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

[Double D]

My first time was in 1991, and I too was a bit unusual that I was 25 for a first time deer hunter, and my 1 year younger brother was taking me. I wouldn't dream of missing it now.

However, the first time I saw our tent I was surprised. Not in a bad way, but surprised. I had never seen it before, my dad always told me about it when he went (he had to quit going and that's how I got the spot in camp). An old WW1 (not 2) military tent my great uncle bought when he was discharged.

I remember we drove across most of Minnesota all through Thursday night to get there Friday morning and make camp. The first morning, my instructions were to find a good spot in the woods and sit down and stay there. Once the shooting started I was unnverved but hung in there. Never saw a deer that year anyway. Didn't get to fire a shot until year 3.

Now trip 20 is here. The location and just 1 face has changed, the tent is gone, but it's still deer hunting.

DD

[bottom-bouncer]

my first deer hunt was in 1984 at the ripe age of twelve my family used to hunt near crane lake. It was cold The one thing that stands out the most was building a fire on top of a ridge we call the trapper shack ridge we ate our lunch there next to our fire. That spot holds a place in my heart That is were I spread my dads ashes 5 years ago. I brought the whole family out there to do it even mom to show all of them the place my dad loved the views are priceless. alot of seasons have passed since he took me out for my first deer hunt. I have never missed a season although I am a dedicated bow hunter now those memory's I will always remember.

[Boar]

31 years ago I remember doing alot of missing. 31 years later I remember doing alot of missing

[Neiko]

I was #7 of 8 in a Catholic family and my dad was a truck driver. Went to Catholic grade school up until 9th grade. My dad was no saint. When we were little I remember him working on cars in the garage and when things didn't go right you probably should cover your ears. The one word I never heard him say was the "F" bomb. It was finally my turn to go deer hunting after only watching them bring home all the deer growing up. I don't remember what happened up there when it was my first time but my dad dropped the "F" bomb and I just remember laughing after wards about it because it sounded so weird coming from his mouth. That is what I remember the most. That and freezing my arse off in I-Falls.

[benelli_dude2002]

what i remember most about my first deer hunt was when the doe i shot fell about 10 feet from me. she was running straight at me and i missed my first 2 shots and finally connected on the 3rd which put her down. Fawn just stood there about 20 yards away so i shot that too. I was 13 yrs old. a week or so later I shot my first bull moose. Lost count since then.

[reinhard1]

i've been hunting the same public land spot since my first deer. i was sitting under a pine tree and i watched a group of deer comming in my direction and suddenly this doe stands 5 feet from me out of nowhere. shot her through the neck with the same 30-30 i still have today. good luck.

[NoWiser]

1996 and I was 12 years old. Still too young to go "up north" with my dad's party so I stayed home and hunted zone 3b with my Grandpa. I remember hunting the whole first weekend and most of the following week in the cold and snow without so much as hearing a deer. (We used to get snow in November). Finally, on one of the last days of the season, I see a deer walking on a ridge about 80 yards away. I pointed my Winchester 1300 at a clearing in the edge of the woods, and when the deer got there I pulled the trigger. The deer took off and I thought I missed. After awhile I went and saw blood on the fresh white snow and then went back to Grandpa's truck to wait for him. After a little tracking we found a huge 7 point buck laying in the snow. 18" wide and tall tines. We gave each other a big hug and then struggled to load it into his truck. Grandpa is getting older now, and his memory isn't as good as it used to be, but at least once or twice a year we sit down together and retell the story to anyone who will listen, or just to each other. It always ends up with the two of us laughing and laughing. I couldn't imagine a better "1st deer".

[Musky Buck]

1983 How thick the ice was on the truck windshield and how long it took to defrost it. How there was no one hunting within 2 miles of me. How fast a doe can be drug out on the frozen tundra. It was 3 days bucks only 1st weekend or lottery for a doe the 2nd and you got 2 days to hunt. It was extremely chilly compared to the hunts of the last decade or so. My dad taught me a lot about how deer can see movement so moving very slowly was crucial.

[ItsaCrappieLife]

First memory is of my Dad and brother in law pushing a slough with me posting the other side. Unfortunately the deer ran out between myself and them and was running directly towards me but that did not stop me from shooting at it. Did not get the deer but I did get a valuable lesson in gun safety as they were not too happy about hearing slugs fly by. Remember to be carefull out there, especially when conducting a deer drive.

[TruthWalleyes]

My first shotgun season with my dad. Shot a doe in the neck from 90yds out with the same 870 i use today. My most memorable though, was as we walked up to it, it was still squirming and kicking, so i asked dad "should i shoot it again", he said "sure",

"In the head" i ask, he just shrugged his shoulders....

Well i still remember having to clean all the blood out of the truck that weekend...and folks, thats when i realized that slitting the throat with a knife is better than blowing the top of the deers head off with another slug!!

Lesson learned, and the first of many hunts!

[Musky Buck]

1 more, getting dressed in "red" as there was no blaze orange requirement then.No 4 wheelers, no cell phones, no internet, barely computers, tons of dairy farms and just the silence.

[nonteepical]

a half frozen sandwich, can of holiday pop, a warmed up can of dinty moore on the car engine and a misplaced can opener. dad boosting me up the old oak tree on the edge of an overgrown field, with a marlin 35 caliber....1976

[Monkster]

Hunting near Staples/Motley area with my dad, uncle and cousins. First morning, my dad puts me on a stump near a slough. My dad stays about 50 yards away. A doe and fawn come within 10 feet of me, yes, 10 feet. I am completely motionless wondering if I should shoot the doe. I decide not to, but watch the fawn eat grass for a few mintues. A doe is pushed to me on a drive later in the day, my 30-30 lever action, open sights, does the job after 3 shots...must have been the open sights

[96trigger]

My Dad took me down in my grandfathers woods, put me on stump, and told me to sit there until about 8:00. I was half frozen by the time 9:00 came around and I never saw a deer. At 9:00 we met up with the rest of the family to see how we all did and then get set to do deer drives the rest of the day. I was a brush bitzch for the older guys. We would often do 2 to 3 deer drives a day, back then, we would get a couple of deer off of each drive. Throughout the years, the younger guys started to do less drives, and more sitting. The last couple of years we haven't done any deer drives at all, and not surprising to some of us, we actually shoot more deer from the stand than we did on drives. The bonus is that now my older relatives can sit and hunt all week and still see deer. Before, once we drove a woods, it was pretty much ruined for the season.

Took me a couple of years before I was actually able to harvest a deer. Man, those were good times.

[Lipriper84]

My first deer hunt was in my back yard with my Dad, and 2 uncles. I was using a single shot .410 slug gun. Never even seen a deer but had a lot of fun out in the woods with my Dad and uncles. The thing I remember most was walking to my stand in the dark for the first time. I must have scared up a rabbit or something on the way in and almost jumped out of my skin. hahaha. That land got sold a few years later without us ever getting a deer while I was out there.

I started hunting with my best friend and finally got my first deer. I remember my friend and i getting lost in the woods walking to our deer stands. I finally made it to mine about 5 minutes after shooting time. As soon as I got in my stand I could hear something slowly crunching its way to me down the same trail I had just walked down. I hadn't even loaded my gun yet. So I quickly and quietly loaded my gun. about 10 seconds later a deer came around the corner of the trail and I could see it had antlers. It came to about 5 feet from my stand and I finally got a wiff of me. It looked straight up and stared at me for what felt like an hour. My heart was pounding and I was worried that It could see my breath. It finally turned around and slowly started walking back down the same way it came. I rose my .30 caliber and fired a shot pretty much straigh down through his back and it dropped in its tracks. It was a smaller Fork horn.

So this being my first time actully getting a deer I hadn't seen anyone gut one before. I went looking for my friend and his dad. I finally found them. I asked his dad, isn't there something that I need to do right away so that the meat dosn't spoil, and him being the joking guy he was said "well didn't you cut the nuts off yet?" I was like NO!! god we got to get back there right now. hahaha. He laughed at me and came back and helped me gut it out.

The next morning I shot another 3 pointer out of the same stand and Gutted that one my self. And then My buddy shot a 6 pointer out of the same stand that after noon. What a great hunt, i'll never forget it.

[Musky Buck]

Here's one for you 1983-1984 boys, we had metal tags! First year they were flat ones, 2nd year they were metal with like a ball on the end of them.

[bogwalker]

Metal license numbered lock-strap type devices were used for many years. Back in the 60's your tag was good for one deer or one bear. "Blaze Orange" was not used until the late 60's if my memory serves correctly. We wore red. When Blaze Orange or Ten Mile Cloth came out it was optional at first. We laughed when we would see someone wearing the orange stuff because it stuck out looking like it glowed.

[archerystud]

1982 opening morning of MN archery season, the mosquito's nearly carried me out of my deer stand!!!

[Muskie456]

1986 was the first year I sat in a deer stand. Man it was tough for me to sit there. I went two seasons without seeing a deer. Opening morning 3rd season I had a forkhorn walk into 20yrds. He was facing me and I shot him right in the neck with my model 94 30/30. He went down like a ton of bricks. That was the point of my life I realized what kind of power a rifle had.

[Froggy4371]

The year was 1989 and I was 12. We had a nice bunch of guys that stayed at the neighbors shop and we used that till 4 years ago when the seasons changed. Mostley it was neighbors that hunted with us except for one friend from New Ulm. I was not able to hunt with my grandpa's but to this day I do not miss a season with my dad or brother.

I remember that year we woke up to 10" of fresh white fluffy snow. I did not know where we were even going to sit when we left the shop that morning and dad put me in a corner of a county ditch, with my brother in another corner of the ditch and him in a different spot on the ditch. Until a hog farmer put up some buildings 12 years ago we ALWAYS had deer walking them. Well it was not windy or that cold but with 10" of snow on the ground where do you sit? I did not see any deer that day but got really wet and cold from the snow. We did do some deer drives that afternoon and my dad worked hard to show me deer sign, tracks, and beds.

Back then it was his goal to get his kids atleast a shot at deer and now the table is turned. I do everything in my power to get him a deer. We do not do drives and our party is no longer together but the memories will always be there.

The sitting around in the shop playing cards watching the guy drink Schmidt, and Mister Brau.

I hunt cause I enjoy it like everyone else but I also hunt to help bring enjoyment to my dad.

Thanks Dad,

Froggy

[Musky Buck]

How fast the season was over, a 2 day rifle season in a blink of an eye it was done, worst year was like 1986 or 1987, the blizzard year, day 1 couldn't get out and day 2 it let up like at 4:00 PM, about an hour of hunt time was it and we had no extra 1/2 hour after dark to hunt in like it is today.

[WalleyeGod]

Yeh 1986 was the blizzard year. Nasty! First year I hunted in MN. Before that it was hunting in ND. First deer was 1977 I think. Shot a doe with my Winchester 30-30 in the Missiouri River bottoms hunting with my dad and two uncles. I had to shoot it or get run over by it.

Great memories for sure.

WG

[gr8icefishinmind]

I remember taking two shots and putting down a small doe and a button buck! But the next year i remember getting into stand early in a big tree row by my grandparents farm, shooting my buck, and was back in time for breakfast! Shot was a solid 3-5 yards away so it was pretty tough to miss him!! Something i will always remember as me and my grandfather tracked him down and he was just a happy if not happier than i was!

[huntnfish]

My first year was 1991 right after my 13th bday. There was always snow on the ground back then during deer season. I don't think I was ever as excited as I was the night before opener. No Christmas ever came close. We got up around 4 and my dad put me in the stand about an hour before shooting time and then went to his about a quarter mile away with explicit instructions to not get down until he came and got me. I never saw a deer but heard one snort before it got light out. He came and got me down at around 11 to go to the pickup and have a sandwich and pop.

After that we went and checked on another guy in the party that was color blind to see if he needed any help tracking. We saw a guy out in a field across the road from where our guy was hunting and walked over thinking it was him. We didn't even carry our rifles. When we got there we got the biggest azz chewing from a guy calling us everything in the book and calling us f'n trespassers. I think this was the first time I ever heard the f bomb. We leave there and find our partner who had hit a buck. We didn't know it at the time but he had gut shot the buck and we followed it for about 3 hours and probably 5 miles and finally pushed it by another hunter who finished it off. We hitched a ride back to the vehicles and I remember telling my dad that I didn't want to shoot a deer anymore because I don't want to have to follow it forever.

I didn't see another deer on opening weekend but was told by my dad that some walked right by the brush pile I was sitting in. I told him that I didn't see them. I just couldn't tell him that I fell asleep about 10 minutes after I got sat down. I got taken home for school that night and my dad went back to hunt. My dad shot a really nice buck opening day evening that I got to put my tag on since I wasn't hunting all week.

My mom got the midweek call that she normally does and my dad told me that one of the other guys shot a doe and since it didn't fall, shot the fawn that was with it and that he had to use his doe tag on one of them. When my dad came up to help him he found blood going in two different directions and it ended up with two deer on the ground. I got off the phone and bawled. I was heartbroken. I wanted to shoot a deer more than anything.

My dad came and picked me up the Friday before the last weekend. There were only three of us hunting the second weekend since everyone else got their deer and there was only one tag left. We sat all day Saturday and Sunday morning without one deer spotted. We made a drive mid day Sunday and I got to be one of the posters along with the one guy that had a tag and my dad pushing. I was excited. If someone walks the woods a deer has to come by. Well two fawns came out and both stood facing me. I was scared to move and finally got the gun up. I can still see the crosshairs bouncing around like crazy. I squeezed the trigger and one dropped. My dad finishes the push soon after and him and our hunting partner meet me at my deer. My dad tells me congrats and says its a nice doe. Looking back at the pictures I know now that it was a fawn but at the time it didn't matter to me. It turns out a buck came out with the fawns and went by the other guy but he held off knowing that they were going to come by me. I do still remember the mixed emotions holding that deers head up. I didn't find out about the buck until years later. Almost 20 season later and I still get excited the night before a hunt.

[brassman]

I remember the first time in the deer stand with my father, back in 95 or 96. I had about 4 pairs of wool socks on, my mothers Sorels on and probably looked like a bowling ball because of all the clothes I had on. We walked to a stand way down a powerline that was covered in snow and I tried my hardest to walk in my fathers steps. We sat in that cramped stand for a couple of hours only to see some tweety birds. I wouldn't stop talking so eventually my dad gave up on the hunt. I had a blast and was hooked from that day on. My First hunt with my rifle wasn't eventful since there wasn't too many deer unlike today. Shot my first deer in 2000 when I was fourteen, and cannot imagine a life without hunting.