What do you remember most about your 1st deer hunt ?

[bogwalker]

What memories stand out more than others about you first deer hunt ?

How long ago was it ?

[SpitnArgueDuckClub*]

30 some odd years ago, opening morning I passed up a nice 8 point at about 50 yards waiting for a big buck. I seen that big buck about an hour later, behind some light brush. He walked off and I couldn't get a shot. After meeting my friend for lunch I told him and he was ticked, He told me "you never pass up a buck heck some guys go the whole season without even seeing a buck!!!" And then I was told I should have tried the shot through the light brush!!! Man was I bummed, I did end up shooting a smaller 8 point the next morning all the while questioning my decisions of the previous day. Looking back it wsa just a sign of the times, most hunters were proud just to shoot a buck and an either sex tag was a rarity. No one wanted to shoot a doe, shooting a buck any buck was a real badge of honor. Oh how times have changed.

[Rippinlip]

31 years ago this year I was sitting with my older brother on openeing day in a dead fall tree and watching a buck walk up on us and he kept asking me if I was going to shoot and I kept saying "yes", then I heard the bark of his mighty 12 guage go off.

I think his patience ran thin with me.

[Abndoc]

This is what I'm going to miss this year. Since 1992(my first deer camp) My Grandma has been the camp cook for us. Morning-Full Breakfast, eggs, bacon, pancakes...etc. Lunch-Stew, chili, always something homemade. Dinner. Steak, Burgers, Her famous cheesy potatos. She never spent a day in the woods with us hunting, but enjoyed every moment of the week, watching us come in, telling our stories, calling us out on our b.s. She past away last Jan from cancer. I know we will have a ball this year, like always. But for me, deer camp will be missing something, the love of Grandma. Thanks for all the hugs, kisses and memories. We miss you and love you very much.

[bogwalker]

1966 Hunting with my big brother. No money for motels so we slept in the Dodge Polaris 4-door. Temps got down to minus 50. We set a wind up alarm clock to wake us up every hour to start the car. Not many deer around Little Fork back then.

[mrklean]

i remember getting bored after about 20 min and not seeing deer then it started to snow and i got cold and didnt see any deer all day wasnt a great first time out

[hockeybc69]

Too bad they didnt have special youth hunts for ya Mr Klean.

[Coach1310]

What I remember most about my first deer hunt was being in the woods as it came alive... as light started to filter in you were sure every clump of brush or funny looking stump was a deer. Not to mention everytime leaves rustled, one was coming up behind you. My heart must have raced a 100 times that first morning and I never did see a deer. How the birds starting singing and how cold it really is at daybreak....

I also learned the "sacredness" of deer camp... for lack of a better term. How much all the stories meant and how much just getting together seemed to mean so much to all the guys. Our group has changed a bit and our location is much different, but I'll cherish those times in the old converted bus and this year will mark another year of telling the same old stories, laughing tell your stomach hurts and passing on the timeless traditions to the newcomers... well... thinking about this sure brought back good memories... thanks for starting the thread. It is amazing how time flies!

[wolfman-k]

About 30 years ago, I remember going up North to my buddy's land to hunt deer with his brother, a few friends & him. The only thing to sleep in was an old garage that the wind whipped through, but I was lucky enough to get to sleep in the pop-up tent trailer. There were four of us in there, can't remember who snored the loudest, O.K., I did. Sometime after midnight, as I was shivering because it was snowing & about -15 and we only had the stove for heat, I heard a hellacious racket from the garage! The white-gas heater had caught fire and filled the room with smoke & flame! Wow, did that place empty out in a hurry! No one hurt, but quite a time.

I didn't get a shot for five years, small buck for my first.

[creepworm]

About ten years ago. I remember being yelled at for hunting land that we had just sold and had exclusive permission for.

[Neighbor_guy]

My first deer hunt was 1991...... The year of the Holloween blizzard.

So the memories of my first hunt revolve around two things...

A lot of snow and walking (fist time in snow shoes)

And the deer that wouldn't die. My dad shot that deer 5 times with a .308 at 50 yards. He would shoot the deer, the deer would fall down, he would shoot the deer, the deer would fall down on and on and on.

Those are the two things that stick out for me the most when I think about my first year of hunting.

[Todd Caswell]

1982 lets see below zero temps, snow, frozen PBJ sanwich for lunch, sitting all day "because thats how we do it" and seeing one doe (didn't have a doe tag) and a real nice buck I never got a shot at.

[Bigtom]

My first time in 1994, walking to my stand me and my dad always kicked up 3 yearlings before shooting hours. Even after lunch they would come back to eat acorns and we would see them at dark. I never saw anymore deer that weekend. The 2nd weekend it was the same thing in the morning. So my dad decided that I should sneek around to my stand and my dad was going to chase the deer to me, i said okay. To my behalf it worked, after about 4 shots from the 30/30 marlin lever action I had my first 50lb fawn (not field dressed). My dad hid behind a big tree smoking about 3 cigerets later to regain his breath(smoking to help breath?) and the shooting stoped. Good times and memories sence he passed away 10 years ago. I still hunt with my gramps, uncle, and cousin.

You got to cherish your family while you still have them.

[Arctic]

What I remember most is walking a lot and not seeing any deer! Ah, to be a teenager on his first deer hunt! LOL

[walleyeking19]

All i remember is that it was about 15 below zero and within minutes my dad has isicles hanging from his mustache. we saw one deer and when it came out it looked directly at me, so my dad couldnt turn around. well i was frozen hoping it would put its head down and never got my gun up. Thats all we saw that year

[nofishfisherman]

I'll have to answer this question after this years opener. I'm 29 and going on my first deer hunt. Better late than never.

[fishinfey8]

I'll have to answer this question after this years opener. I'm 29 and going on my first deer hunt. Better late than never.

You should def. post back what you thought...it would be interesting to hear from someone starting the sport in their adulthood.

[WyoChris]

My first rifle hunt..... shooting a wyoming antelope at 80 yards, blowing off its hoof, watching it stand in confusion, then putting another shot right in the vitals. My buddy laughing at me as I field dressed it. Good times.

First archery hunt.... not so memorable. Flinging an arrow right as the sun was going. Finding the arrow full of blood, then spending the next 2 hours following a blood trail and no deer. Spending the whole next day, in sunlight, looking for it where the blood trail stopped and never finding the deer. Good effort, but no deer. I hope that never happens again. Lesson learned: Spend a lot of time at the range sharpening your skills, and don't put yourself in a position where you need to take a shot over 30 yards.

Chris

[psepuncher]

It's 5 am,

get up son....then baecon was frying.

[DinnerPail]

The first year I was old enought to hunt they didn't have a deer season that year.

Miss my dad saying {it't daylight in the swamp). All the old timers telling stories and my gramdma cooking for them all. She looked forward to it every year.

Deer hunting is a big tridition here and we carry on without Dad, Grandma and alot of the oldtimers. We are into 3rd and 4th generation hunters and hope we can continue to pass it along for several more.

My Grandma would have all the hunters sign and leave coments, the book was started in 1936.

Hope everyone has as good of time as we do here.

[GSP4EVER]

My first deer hunt was in 1992. I was 17 and using a SKS. It was myself, my dad, grandpa, and Uncle Elmer. The first day I see a buck all the way across a plowed field. I start shooting. From the woods I can here my Uncle say "Will you stop shooting. I can here that S.O.B. laughing at you from here." Elmer tels me that he could see my bullets hitting the ground. He took me to his little range, and showed me how to sight in the rifle using his method and told me that I should shoot my rifle often. After his advice I shoot my rifle all summer long. I have yet to shoot a deer a second time and track it farther than 100 yards. I thank Elmer for that. Elmer died a couple of years later and my grandpa 2 years ago. I miss those two guys. This year it will be myself, my dad and my 13 yo nephew for his first hunt. I will be sitting in my grandpas stand with my uncles rifle so all of us can be there for his first time out. Good luck this year fellow hunters.

[Dellfin]

Nearly thirty years ago I was Eighteen years old and on my first hunt with my brother, my dad, and my bother’s pal (Tom) near Emily. This was essentially my dad’s first hunt. His dad (my grandpa) hunted occasionally before he passed away in the mid ‘80s, but my dad never took up the sport. This was my brother’s second or third season. Tom was the “veteran” of the camp and I’d met him for the first time the evening before opener. Even though Tom was a little “off”, my brother and the rest of us looked to him for his experience and information on how things were supposed to happen on a hunt.

We’d rented a small motel room in beautiful downtown Emily. As we prepared the night before, my dad, my brother and I were in the kitchen area of the motel room. Tom was in the bedroom. KABOOM!! Tom, the veteran hunter, was playing with his (loaded) rifle in the bedroom and had discharged it in the motel. The bullet did not travel in our direction, but thankfully went through the opposite wall. I’ve never seen my dad so angry at another person. I truly thought he was going to tear each of Tom’s limbs from his body and beat him to a bloody pulp. Not sure why we didn’t send Tom packing that night. In retrospect, we should have buried him behind the motel that night. What a tool.

The next morning, about twenty-five feet high in a pine that I had climbed, I shot my first spike buck with 45 minutes of the opener. My brother got a six pointer and Tom got skunked (…karma?). Needless to say, Tom was not a part of any hunting party my family was involved with from that point forward.

[paceman]

1985 was my first year. I was 16. I remember the oily smell from the borrowed 30-30. I remember the cold, quiet morning as the sun came up. It was so cold my feet were numb in about an hour. Cheap rubber boots and snow. I remember hearing the neighbor shoot across the fence and I almost jumped out of the stand. I made it until about 8:30 and then walked home to warm up. It was tough hunting those first years. Always cold/snowy. Got my first deer a few years later. I still have the basket 8 in my garage. Great memories!

[Wobbler]

My first deer hunt was 25 years ago when I just turned 13. I was fortunate to have drawn a doe permit and my dad walked me to my stand. I told him "I will let the first doe go hoping for a buck then I will shoot the next deer". 30 minutes after first light a doe walks right up to my stand. I took the safety off and just shook and decided to let it go and see if a buck would be behind. Nothing came for 2 hours. I really regretted not shooting that doe at that time. Just as I thought that I see a deer 75 yards down the trail. I pull up my open sights 30-30 Marlin and fire and the deer runs off. My dad comes over and says "What did you shoot?" I said a doe walked out and it ran off. We walk over to where I shot at it and my dad says stand here. He walks 50 yards or so and I hear my dad fall over. I yell "Dad are you ok?". He says you better come over here I found your deer. I yell "Is it a big doe?" He says "Come over". I walk over to him and there is my first deer..... a 4 pointer and my dad with the biggest smile on his face! Later as we drag the deer out our hunting partner walks over and says to my dad "That is a nice buck you shot" to my dad. My dad goes "You mean what he shot" as he pointed to me. Yes I had a hard time fitting my head in the truck door that morning! I thought deer hunting was easy. Oh how to be young and dumb again! 25 years later I think about each deer I shot, the one that got away and how many times I have been humbled. There is nothing like deer hunting and every year I get to enjoy it with my dad and brother at our hunting camp I truly appreciate and realize how lucky I am!

[standsitter]

Hunting near Cotton, Minnesota, in 1965, where opening temp was a REAL -20 degrees! My orange nylon vest my Dad got me froze and cracked like peanut brittle!! We had to walk around quite a bit to stay warm, but I still loved the experience of the woods. My Dad showed me his "natural made treestand", made from the limbs of the pine trees in those woods. He lined it with the soft pine boughs from the tree-That was so cool to me!! I have since gone deer hunting now 37 out of the last 45 years!! 33 in a row now! BETTER EACH YEAR!! Thanks, Dad I love ya!!