Your first Deer

[fish4thepeck]

Deer season opened up for the first time in 1967 in Marion Co. I didn't know a thing about hunting deer but spent many a day and night in the mountains squirrel and coon hunting with my daddy. It was in October and we were camping on the mountain coon hunting and the dogs struck something and ran it out of hearing so we went back to camp wandering what happened to the dogs. I got up at daylight to do a little squirrel hunting and was poking around in the fire when I heard something then looked up and saw my first buck ever around home. It tore me up! i watched it down in a holler and so I took off down in the hollow trying to see it again. There was an old natual pond and man did it ever have some tracks around it. After I found out a little later that there was going to be a season on them I read up every thing I could and went to the local feed store and bought me an old British 303. It had the rifling shot out of it and I could hit a pie plate maybe 1 out 5 times at 50 yards. When the season opened Me and Daddy went back and he went down one holler and I went to the pond. About seven oclock I looked up and see the same buck coming off a ridge to the pond. It was a lucky shot. Never thought about gutting one but had dealt with hogs before. Before it was over I had the bucks head bout cut off trying to get it to bleed out. When we got home cut the horns off and they hung in the barn for ever. Finally had it mounted about 15 yers later. Back then I didn't know a 10 pointer from a spike thought they were all the same size. There was two derr killed in Marion co. that year. I have killed a few bigger but being with Daddy I will never forget this. Man I miss my Daddy! Included is the pic of the Deer

 

[mallardecho]

Nice deer, better story...........Thanks for sharing again.

 

[AThornton]

awesome story. mine was a morning hunt with my daddy when I was 9 years old at BriarPatch hunting club in Oglethorpe County, GA. I had been going with him for 2 or 3 years when we hunted Cold Water Creek in Elbert Co, but this was the first time I was going to try to kill one. It was also my first time ever in a climbing stand. It was an old Warren Sweat climber, which I actually still have, and daddy was in his about 15 yds away from me. I had my little Ruger .44Mag lever-action. I felt like I was on top of th world when I finally got up that tree, I was so proud to be looking eye-to-eye with daddy from 30ft high and knowing we both had the same passion for the outdoors and sharing those moments together, I felt like a real man. lol then about 8:30 a 3pt crossed the little creek about 30 yds behind us and when he topped my side of the ditch, i dropped the hammer. He turned a back flip and I commensed to screaming at the top of my lungs! i was so excited. it was my first deer, and a buck at that! dad said i was so excited it took me almost 40 minutes to climb down out of that tree. he said i wouldnt shut up long enough to climb. when i finally got down we ran over to where he laid and just hugged and embraced the thrill of the kill. i would give anything in the world to relive that moment again in my life. im proud to say that daddy passed his everlastins love for the outdoors on to me.

 

[bent rod]

Great post!

 

[catch 1]

I agree great post! Think about what kind of influence you can be on your son or daughter. TRY!

 

[churly]

Man thats one heck of a deer and a neat story!

My first was a doe in Henry Co. Opening day of '96. If my uncle had not drug me along, I may not have even gotten into hunting as hard as I have. I agree, take a kid hunting. It kept me out of alot of trouble in College!

 

[cooperjd]

My folks bought me my first little single shot .410 at the age of 5 so I could start on squirrels. In TN you have (or had) to be 10 years old before you can start going after deer, so I had to wait. finally Nov. of 1991 rolled around and with my new Winchester youth model .243 I was finally able to go deer hunting with dad. i had on so many pairs of sweatpants and sweatshirts under my coveralls i could barely climb the tree. i had so many pairs of socks on i don't know how i got my boots on over top of them. his old stand was built WAY up in a big ol tree. after climbing the first section of his ladder, it was climbing limbs and spikes to get to the top.

I wanted to hold out for a buck that juvenile weekend, and finally on Sunday evening my chance came. out crossing the cotton field was a 4pt. He got up on a little rise in the field and gave me a broadside shot. I was shaking so bad he could probably hear the stand rattling. I spined him with teh first shot and we had to get down so i could finish the job real quick. I don't know who was more excited, me or Dad.

That old stand is gone now, but we still hunt the same field, though now in separate stands. There is a fire and a passion that burns that some of you on this board understand, sadly many other folks today do not. i tell people up here that i don't have a choice whether or not to hunt. I am a hunter. I was born this way, and luckily enough for me, I had my Daddy around that was just as passionate about the outdoors to teach and share and pass it on to me. I think most people are born with the instinct, but only a lucky few of us are able to cultivate that instinct and have people teach us and show us what it is to be an outdoorsman. Thanks Dad.

 

[josh.schreiber]

great posts guys!
My first was a doe a couple years ago. (I know-just a doe. ...But for me, with all the time and frustration I had put in, I was ecstatic.)
My first buck is a little bit better story. I won't write it all out here--
If you wanna read about it, heres the link:
(pics included)
http://chattanoogafishingforum.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=17323&posts=10&start=1

*************On that thread I had said it had 16" inside spread. That was just an estimate by a guy that was looking at it when I killed it.
I was sittin on the sofa last week, and I kept looking up at it, thinking...that does NOT look like 16" across. I measured it myself--its right at 14 6/8" across. (Just wanted to be honest here).

 

[djbogle]

I'm ashamed to admit it, but my first deer wasn't exactly legal. I was nine, and back in '68 there weren't many deer around Sheffield, Alabama, where I grew up. I had a H&R .410, and my dad had bought me some slugs in case we got to go to south AL. I wasn't supposed to know where they were, but... Anyway, I was allowed to wander the bottoms behind the house and hunt small game, which was what I had set out to do, but I had slipped a couple of slugs in my pocket in case a wolf or bear was to get after me(wink, big grin)(actually, I had seen a set of deer tracks down there a few days before). Just so happened a big doe came slipping up a fence row, and like a fool, I busted her. Mind you, back then it was taboo to shoot a doe, but I wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. Still ain't, sometimes. Daddy whipped my butt like he never had before when he found out, but after everything calmed down, he went down with me, made me field dress it, and we butchered her together. His lecture on the matter, which lasted for about two years, was enough for me to abandon the practice of poaching.

My first legal deer was a three-pointer that I shot on Carter Mountain when I was sixteen. Daddy didn't whip me for that one, but I wish that he had. That started me on a LONG journey of chasing deer, that still continues to this day. I could probably buy a small country with all of the money that I've spent on deer hunting, but I still love it.