Your first buck

[T.R.]

It was the very last day of Pennsylvania rifle season and I still had not fired a shot. My partner and I slowly walked along a stream bank while the sky turned a menacing shade of gray. It began to snow big fluffy flakes that swirled about us. After less than a mile, a 7 point buck jumped from its bed and bounded away uphill towards a grown over wheat field. I raised my borrowed Winchester 94 carbine and followed the animal in my sights. It stopped briefly at the fence and I fired a shot into its neck. Distance was about 75 yards or so. The animal collapsed and never knew what hit him. I was shooting 170 grain round nose ammo in my 30-30 that morning. It took us the rest of that afternoon to carry the buck across the stream and drag it up the steep stream bank. We were exhausted by the time we got him loaded into the back of my Mom's car - a 1971 Plymouth Duster. I'll never forget that buck, I was 16 years old at the time.

TR

 

[LoonWulf]

1996, Axis buck at about 10yds. I had hunted for about 4 months at this point (Hawaii has no "seasons" for the most part, and living on Molokai I hunted at least once a week), Id seen this deer before also.
We had just come off a record rainy period, water literally ran up hill. There were deep channels, and cane grass corridors in the areas i usually hunted. The deer stuck his head out of a patch of grass and into one of openings at about 10yds or so. I brought my .30-06, from which i had fired maybe a box of shells, up and fired. The bullet went in the left eye, cracked his skull and exited the right (i assume it deflected, or something).
29.5" on one side 27.5 with a few inches broken off on the other, weighted something around 200lbs. His coat was almost black along the back of his neck down to his butt.
I kinda wish i had pictures of that deer.....

 

[Browning Guy]

Well technically my FIRST one was with the front end of a '71 Olds Cutlass, but lets go with the first hunting buck as it was a lot more fun! My first was an 8 pt. with 19" inside spread, taken with a .50 cal .Thompson Center Hawken. I had hunted in the morning and came back to the truck to warm up. On the way back in about 2:00 I saw a doe cross a power line ahead of me. I continued on and saw another group of hunters coming into the area where I was headed, from the farm across the way. I back tracked along the power line and took a seat watching it and a little marsh. About 20 -30 minutes later I realized "something didn't look right" across the right of way. Then it dawned on me there was steam coming from a big oak tree. The buck was evidently trailing the doe and came up through the woods and had that big oak directly between us. As he rounded the tree I saw what he was and got ready. He kept walking and quartering across in front of me but grass and brush blocked his body, with only neck and head visible. Finally I was running out of time as he was approaching "downwind" on me. He stopped and I had a choice to make, try to punch through the grass at his shoulder, which I could make out through the brush, or a head/neck shot. I knew I had been busting water filled pop cans all summer at our 80 yd. range at the house. I aimed for his left ear and touched off. I immediately ducked under the smoke cloud and nothing, ziltch, nada. I said "well he ain't running so I must have got him." Sure enough about 45 yards away, down in the marsh grass, he was dead in his tracks with a .50 cal.round ball hole about an inch below and behind his left ear. Not sure I'd try that today but back then I had the confidence, and cockiness of youth with me (as well as better eyes and steadier aim).

 

[jeepnik]

Well, no photo. As it was over 50 years ago, and I can't say I ever saw a camera taken on a hunt back then. But the story is burned into my memory like my name was into oak with a woodburner tool.

Simple story. I'd been out with the older folks for a couple of years. I'd seen two cousins get their firsts. Now it was my turn. Spot and stalk with my dad. A good buck, no monster, but certainly not a spike. We got close enough, dad's estimate, without being busted. As I sighted in the barrel was waving like a flag in a breeze. Dad put his hand on my shoulder and things got a whole lot better.

The deer was quartering away. Held where dad said to hold and squeezed. One shot. When the .243 win came out of recoil there was no deer to be seen. I was initially dumbstruck. How could I have missed? But dad was telling me I did good. Sure enough it dropped right there.

Sorry no story about drinking blood or eating the heart and so on. My family are meat hunters. It's about harvesting the deer to eat, not a bunch of superstitious BS.

 

[tomturkey]

I got invited to hunt with her family by a woman I worked with when I turned 14 in 1957. I continued to hunt with them for years. It was not until 1961 that I saw my first buck. I had been siting against an ole pine stump for a long time. As it got light a car stopped and dropped a hunter off 40 years from me. I got up and quietly walked up to him sitting with his feet almost in the two track. I told him if he sat there neither of us would see any deer. He got up and moved down the road.

A little while later a group of does came through with a large spike horn following. I can still picture him though the peep sight on that old 303 British I had bought that year. He only went a few feet and dropped. I never got blood on my hands as it was the custom with that group that you did not have to gut your deer if any one else was around, they would do it. I have a grainy old black and white picture of him hanging where we always parked when hunting there.

Sadly I do not have that old 303 as I sold it t buy a Winchester model 100 in 308. My son is using that gun now as I purchased a Model 100 in 284 from my cousins estate. I have neve sold a gun after selling that 303.

I hunt some to this day with the son of the woman I worked with back then. We talk on the phone at least once a week. We are both in our middle 70's now so that invite made for a long standing relationship.

 

[H&Hhunter]

Twofer on my first deer in 1982. It was in the Floridas Mountains in Souhthern NM. We were hunting ibex and happened to have a deer tag in my pocket. While glassing we spotted a mule deer buck and my 14 year old self got all excited and fired up. I took careful aim and squeezed the trigger. At the shot I lost the buck in the scope, I reaquired him in the scope and dropped him on the second shot. As we walked up to him we realized that buck number one dropped to the shot, buck number two dropped to the second shot.

The game warden was gracious and understanding of my youthful exuberance and tagged the smaller buck after giving me a high five and an understanding talk about what had happened and to be careful in the future.

 

[buck460XVR]

The year was 1966 and I was twelve years old. While I had been sqyuirrel hunting a few times, I had never been deer hunting before opening day that year. My ol' Man took me in the woods with him and dropped me off by an old tree and told me he would be "over thatta way". It was public land and once it got light out the woods erupted with gunshots all around me. I was cold and Grampa's old .32 special was heavy, so the gun was rested against a tree and I had my hands in my coat pockets trying to get the feeling back in them, when I heard a twig snap behind me. I slowly turned and saw a spike buck staring at me only about 35 yards away. The buck never moved as I slowly raised the old Winchester to my shoulder, but when I took the safety off, he was off. I can't remember how many times I shot at him as he ran past me, I couldn't tell you if I even looked down the barrel. My dad told me just to wait if I shot something so I did and a few minutes later he came over and we looked for blood. Another hunter a hundred yards away said he thought he heard the bullet hit, so we circled for a good hour with no luck. Finally came across a guy dressing him out at the edge of a swamp. Said he hadn't been hit before he shot. Since we had tramped around our stands for a good while, my dad suggested we go back to the truck and have a early lunch and then head back out. On the way back we were circling a big tag-alder swamp when my day suddenly brought his gun up to his shoulder and took a quick shot. Not knowing what he shot at I looked in the woods and saw a flash of white heading towards the open swamp behind us. Like the youngin' I was, I ran like a banshee to the edge of the swamp and got there about the same time the buck broke cover.....maybe 50 yards away. I took three shots before the 8-pointer went down. I ran over to the buck still struggling to get up and was going to shoot again when my dad said "save your ammo, he's finished.....he was dead as soon as I hit him. What were you shooting for?" From the excitement of my first buck, to being told I missed and wasted my ammo. Still it was a buck for the family and I accepted the fact I seen two bucks on my first day of deer season. Quite an accomplishment back then for where we hunted. Later that night as I helped my dad skin the buck, he told me he saw the buck hiding in the brush and he had to take a quick shot before it took off. A few minutes later, he pulled the bullet from the far side shoulder and looked at it.......and then looked at me. He handed the bullet to me and said......"I was shooting Silver tips. This bullet didn't come from my gun and there's only one hole in this deer.....it's gotta be your bullet....gotta be your deer." Later we took the bullet and put it on the plaque with the horns. Sadly, somewhere during the last 52 years, both have been lost along the way. But not the memory of that day. I can still see that buck busting from cover....and altho the woods has changed greatly since that day, I can still show you exactly where he fell, and I can still see the look on my dad's face when he pulled that bullet outta the shoulder.

 

[22250Rem]

The whole story is too long and involved but I had to make a quick snap shot on a buck bounding away from me. Just as I fired I knew I had shot over him in my rush to quickly get the shot off. However........ My too high shot coincided with one of his high leaps and the old Foster style slug from my smoothbore High Standard 12 ga. caught him in the back of the head in mid-leap. All four legs went limp in mid-air and he was dead when he hit the ground not even twitching. Sometimes you get lucky.

 

[Picher]

This is my first buck of any consequence. It weighed just shy of 200 lbs, after hanging for 7 days.

I was in my permanent semi-blind behind our daughter's family's house and decided it was time to call in a buck. I blew the call and heard a deer coming down the hill through small pines and it appeared about 40 yards, and turned to my left. I put the crosshairs of my .270 on the kill zone, and unfortunately, he passed by a big maple just as I fired. He wheeled and ran back the way he came and I could see his beautiful rack bouncing above the small pines.

I called again and he turned around and came right back towards me. This time, I nailed him as he turned and dropped him in his tracks! The antlers are mounted on the wall in my man cave.

 

[Captcurt]

The whole story is too long and involved but I had to make a quick snap shot on a buck bounding away from me. Just as I fired I knew I had shot over him in my rush to quickly get the shot off. However........ My too high shot coincided with one of his high leaps and the old Foster style slug from my smoothbore High Standard 12 ga. caught him in the back of the head in mid-leap. All four legs went limp in mid-air and he was dead when he hit the ground not even twitching. Sometimes you get lucky.View attachment 795075 View attachment 795076

I'll take luck over skill anytime.