My first deer!

Congratulations! What'd you shoot him with?

Well at least you DID field dress him instead of the "I am to good to do it, let someone else do it" that I deal with commonly on a corporate ranch.
Glad you got your first deer.

Nice looking spike. Did you smell that musky smell when you dressed him out? They smell like that on the hoof, too. When the wind blows right, you'll be able to smell a deer in the woods now.

And last but not least, congrats on your first deer!

Congrats on your first deer man. Nice job

What kind of range? Congratulations. First blood is memorable. Hold onto your feelings and remember. It will not be the same again, still good, but not the same.

You worried about it getting up a charging you?

CZsp01 said:

Thanks everyone! I was convinced that a deer shot right would drt especially with a 165gr 308. When it ran away I assumed it was a bad shot, so I brought my username with me. I still have a lot to learn!

The smell was not all that bad. I was in a 16' ladder stand, distance was 40 yards. I went bac
k to the gut pile after 2 hours and saw 6 buzzards and a hawk. Thought that was neat. Circle of life!

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Nothing gets wasted. Ever.

Congrats on the deer. Good shot!

Congrats, Good Shooting, Nice little Buck................

More Americans are killed by deer each year than by any other large American mammal, including bears, cougars and wolves. A study for the insurance industry estimated that deer kill 150 people a year...

Great job with number one! I guess you got that Tikka ready in time for the hunt after all.

You will never forget the first. Mine was 27 years ago when I was 13, and it is one of the most vivid memories I have.

Nicely done.

Good work !

Congrats. Now, the work begins. Soak 'em on ice water for a few days to bleed the meat out, then get to butcherin'.

I remember my first one. I'm glad my grandpa was there to help.

Congratulations! How old are you? I didn't kill my first deer until I was 26. I'm almost 70 now and have well over 100 in the plus column. Lots of good fun and good eating are in store for you.

Keep it up.

Get a good meat grinder in the future if you really get into it and start stuffing your own. I grind most of my venison anymore, all, but the back straps and tenderloins unless I wanna jerk some and some of the grind goes to chili. I love me some chili and so does the rest of the family. I stuff a lot of sausage. It keeps me out of trouble and the wife appreciates the good eats.

My first one was at age 11. That was 49 years ago just doing the math. Seems like yesterday when I relive it. You never will forget most of the details. All the ones since are kinda a blur. I really prefer bird hunting, but I shoot my share of venison and hogs. I grew up with it.

3" may frustrate you, but as you now know it's good enough as long as you know the range of the deer and keep your aim in the middle of the vitals. 3 " up, down, left or right is within the kill zone.
I wish our gun season started as early as y'all's. it gets frustrating having to let them walk because they are out of bow range when you know you could tag them with a rifle easily.

If you don't have an accurate, scoped 22, get one soon! Go to the range and get settled in with the 22, until groups are nice and tight. Then put 1 round down range with the center fire.

Let the center fire cool while you plink and concentrate on trigger press for at least 20 rounds with the 22. Then shoot your center fire again at its target. Repeat this for a 3-5 shot group.

Shooting a 22 at 100 yards will teach you a lot about trigger control, follow through, and consistency of cheek weld and hold on rifle. It will also help you work out that flinch I suspect your having, at least it did for me. Also, dry firing your rifle a lot between shots( the center fire ) will help with flinching. When the rifle goes off you should see the scope coming back at your face, it will take a while to get that to happen EVERY time.

Three inches at 100 isn't bad with factory ammo if your relatively new to the task IMHO.

Sorry for the thread veer.

wyohome said:

More Americans are killed by deer each year than by any other large American mammal, including bears, cougars and wolves. A study for the insurance industry estimated that deer kill 150 people a year...

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Just how many people are killed by wolves every year that they would even be included on that list?

Try letting another shooter fire your rifle to see how it groups with them firing it.
3" inch groups may be "good enough" for some but practically ever rifle I have owned over the last 40 years will easily hold 1.5" groups or better with factory ammo.
Again congrats on your first deer.

Try letting another shooter fire your rifle to see how it groups with them firing it.
3" inch groups may be "good enough" for some but practically ever rifle I have owned over the last 40 years will easily hold 1.5" groups or better with factory ammo.
Again congrats on your first deer.

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100% agree. Every year my father-in-law and I go out at least once before season and shoot the other one's rifle to make sure that they're truly zeroed in. That way, when we do miss we can't blame the weapon. 3" might be 'minute-of-deer', but I'd definitely be out there trying to get much better groups on those off days when you have the time to get to the range. Also, I'd find the one type of round that your rifle 'likes' and get it shooting really well with that one.

Congrats on the deer. I remember every minute of the first time I killed one (though I'd like to forget some of those minutes).

Great job!