keeps you checking this site everyday

 

[REM]

Well thats odd, my first deer hunt was in '93 also, but I was some what older then you 45

My ex girl friends father invited me that yr to hunt with his group, group has been going for close to 40 yrs now, lots of new faces over the yrs. He gave me alot of "instructions" all good, was laying in a bar ditch as they drove deer from other end of section, along comes a nice 9 point, i emptied my 12 gauge as he can by me, loaded two more bullets and fired away he went out of site, i was ready to toss gun and quit, thought i couldn't hit a barn why hunt, guy down the other end yelled at me "you got him" he had run behind a brush pile and dropped out of my view. one hole thru the lungs did him,had never gut a deer before had h

*ll of a nice knife, so the guy "showed me" learned three things that hunt get a better gun,take time and aim don't point and how to gut a deer, i always fill tag now days nothing to brag about, but have also gutted enough deer now mine and others to do it blind

 

[simplesimon]

It's kinda of ironic but I killed my first deer back in 1993 and I was 16 years old. I had been hunting since I was 10 years old a had a chance to kill the biggest buck I have seen to date with my Dad on a juvenile hunt but got buck fever and never pulled the trigger. I was hunting in a treestand that my dad and my uncle built for my grandfather. They had seen a big 12 pointer using that trail and wanted to give my grandfather a chance to kill him. My dad told me since my grandfather was not hunting anymore to go to that stand. Well I was familiar with the area so my dad went to another stand and I went to my stand. There was a field that was about 50 yards wide and about 75 yardsa long with pines on both sides. Well needless to say the great white hunter I was back then I fell asleep not long into the hunt. My alarm on my watch went off and scared the crap out of me. When I gathered myself I looked up and there was a buck walking across the field. It was not the 12 pointer but was a good 8. My knees started knocking and my heart was racing a hundred miles a minute. There he was broadside and it was happening again. "Buck Fever". Before too long he had made he way to the other side and entered into the pine thicket and I was sick. I noticed and opening and thought that might be my only shot that I had left. Sure enough I put the cross hairs in the opening and as soon as I saw his front shoulder I pulled the trigger on the 30-06. I climb down with all kinds of adrenaline pumping. Started to look for blood and could not find any at first but it was not long until I got on a good trail and led me to a big white belly. I was pumped. The first deer that I ever shot and it was a beauty. Perfect 8 pointer. Never will forget the day as long as I live. I remember being so pumped and draggging the deer for 50 or 60 yards with no problem but when I went to drag a little further the adrenaline was gone so I went to get my uncle to help me. It is the biggest buck to date for me and a very special one. Can not wait to harvest a bigger one but dont think it will mean as much as my first kill!!

 

[Waukon1]

I believe that mine was 1987. I was "still hunting" through some cedars when I looked up the hill and saw a doe facing away from me. I was using a single shot 16 gauge that sometimes didn't eject the empty shell. I shot and the shell didn't eject so I quickly pulled out my knife and pried the shell out and put in another. When I looked up where the doe was standing there was now a buck. I shot at the buck and I heard him crash through the cedars only 25 yards away. he had five points on one side and the other side was 1 point that came out of his head went straight down the side of his face and then stuck straight out as far as his ear. Man were my folks surprised when I went home and told them.

 

[horkeymike]

My first deer with the bow came when I was a sophmore in highschool. It was the night before opening day of bow season and three of my buddies and myself decided we were going hunting the next morning. So we all stayed at my friend Jakes. We borrowed a case of Old Millaukee from his dad

(yeah thats right the red cans) and all woke up the next day with big fat headaches. We jumped in the truck and were all dropped off at our spots. I sat in a draw between two cornfields on the ground behind some big ragweeds. As I waited for it to get light I wondered why I drank so much the night before. As it beagn to get light I could see a deer in the draw working its way towards me. After about a falf hour the deer had closed the distance to thirty yards and is coming straight for me. When the deer got to ten yards he went behind some weeds so I drew back. When he came out from behind the weeds he was three yards and we locked eyes!! I could only see his head and neck. I couldn't stop shaking a cobination of nerves and being hungover. I let her fly, he fell in his tracks

I was pumped!! A four pointer, three points on the right side one on the left. Sure was a ugly rack but I didn't care. A hour later when my buddies came to pick me up i told them I shot a coyote. They said bull [censored], so I said lets go look at him. Sure enough when we got down there their laid my deer. Some coyote they said, as we all exchanged high fives. That day has fueled the deer hunting addiction ever since

 

[Littlefeather]

My first deer with a bow was last year on my uncle's farm between Waukon and Decorah. It was the Saturday before Thanksgiving. I had been hunting the same trail all fall and after sitting for 5 hours in 34 degrees and mist, the 8 point walked by at about 4:30. Thank goodness for gore-tex. When I drew back on the deer it busted me. I held my bow as long as I could and had to let off. When the deer saw me move he started to trot off. I had one of those little primos calls in my mouth and when I grunted was able to get him to stop. When I released, the deer jumed and I got a solid liver shot on him. He ran down the hill and died next to the road by a gate. I did everything wrong and just got lucky. I have two deer that are larger that I got with a shotgun, but I really earned this one. Made him into a skull mount and he is on a piece of driftwood in my basement.

 

[SaskGuy]

It was 12 years ago, I was 16. I had just gotten my drivers license and was pumped as I could finally go out by myself as finding somebody to take me was hard, my dad doesn't hunt and my uncle who did was busy that day. I was out in the community pasture at first light and saw a deer walking with his head down about 500 yards away. I walked over to where I thought it was and when I arrived it was still there, nose down, unaware of me, about 100 yards away. Well I can still recall how hard my heart was pounding as I tried find him in the scope of the old 7x57 Mauser I had borrowed from a neighbour. I couldn't get steady so I put the gun in a fork of an old willow tree and found him in the Xhairs and fired. Down he went. I had absolutely no idea how to gut a deer and somehow managed to wrestle him into the truck all by myself, i remeber it being quite a chore. Luckily I found somebody to gut him for me. He was a basic 4x4 with split g2's so he was a 10 pointer, I thought he was a monster. Looking back I know he wouldn't have broke 130" but at the time, he was the biggest buck in the world. My heart still pounds the same way today as it did 12 years ago, when it stops is the day that I'll quit hunting but I doubt that day will ever come, the excitement is always there.

 

[GunnerJon]

To tell you the truth...my first deer was in 1993 as well! I was 11 yrs old. I had been tagging along with my dad during muzzleloader season since I was 9, and I finally got a landowners tag when I was 10. I didn't get a deer, but the next year I got to wrap my tag around a button buck...my first deer kill. I was so proud, and so was my dad. I shot him during 2nd season shotgun from a treestand, seated right next to my dad. It was very, very cold and I had so many layers on that I could barely lift my arms, let alone my slug gun. What an awesome experience. I ended up shooting 3 times (2 of which were misses). That really fueled my deer hunting flame, and I have been hunting with slug gun, muzzleloader and pistol since that early beginning.

 

[REM]

Have problem with the "borrowed" beer part, I myself "borrowed" Dads beer but he as far as know never knew who took

 

[REM]

Guess I'm the Grandpa of first deer kill in '93. Makes really feel my age.

When 10 to 16 y/o olds are out the first time me at 45.

But Oldbuck and I along with thousands went on a hunting trip that no $$ in this world can or would want to buy.

 

[flappy]

LittleFeather, I grew up halfway between Decorah and Waukon. (beautiful country) Just over the hill from Moe Park about 1 mile off the Old Stage Road, where it crosses over Trout River.

My first deer was back in the early 80's, I was probably 12 or 13. I had gone out with my Dad the year before. He was checking to see if I was ready to hunt by myself. We were sitting on the ground about 25 yards apart and I had a weak bow with the razor blades were removed from my arrows for my own protection. I didn't know the difference, it was just neat to be out there. He thought I was moving way too much (and I was), but I sure stopped moving when I saw the deer. At that point in time, he says he was moving too much because he couldn't quite see the deer yet and wondered what I was doing. Then to his surprise, I let an arrow fly and actually hit a doe. I got about 2 inches of penetration into the meat above the shoulder. Guess I was ready.

The next year I went out by myself, early in the season the weather was so nice that even on a morning stand I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I was about 15 feet up in a ladder stand and a doe came right in front of me. Being the expert marksman that I was, I gut shot her. Returning after some breakfast and with my Dad we trailed her for 1/4 mile and saw her hiding in a hay field. She was still alive, but not moving very quickly. Dad ran up and jumped on her back and cut her neck with his knife. Yeah, I thought he was a cowboy!!