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

[nonteepical]

geez! am i the oldest one on here? holy balls.

[lungdeflator]

9 years ago I stayed up all night in our little cabin by Brimson. I remember my dad walking with me to the stand and saying "just follow this trail and the stand is right over there". Ha this is in pine so thick you cant see 10 ft in front of you

[Musky Buck]

Here's a bit more. Had to have dad drive me there and he also had to sit with me the first 2 years. He hunted 2nd weekend so old zone 4 worked well, kids got to hunt and adults got to hunt either weekend, it was a win win then. Remember looking at dad's watch thinking, it's only 7:30 ? Nowaday it seems to get to 9:30 in a hurry. It also was the transition from football season to hockey, right in between the 2. And from fall to winter.

[EricS55902]

Hope to make a memorable first hunt for my 13yo son over the MEA hunt. We are going to stay in a cabin surrounded by woods with no water, elec, cell phones, etc. Not sure he will know what to do with himself but we will see!!! lol

[mbitzegaio]

My first deer hunt was about 20 years ago. My extended family is from Indiana, and my dad and I went down to hunt with my grandpa. We were hunting on some land that my grandpa owned that had an old building on it that we called the Villa. In that part of Indiana it was shotgun only, so I was using a 16 gauge shotgun with a slug. My dad and I left the Villa to walk out to our stands. The land is heavily wooded with lots of ravines and hills and there is a little private road that runs from the main gate of the property to the buildings. Dad and I were walking along that road and we got to where the road took a sharp turn to the right. Down about another 100 yards, it took another 90 degree turn back to the left. When we got to the first turn, dad said for me to stand there and wait while he walk to the next turn and then to follow him. He was about fifty yards down the road when I looked to my left and saw an antlerless deer standing about 40 yards away in the woods. I brought up the shotgun and shot the deer. My dad just about jumped out of his skin as he was facing and walking the other direction. He turned around and yelled "What the heck are you doing?!" I calmly replied, "I got a deer. It's right over here." Needless to say, dad, grandpa, and I were all pretty excited. Might be the shortest first deer hunt on record, but is one of my favorite memories...I spent the rest of the day squirrel hunting while dad hunted to fill his deer tag.

[FLnick87]

12 years old. huntin under my dads stand. 8 pter walks within 50 yards. shakin so bad couldn't shoulder the youth 870 20 gauge. deer walks away. I guess even a 5 pound gun can get too heavy for an overwhelmed kid. Shot a doe the next day at 10 yards. never even put my head down to look at the bead... Luck

[juniordo1]

It was 1980. I sat with my Dad in a stand we built together. It rained and it was cold enough for the rain to freeze. We got coated with ice and didn't see a single deer. Great memories!

[BLACKJACK]

It was 1980, I had gotten out of the Navy, was going to college in Mankato, was home every weekend pheasant hunting and decided to go deer hunting. Scouted out a big ground scrape and found a spot to sit about 50 yards away. I remember the first morning, walking in, carrying a wooden chair to sit on, running late, I could see deer [PoorWordUsage] on the trail, is was getting light out already. Sat there awhile and sure enough I see antlers coming down the trail. When he stopped at the scrape, I stood up and started banging away with Dad's old 16 gauge 870 Remington slug gun. The deer took off running back down the trail, on my fifth and last shot, the deer went arse over tea-kettle, I had hit it right in the neck!!! Got the guts out somehow, had never even watched a deer being gutted, then went and found my little brother to help me drag him out. I thought he was an eight point but I was informed it was a 10 point, I was such a rookie deer hunter that I didn't know enough to count the brow tines!!! Thats still the biggest deer I've ever shot, and the only one that I have mounted.

Brings back good memories just thinking about it!!! Been deer hunting every year since!!

[Deep]

Thank you for starting this thread.

We have deer camp between Hill City and Jacobson, it was 1982 at the young age of 13 sitting with my dad and a 410 pump Savage across my lap, wearing red and my Dad smoking Camel w/o filters sitting on a stump.

No deer seen, back then if you saw a track you felt lucky.

Now fast forward to 1983, Dad bought me a Winchester 94 30/30. My brother start shooting across the swamp and misses on the doe and the buck. The doe runs over to me and I can just see her head,I wait along time (maybe 15 seconds) and take a head shot, well I did hit her once in the ear which wasn't a killing shot out of 7 rounds that I fired off. I was used to shooting pheasant and grouse and did not understand that you don't have to lead a deer at 40 yards with at rifle. My cousin ended up getting the doe and My uncle ended up with the buck. It was Veterans Day and had 21 rounds pumped off in those 2 deer.

Still love every year even though we have lost many of our hunting party.

P.S. anyone else remember getting your Jone had warmers fired up before you went out hunting? Wow do I love those desposable hand and toe warmers.

[bigbucks]

I remember trying to get the Jone handwarmers going. I never had much luck with those. Love the shakeups!

I remember my first deer hunt. I was 14 I think, probably was 1981 as my birthday's just after deer hunting. The Saturday before Dad pulled out the single shot 1912 12 gauge & we went back to on old junk pile in the little woods behind the hay shed. He sets up an old rusted out metal chicken feeder against the base of a big elm tree & hands me an old paper cased, low base, bird shot shell & has me shoot it at maybe 15 yards. I blow a big hole in it & he says "Well do you think you can handle that?" I said yep & I was all set for the next weekend, NOT!

Opening morning not feeling the best, got up had a big breakfast with the guys at Grandma & Grandpa's place. Headed East down the plowing to an area along the fence patrolling the edge of "the tamaracks" as it was cracking light pretty good. Dad went around "the bulb" which hadn't been named at that time, to patrol another field edge. He said it's okay to walk back & forth. (He hadn't shot a deer yet in about 20 years of hunting, although remember there weren't near as many back then in our area either.) I was so cold, & chilled as it turned out, I really was sick. I hung in there for about an hour, long enough to watch some road hunters stop & shoot across the road from me & then watched them shoot at what I thought was a doe running down the plowing in front of me. I had the gun up, but thought it was too far, so didn't shoot, it was probably 80 yards, I should have shot. (The next day we found a big gut shot 10 pointer dead in that woods, so not sure if I missed the antlers on that deer or if one came in from a ways away during the night. He was cold & stiff, long dead when we found him.)

Basically right after that I headed to the house to use the bathroom. I wasn't sure I would make it, but I did. Spent the rest of the day shivering under a blanket on Grandma's couch with a headache. Slept in until about 8 the next morning & was able to go out hunting the second day, but was white as a sheet. Did get to be involved in the worst display of shooting in the history of our hunting party that day.

We were circling around across several fields to get to the end of a long wooded ridge to start "the big drive." (It's probably a half mile of thick woods.) 2-3 does, we still argue about which #, hopped out of a fence line about 75 yards in front of 4-5 of us. They were taking those high straight up & down bounds & it was really windy. None of them were touched. The poster for the drive could actually see us when it happened. He said the gun barrels were going up & down like piano keys, as he had a side view from 300-400 yards.

I don't remember how many deer we actually killed that year, 4 I think, a couple of them being fawns. Crappy as the hunt sounds, still a great memory. I didn't shoot my first deer for another 7 years.

[knowsnothing]

I don't recall my actual first hunt but I can remember bow hunting in high school and constantly being told be my dad and uncle "that is why it is called hunting and not harvesting". The next post should be how your deer camp changed once the wife started hunting!! Now THAT I remember.

[mnbuckhunter]

It must have been 1995. I was 13 years old. It was bone chilling cold (at least to a 13 year old). Cold enough that any water that was out there had a few inches of ice on it. Snow was on the ground. Dad took me out that morning. We ate breakfast at the diner with "the boys". (We are still having breakfast at the diner with "the boys" on opening day - gotta love traditions) We didn't have a stand to go to so we stood at the end of a field. I remember Dad telling me the good spots to shoot. I remember being so cold. Snot frozen to my face mask... wondering, what the heck are we doing!? We stood there a few hours then walked over to the woods. Dad fell in a creek we couldn't see very well from the snow cover and was soaking wet up to his thighs. I told him we could go in and get more clothes but he insisted we stay out longer. We stood by a HUGE oak in the woods and he started grunting lightly. I was on one side of the oak and he was on the other. Soon after, I saw deer hoofs walking through the brush about 10-20 yards from me. I still remember poking my head around the tree "Dad, there's a deer! What should I do?" "Shoot it!" he says back. A fork buck had stepped out about 20 yards away and stared right at us. I'm a lefty but my feat were facing the wrong way! So me being 13 decided to try and turn around. Leaves and snow crunching under my feat. Dad just looked at me like, Waaaa, seriously?? The buck had ignored us and had slowly wandered away to about 50 yards into the trees. No shooting. Dad did the grunt call and it came right back to where it had been! I'll never forget pulling the 12 gauge up to my shoulder and hearing the pump chattering because I was soooo nevervous. The buck started walking away again but Dad grunted softly and it came right back. Finally, I managed to aim and pull the trigger. 30 yards later, my first deer on my first day of hunting ever. I've gotten many deer since then and some with very nice antlers, but that one will always be my greatest trophy on the wall.

[Phunnyfarm]

Fall of 2005, my father-in-law called me on the Tuesday before opener and asked if I wanted to hunt with him. He owns acreage up north that he had hunted for decades. I was completely honored, but also pretty intimidated since I had NEVER hunted before in my life! Because of a conflict, I couldn't meet him up there until Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning we drove out to the farm, got out of the truck in pure darkness and thick fog. We silently walked a field edge and after what seemed like forever, we he stopped me, whispered "walk into the woods here, go straight, and you'll hit a ladder. Climb to the top and sit on the seat."

I couldn't see 2 feet in front of me, and I had NO clue where I am, and I have a rifle strapped to my back...and now I'm alone in the woods! He was right though...I literally bumped into the ladder 40 yards later! Sitting on top of the stand, I waited for the sun to come up. Oddly enough, it came up on the opposite side of the sky than I was expecting!

Now that I have my bearings and a LITTLE light, I begion scanning for deer. I can see about 25 yards before things disappear into the fog. I see that I am sitting over a little pond, and that's next to a swampy marsh with thick cover. After a few minutes I hear splashing and crashing, and I catch glimpses of 3 does making their way through the thick stuff 20 yards away from me. My heart was RACING when all of a sudden I hear...GERT...GERT...and right in front of me...30 yards out...I see the silohette of a buck standing broadside! I raise the gun, notice that I am shaking terribly, and calm my nerves at the same time I find the buck in the sight. I aim for behind the shoulder, and I'll never forget the explosion that gun caused!

I never saw where the deer went, but that's because he dropped in the tall grass he was standing in, and I couldn't see him from the stand. I sat there for 4 hours waiting for my father-in-law to come get me, because he never told me what to do if I shot one! Plus, I had no clue where he was sitting, so I couldn't even go get him.

I'll never forget how he was 100 times more excited than I was when we found that deer laying there! It made me realize the importance and significance of what I had done, and I knew that it would be one of the best memories of my entire life.

I am a lucky man on SEVERAL levels.

[nofishfisherman]

Well at the age of 29 I finally went on my first hunt. I spent Sat, Sun, and Mon on stand in zone 181.

It was a fun experience, i got to hang out with some friends, rag on each other while drinking a beer , smoke a cigar and generally do what guys do.

It was good company but not that good of a hunt. I hunted most of the weekend close to one of my buddies. We planned to spread out a little more but he sprained his ankle pretty bad the night before opener so he needed a little help getting out in the woods (no way was he staying home). On Saturday we didn't see anything in the AM but in the afternoon we had several does come in on us but 2 yearlings were the only ones we could get a shot on and we weren't going to take them.

The rest of the weekend was MUCH slower. I saw one more nice doe on Sunday and I had it clear in my sights and could have dropped it with ease but I passed on it. I just happened to come up on it eating in the front yard of the farm house, not a real sporting shot in my opinion. I want to earn a deer, not shoot one out of the front yard.

That was the last deer I saw and so ends my 2010 deer hunt. I won't be able to get back out again this season, maybe next year.

Overall I think the most memorable parts of the trip were how nice it was to sit in the stand as the sun came up. How cool it is to watch the woods come alive in the morning. How close wildlife will come to you if you are quiet and still, and how much more respect I have for deer now. They aren't as stupid as they look.

[skee0025]

1983, Zone 2 a few miles East of Motley, MN. What most stands out in my mind was that my deer, a nice buck, got swiped. I was using a .410 that year and shot a buck just as the sun was rising. I couldnt see the end of my barrel but there was a nice coating of fresh snow that morning so I could make out the deer well enough. I shot, when the smoke cleared it was still standing there like nothing had happened. I racked another shell and it bolted. I emptied the gun as it ran away. I waited until there was more light to check for blood. Sure enough there it was, needless to say I was jazzed and did exactly what my old man said not to do, I took off in hot pursuit!! I kicked it up not 20 yards from the stand and the race was on! I must have chased that buck for miles or so it felt like. I finally jumped it on the edge of a small stream and dropped it as it hit the far bank. Just my luck the stream was wide enough and deep enough to prevent me from following. I went back got the old man and we returned to the site , only to find a gut pile and a set of tracks from an ATV.

[skee0025]

They aren't as stupid as they look.

Give it time, you will see monumentally stupid deer!!

[wannafish2]

1976 - finally dad let me go deer hunting with him after-gun safety, walking in the woods with an empty .22, hunting grouse with a .410 foryears. Finally! I'm 16 at the time and female (still..lol). I get COLD feet, literally, my feet get cold. Still do. Anyway, because of cold feet, and age, I'm impatient and go walking around the woods. Probably sounded like a truck going thru the woods. Needless to say, there was Lots of snow on the tree branches and lots more going down the back of my neck! I remember seeing a few deer but not taking any shots and wondering in amazement how my father managed to walk through the woods and make NO NOISE as he did something called "still hunting". It would be 3 years before I shot a deer, more than that before I shot my first buck. Now, dad is 78 and we still hunt. Has become a father/daughter tradition although now my focus is trying to get him a deer, and he doesn't still-hunt anymore. What I really miss is the quiet no techno woods of long ago. But, having cell phones really helps now that dad has medical issues and enables him to still enjoy hunting being that help is only a call away! but don't tell dad that! The full circle element is the best. I remember the metal tags and wearing red. Dad is done hunting for this season even tho he didn't get a deer, I am on my own to try to get the buck that we know is traveling the spot we hunt. Haven't seen him yet, but the numerous scrapes and the big rub on the 8" tree has given him away. Would be the biggest buck I've ever taken. I did see one 8ptr while bow hunting, but no shot. Cross your fingers for me!

Oh er, I also remember those fuel filled hand warmers! they never did work very well!

[carpshooterdeluxe]

I remember the first year i went deer hunting I had zero ability to accurately judge distance and shot 33 times without so much and grazing a deer.

[Heartman]

First hunt for me brings back quality time in the woods with my dad and grandpa. Fortunately, dad's still around(83), but grandpa is long gone. I say a silent "this one's for you" every time I shoot a deer though.

41 years ago this fall.

[TopGun]

wow, came to this thread. My first deer hunt with my dad will be TOMORROW morning! I'm 23yrs old and always wanted to try. I hope i get to see something out there tomorrow. can't sleep tonight, must prepare....will update