Post by: PolarBear on May 17, 2007, 05:56:35 PM
I shot my first deer when I was 6 at my Uncle's farm in Alabama. I was turkey and squirrel hunting with my 10-22 along the edge of a corn field. I sat down to have a snack and a 2x2 whitie popped out. I hit him in the neck at the base of the head. He fell, got up and started to stumble off. I shot several times and hit him in the neck again. After he made it to the woods I got my Uncle to help me find him. We tracked him for what seemed to be a hundred miles but was probably a couple hundred yards. We found him dead in a pile of berry vines at the edge of a creek. My Uncle was more excited than I was. I didnt like the fact that the buck didnt die right away like squirrel and rabbits do. I swore that I wouldnt shoot another deer until I was old enough to shoot a big gun. My Uncle had it mounted and I gave it to him to keep at his house.
Ok, lets hear some good en's!
Post by: boneaddict on May 17, 2007, 06:59:55 PM
Post by: GOcougsHunter on May 17, 2007, 09:32:56 PM
Post by: WAcoueshunter on May 17, 2007, 09:53:10 PM
Post by: WDFW-SUX on May 18, 2007, 07:14:00 AM
I shot a fork horn blackie in my grandparents yard with a 30-30.
I liked it so much a couple weeks later I went with my uncle and shot a 3x5 bull in his yard with the same 30-30.
Post by: Ridgerunner on May 18, 2007, 07:58:35 AM
Post by: jackelope on May 18, 2007, 08:08:26 AM
Post by: kirkl on May 18, 2007, 08:10:47 AM
Post by: Dman on May 18, 2007, 08:45:41 AM
Post by: Muleyslyr on May 18, 2007, 02:04:02 PM
Opening day, First Creek outta Winthrop, guys everywhere in the hills. It was my second year hunted by myself with and old 30-30. As I'm walking across a sage brush hill, I looked up to see 6 doe and a little 3pt. in tow. Maybe 100yds up hill. As I shot the buck immediately stumbled to the ground as the does took off. As it regained it's balance he staggered his way another 50yds. or so into a patch of trees. Not real thick, but just out of my site.
As I finally made my way up to were he had enter the thickets, I could hear some guys kind of talkin'. As I continued on, there were three guys already standing over my deer! I say, "Hey that's my deer!" Immediately one says, "No.....there was another buck with the does, they went that way."
I knew right there I was not getting that deer. No other shots had even been fired in that area, let alone by any of those guys. But when your just a kid by yourself, and got nothing but women back at camp, what can you do? What love for that to happen to me now. :guns:
Anyway....finally killed a buck I could claim and keep the year I turned 18. Lake Pearrygin, Winthrop. Just a little 2x2, but still got the antlers in the garage.
Post by: Dman on May 18, 2007, 02:17:49 PM
I'll post a shot of "Palmers" huge rack when I can. -sympathy shot
Post by: Dman on May 18, 2007, 09:31:12 PM
Post by: Ridgerunner on May 19, 2007, 11:00:18 AM
Post by: Dman on May 19, 2007, 12:05:52 PM
Post by: hunterofelk on May 19, 2007, 04:15:47 PM
Well, anyway here's a bad scan of an old picture. That's a tree branch we used to drag the deer, I don't know why we included it in the picture.
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi3.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fy94%2Fhunterofelk%2Fscan0008.jpg&hash=48f1cc7c406240e4fe3ce0c6eefcef5d74781e71)
Post by: Idabooner on May 19, 2007, 06:18:51 PM
Post by: Kent Hunter on May 19, 2007, 06:59:10 PM
Well I hightailed it down the hill a ways a sure enough, tere were the deer that the two point had been with. They were making their way up the hill and the last one was a spike. I quickly got into a prone position and got the spike centered in the Williams peep site that was on my old WWII 7MM Mauser. I let fly with the first round and surprise surprise, he hit the deck!! I can still see it like it happened yesterday. I've been hooked ever since. I have been blessed enough to have killed many many deer since that day and I owe it all to my dad. He taught me to be the very best stillhunter that I can be. I do pretty good. Hey Boneaddict and Idabooner, ask Claude how that old fat guy that goes by the name of Spike Nail does when it comes to muley huntin. I'm a stillhunter through and through. I just love it and it is my preferred way to hunt.
Post by: Fletch on May 20, 2007, 03:19:16 PM
Post by: Ironhead on May 20, 2007, 04:04:02 PM
Post by: boneaddict on May 21, 2007, 03:21:08 PM
shooting from the hip...not having your own knife.....and that buck being old and recessed.... There needs to be a smiley face which he is biting his tongue. ;)
It amazes me that I drove all the way to Alaska and back with the man, sat around more fires than you can imagine and I don't think I knew that story. I knew being on this board was a good idea. You're in trouble Booner.
Post by: MichaelJ on May 21, 2007, 03:57:04 PM
My dad being the non-hunter that he is thinks we should carry him out indian style on a pole. So we tie the legs up and try doing that. Never again......Thankfully we didn't have far to go. That first buck is a sweet memory, took 4 years to get him, if I had a clue what I was doing it wouldn't have taken that long.
And I thought I was the ONLY one that wasn't started out hunting by my father and having only shot 1 buck in 6 years of hunting! Like you said, we'd be more successful if we knew what we know now! lol
Michael
Post by: PolarBear on May 21, 2007, 04:14:57 PM
Post by: Guy on May 21, 2007, 05:47:32 PM
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hunt101.com%2Fimg%2F308005.jpg&hash=cbe68e8dccb0719fffdd7099ff66abb1f73ee1f7)
Post by: boneaddict on May 21, 2007, 05:55:15 PM
Post by: Krusty on May 21, 2007, 06:27:45 PM
The story is fresh in my mind, and it's a little long.
As a kid I was too invovled in sports for deer hunting, but did hunt birds.
In my late teens I gave up hunting, for other hobbies, and returned to it a half dozen years ago or so. Mainly predator calling, and bird hunting. And last year I got my trapping license.
Even as a kid I would go to deer and elk camp, to help out, and go on deer drives/hunts (to hunt for campmeat mostly).
The last few years I'd done the "camp cook" thing.
Last spring I decided to put in for a doe tag, mostly to build up some points, for our group application.
I didn't get drawn, so I hunted through the early season halfheartedly, mostly "guiding" my ol man (who is a senior now, and gets "any deer" is the area we hunt) until he got his doe.
Neither myself or my brother got a buck in the early season, so we went back for late buck and to set some cat traps.
I had gone a day earlier than my brother and my Dad, to scout some new areas.
I was mostly driving around that day, looking for places to call and/or set traps.
I got one of those "hey pull over" feelings, and hit the next pullout. I'd reached a flat on the top of long ridge, it looked like a good place to do some calling.
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv107%2FKrustyklimber%2FHunting%2FUturn_uphill.jpg&hash=b42ccd073834dff23e317649f0f4303083644925)
The area is logged by skidders. A bulldozer makes main roads every so often, all running parallel, then a skidder makes runs across from road to road and in between.
The whole place turns into a "basket weave" of roads and tracks.
I grabbed my rifle, a heavily customized Russian Mosin-Nagant mil-surp, in 7.62 x 54R (yeah one of those Big 5 rifles)... but that's a whole story in itself.
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv107%2FKrustyklimber%2FHunting%2FMosin_Black_left.jpg&hash=7ec660634478aa8def1a23327d845225b70f575f)
I had wandered a mile or so from the truck, and found myself in a thinned area of forest, overlooking a long shallow bowl almost devoid of underbrush. On the far side of the thinned trees was a fresh cut.
It was the perfect area for bobcats, where three ages of cut forest meet... one old (30+ years) and free of undergrowth, one newer (10-15 years) thick and brushy, and a third fresh cutover in the last few years and bright and sunny.
I was standing on a push-up of dirt left by the skidder or dozer, stamping out a seat in the dry grass so I could sit down and call, when I heard the footfall of hooves behind me, accompanied with a snort-wheeze.
Suprised, I whirled around to see what I thought was a "nice doe!" hopping off down the left edge of the dozer track. I was mezmerized by it's white tail flagging, just like I'm supposed to be. ;)
It turned 90° to the right, hopped across the track and into the brushy side, and danged if it didn't have antlers... LOTS of 'em!
A startled deer never hurts a calling stand, so I sat down and went back to what I was doing.
I called for about 35 mins, waited quietly 15 more, and decided I better get back to the Ranch to meet up with my dad and brother, and some GRUB.
I had hunted into the wind the whole way in, figuring to do a one man wind drive, in a big loop back out to the truck.
I pulled my varmint rounds out, and replaced them with four 180gr roundnosed cartridges.
Leaving the spot I took a path to my right, paralleling the brushy edge where the buck had disappeared, and following and older skidder track.
I hadn't gone 20 yards, when I see the buck coming back my way 175 yards ahead on the next skidder track (over to my left 50 yards or so).
I can just see his head, over a stump in the center of the track, so I dropped to the ground.
When he passed behind a few small pine trees I moved out of the deep track and up next to a tree (for a rifle rest), and to hide behind.
I never had it happen before, but when I mounted up there was an earthquake in my rifle. :chuckle: And it didn't even have a scope on it.
I calmed myself down and waited for him to present a shot, when he did I let 'er rip.
The front leg on the far side folded, just above the elbow, and for a second he looked right at it.
I had forgotten to adjust the ramped battle sights, when switching to the heavier bullets (which didn't group well anyways). :bash:
I quickly cycled another round (somehow actually being careful not to lose the empty round), held a little higher, and just as he hopped forward fired a second round. This one hit him right where his neck meets his chest, just peircing through.
(*There will forever be debate in camp, as to whether or not this shot killed him).
I figured I was doomed, and I also figured I was going to do everything I could not to let him run off with them horns.
Again cycling the empty onto the only clean spot on the forest floor, I ready for another shot.
He coughs, and bolts forward! With a slightly higher hold yet, I fire again... he buckles upwards and kicks, and a tuft of hair floats on the breeze.
He finally realizes where the shooting is coming from, and somehow takes off running back to my right, quartering across my skidder track.
Instinctively I chamber my last round, placing the third empty neatly on the growing pile, I shoulder it, track and fire.
Directly between myself and the deer the bark explodes from a tree.
He goes another 20 yards and piles up, just out of view in the next deep skidder track to my right.
I cleared the chamber, put a varmint round in it, and safety my rifle.
Then I gathered my empties, and myself, and went to get my deer.
I found him parked upside-down, like you park a bicycle when you work on it, so I still didn't get a good look at his rack until I flipped him over.
That's when I realized two things... one I just shot a really big buck, and two I am a long way from the truck and all by myself.
My truck is a Suzuki Samurai, and was fairly full of gear.
I had left the truck with calls and a rifle, no knife, no drag rope, nothin'.
The only thing I had going for me was my GPS.
I waypointed my deer, after tagging it and covering it with a little snow and some branches, and went down the skidder track it had landed in, in the direction it was going, towards the newer cut.
I knew they had to have driven in and out of that cut on another dozer road, because the one I had parked on was blocked.
I soon found that road, and headed back out on the three mile walk to my truck.
I could barely move my buck, I had no way to butcher it, and dangit I just remembered I was hungry. :drool:
The weather was cool, and other than coyotes, I knew my deer would be okay.
When I got to my truck there was a fresh coyote turd right behind it. I didn't like that, as a sign.
As I was pulling out, I ran into a guy who let me use his cell phone, I called my brother and left a message that I got a buck too big to move.
He thought I was pullin his leg, since I had joked the day before I'd get er done before he even got there.
I ran back to the Ranch and got Jim, he runs the Ranch and does a lot of loggin', we took his truck (a flatbed Toyota with a boom winch).
We were able to 4-by our way in to about 50 yards from my buck, and used the hoist to lift him up onto the bed.
My brother and my Dad were just getting there when I pulled in with this;
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv107%2FKrustyklimber%2FHunting%2FBuck_Jim.jpg&hash=bc53b6e835c45a69a92bb788e8ae93805a36121e)
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv107%2FKrustyklimber%2FHunting%2FBuck_Horns_Hanging.jpg&hash=4eaa38660c41799ff7bc05975959a69de7b28294)
The bucks from this area tend to have basket racks, but big bodies.
He was about 225 on the hoof, and scored 112 1/2.
The neck roast was huge, the backstraps alone weighed 22 pounds, and we forgot the cooler with all the hamburger meat in it... so I ended up with a couple dozen jars of canned meat instead.
Ohhhhhh it's so much better than meatloaf!
I keep joking that I'll have to bring the skull to camp this year, and like on the NASCAR commercial, just hold it up whenever somebody starts telling me how to hunt...
No really, I got lucky.
It was the rut, and he had other things on his mind, otherwise I wouldn't have seen him the first time, let alone twice.
I've had lots of family and friends help me learn to be a good hunter... but like the saying goes, "I'd rather be lucky than good".
Krusty (https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpages.prodigy.net%2Frogerlori1%2Femoticons%2Fwave1.gif&hash=a79b2b094946ae3edb92c1d87183753de8213bad)
Post by: Guy on May 21, 2007, 08:43:34 PM
A hunter like you needs a better rifle! Treat yourself... You deserve it - especially with a first deer like that one!
Post by: Fletch on May 21, 2007, 10:33:34 PM
Post by: Krusty on May 22, 2007, 12:58:40 AM
Thanks, but I don't think I need another rifle, I actually went to great length in picking this one.
I wanted a rifle, legal and effective for most all American big game, and I wanted it for under $100.
The M-N carbine is a wonderful choice.
The 7.62 x 54 lies between a 30-06 and a .308, ballistically.
Townsend Whelen said "It's one of the finest cartridges designed..."
The rifle has a bottom drop box, interupter magazine, and a field strip-able bolt, all on a true battle-axe of an action.
My particular rifle had never been issued, and came to me new in the box.
It actually shoots loads it likes, very well, despite the horrible trigger.
I have the opportunity to use one of a dozen or so "good rifles", from a Model 7 in 30-06 to a pre-64 Model 94 30/30, to any number of "regular" rifles most guys own.
We got lots of rifles.
Oh I did treat myself, after deer season I added a scout scope mount, a red-dot scope, and a LimbSaver recoil pad.
I'd honestly recommend the Mosin-Nagant Carbine (especially the M-38 without the attached bayonet) as a first rifle, only rifle, or truck thrasher
Fletch,
I had a knife, and a saw, and some game bags, etc, in my truck, in my hunting pack.
If you knew me, and my phenominal rate of failure at actually killing what I call, you'd understand why I didn't think I'd need it.
I didn't think I was going to see anything when I left the truck, for sure not a monster buck. :o
If you were the kinda guy who couldn't catch a fish in a barrel, you wouldn't bring a net, would you? :P
P.S. I am also not very good with "warm blood", I can gut fish, or skin cold beaver all day, but I turn green if I stick my hands in something warm.
Krusty (https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpages.prodigy.net%2Frogerlori1%2Femoticons%2Fwave1.gif&hash=a79b2b094946ae3edb92c1d87183753de8213bad)
Post by: boneaddict on December 23, 2007, 10:44:44 AM
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv47%2Fboneaddict%2Fbonesbucks%2Fmyfirst2.jpg&hash=b7c6c9026467972c0c543a20792027670c198a1e)
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv47%2Fboneaddict%2Fbonesbucks%2Fmyfirst.jpg&hash=c86ada81f012bd38476a1f504d90d20b25b597e7)
Post by: Skyvalhunter on December 23, 2007, 10:54:31 AM
Post by: Hunting Cowboy on December 23, 2007, 12:36:04 PM
I was in charge of delivering our hunting party to their desired locations in my brothers "Bronco". After the deliveries, I hobbled into the timber overlooking some fresh deer sign. It had been snowing all morning and the deer were really moving. The bucks were rounding up the doe. After a couple of hours and me feeling sorry for myself, I heard a shot at the top of the hill and pretty soon I saw some deer coming from off the hill. It took em a while but they did move down the hillside. Unfortuantely, they came out in a spot I was not expecting and I saw a three point go by me which I was unprepared for, consequently I didn't get a shot. I was sick about my inattention.
20 minutes later I heard another shot up on the hill and sure enough it wasn't long before I noticed some deer coming down the hill.....again?. So I prepared myself for them to pass by me where the previous deer had passed. I used my crutch as a shooting stick. Sure enough, here they came. Each deer passed in front of me one by one. All doe. Until the last deer. A buck! He was a 23 inch 4x4 w/eye gaurds. I drilled him at 100 yards and dropped him on the spot. Fortunately for me he didn't move!
I got up to him a quick as I could and was shocked at how big he was. I decided to try to hide him until I could get some help so I started laying bows and brush over him. Just as I finished I heard a voice behind me...."Nice buck ya haver there." I thought to myself....Damn. Well, The guy offerred to watch my buck while I went to get some help.... (ya right) I thanked him but told him "Nothin personal, but I wasn't comfortable leaving a four point with someone I didn't know." He basically said something like suit yourself and walked off. As he made his way up the hillside, he ran into one of his hunting partners dragging a spike down the hill. I over heard the partner ask what was going on? and his reply was...."Some poor *censored* on crutches just killed a four point." Well to make a long story short, the guy with the spike came down and helped me field dress the buck. He had one of their hunting party deliver me and my buck to our camp. My dad was sure surprised. I was so proud of myself!
We went 3 for 4 and the camp just down from us went 5 for 6. Guess who didn't get his buck? Yep, the guy who offerred to watch mine. My brother, dad, and I all got our deer. It was the best hunt cause it was my brothers and my first deer!
Post by: huntnphool on December 23, 2007, 12:42:33 PM
Do you happen to remember what time of year it was? With snow I would assume beginning of November? Ah the good ole days when the season didnt end in the middle of Oct. ;)
Post by: Hunting Cowboy on December 23, 2007, 01:09:39 PM
"Lots of firsts that day and I remember every second of it like it was yesterday"
For sure! Love all the posts and particularly your pictures bone! Awe.... to be thirteen again!
Post by: DOUBLELUNG on December 24, 2007, 12:36:23 AM
Post by: mossback91 on December 24, 2007, 01:10:15 AM
Post by: hunterofelk on December 24, 2007, 07:21:34 AM
Seems as though the population of that county has increased ten fold since the seventies.
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Post by: boneaddict on December 24, 2007, 08:08:58 AM
Post by: addicted on December 24, 2007, 09:08:51 AM
i was pretty pissed cuz i thought i missed him :bash: the 6th one in 3 days :bash: :bash: i waited around about 20 minutes then i started to walk toward where i had shot to look for blood. came up over the ridge looked down and there was a nice whitetail lying there dead with a nice hole through the base of the neck. :IBCOOL: when i called up smdave and his buddy on the walky talky there was speculation that i was playing a practical joke on them to get them out of bed and a mile up the hill. there was also talk of killing me if it was a joke :chuckle:
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Post by: WAcoyotehunter on December 24, 2007, 09:26:15 AM
Post by: actionshooter on December 24, 2007, 09:35:52 AM
Post by: huntnphool on December 24, 2007, 10:58:30 AM
Post by: addicted on December 24, 2007, 11:12:14 AM
Post by: huntnphool on December 24, 2007, 11:31:22 AM
You had to go there didn't ya :chuckle:
Post by: LongTatLaw on December 24, 2007, 11:37:26 AM
I read some magazines, watched Real tree videos...and no clue what I was doing. I sat on a logging road in between two deep mud puddles on opening morning of Black Powder. I had to move twice for other hunters driving through...lol 30 minutes after sun up I came to find out I really couldnt hit a 6 pt buck at 100 yards with that muzzle loader. lol
3 weeks of black poder hunting and never even saw a spike.
On opening Morning of rifle... I found myself on a 8 acre rye grass field up a tree with a 300 win mag and a high powered scope. As soon as the sun broke I found 2 nice sized wild boars feeding right below me. I decided to take the bigger one...it was a EASY 20 yard shot. I shot and the pigs ran off never to be seen again. I climbed down the tree and found no blood. Confused and upset I almost packed up right then at about 7am. But I decided to climb back up.
After about an hour I was so frustrated I went to sleep in my stand. I jerked awake to see a buck standing broad side at 125 yards straight across the field. He was motionless and beautiful. I threw up the scope and got ready for the shot...by then he was walking...on a string straight toward me. I thought thousands of thoughts... I knew I didnt want him to get close enough to smell me since I didnt have any cover scent and after two tree climbs I probably stunk...
however, I had missed a large boar an hour before at 20 yards. So I better let him get close.
100 yards. 75 yards... 50 yards coming fast and not grazing...just trying to cross the field back into the pine thickets.
At 30 yards...i couldnt take it anymore. I aimed for the front shoulder and he stopped perfectly for me.
I pulled the trigger and he dropped dead before he hit the ground. The second that I realized he went down I was so excited I truly couldnt bare to look at it for almost 10 minutes. I kept checking it out of the corner of my eye.
After I had decided to shoot him I never looked at his horns... I didnt know how many points he had until I walked up to find my beautiful 2x2 1 year old monster buck.
I had him stuffed and put him in my living room. Ive been in love with whitetails since that day.
ps- while I was waiting to calm down after shooting my buck I saw a huge hole in a limb next to me. I realized that my 50mm lens scope on a high level mount makes it hard to see something blocking the barrel from 5 feet away. I missed that boar because my effort to sneak a shot through the limbs didnt work and I killed a decent sized oak but missed a 20 yard shot at a boar.
I loved that deer but wouldnt have been mad if he would have had a 150 pound baor riding to the check station with him.
I hunted another 70+ days that year and never filled my 2nd buck tag. Ive downed close to 100 whitetails now in over a half dozen states....many are much much bigger. Im not sure any of them are more important than my first little 2x2 was.
Post by: bowman on December 24, 2007, 12:44:00 PM
Well any way we were told to go and sit up on this nob and the deer would be there at about 8 am. Sure enough at about 8:15 we hear click click click click. My dad said to me "do you heat that its the deer crossing the road." He was only kidding then to our surprise there's 3 doe's working there way up the hill. My dad thought he saw a buck so we looped around to check it out and no buck.
So back up the hill to wait it out. Right when we sat down I spotted a 2 point about 30 yards in front of us. So I pull up my 257-Roberts. The only problem was there wasn't a shot the deer wouldn't stop moving. It kept walking until it was out of sight. Then my dad and I hurried over to were the deer was and it was still there. So 40 yards away. Pulled up the gun and placed a perfect heart shot on it. That deer didn't go 15 yards. That was fun skinning it and everything.
Post by: deerslyr on December 24, 2007, 01:07:04 PM
We headed back to the truck to get warmed up. On the way back I saw some fresh tracks but didnt pay much attention to them. When we got to the truck another truck was parked there with two guys looking down into the clearcut. They told us that a spike and a doe came out of the timber(that we were just in) and went into the clear cut. They didnt want the spike and told me where they went.
This clear cut was STEEP and BIG so I went down one of the draws while my dad bs'ed with those guys. About half way down I decided to sit and wait on a stump. I wasnt there for a minute when I glimpsed a deer. I put my scope up looking for the deer when I saw a spike and a doe looking at me only a 100 yards away!
I layed on the stump and put my little 30-30 to my shoulder and thought to my self right behind the shoulder. BOOM, the deer just kept feeding. I jacked another shell in, BOOM the spikes starts rolling down the hill. I start yellin to my dad that I got him. My dad gets down there ands says we got a hell of a pack out!! 4 hours later we were finally back at the truck and celebrating. That was one of the most memorable days I ever had and also one of the worst pack outs I have ever had!
Post by: hogsniper on February 13, 2008, 05:33:10 PM
Post by: gunner on February 13, 2008, 06:03:25 PM
Gunner
Post by: skinzner on February 13, 2008, 07:54:04 PM
Heres my first deer i was probably 23 or 24 in 1995 or 1996 i did not grow up in a hunting family but some of my friends got me hooked. .....Now the story i had never hunted before this day and just bought my rifle the week before and just shot it at the range to sight it in a few days earlier. Well me and two buddies who were hunters went out behind one of their parents house on some timber company land until we reached a big clearcut. Once we reached the clearcut one buddie peeled off and we hiked a little more until my next buddy went his way. Now i was on my own and walked a little farther down the clearcut and found a stump in a little depression to sit on. As of now i'd probably been carrying a rifle in the woods for 20-30 minutes tops, so i sat down for maybe 5 minutes and heard something walking. I look up and i see antlers , i'm shaking so bad i cant tell how many points i just know its any buck and he's legal. So i aim behind the shoulder (75 yards) and boom the deer drops i'm amazed i hit it i was shaking so bad and i had my scope on 9 power (lesson learned) i'm amazed i hit the deer. I dont know what to do so i called my buddies and told them i shot a deer and come help me, they asked what did you get i told them i'm not sure but from where i was 30 yards away i know its at least got 2 points.For some reason i would not go any closer until they got there but soon enough they showed up and we walked up to a nice 4x4 blacktail. Well theres a lot more stuff we talk about to this day me gutting it and almost puking a half dozen times and my buddie showing me how to cut off the tarsal glands and instead of cutting i drug the knife over the top and squeegeed all that stinky pi$$ all over the place and almost puked again. Oh and my shot behind the shoulder turned out to be a spine shot i guess i was shaking pretty good. Well to sum it up i thought this hunting thing was pretty easy i was hunting for 30-35 minutes and shot a nice buck ,well nothing has been close to that easy since
Post by: Bookworm on February 13, 2008, 09:32:53 PM
Post by: boneaddict on December 10, 2008, 06:04:57 PM
Post by: Elkrunner on December 10, 2008, 06:21:29 PM
Post by: Dslayer on December 10, 2008, 06:32:43 PM
When I was 20 or so, I killed my first deer, a spike, above Sheep Lake on Chinook Pass back when it was not quite so inundated with tree huggers as today. Hit it at about 50 yards, went down immediately, walked over to it and couldn't immediately find antlers. Turned out that one spike stood straight up and was buried in the dirt and the other had grown along the top of it's head and I hadn't immediately seen it. After that wee bit of a heart stopper, I gutted it, taking about forever. In those days I hadn't given a great deal thought to moving a dead animal; I drug it down the hill and onto the PCT toward Chinook Pass, about 1 and a half miles away. I got some interesting looks from hiker types who weren't very impressed, but were rather apalled actually, really the first time I had experienced that sort of folk. Finally, I decided to take it straight down a drainage to the Chinook Pass Hwy., which I could hear below me. This started off pretty easy, then eventually devolved into me lowering the deer one minor waterfall after another until I reached the Hwy. By that time, about all the hide had been stripped off the deer, kind of looked like a Mexican hairless. Boy I was beat, walked up the highway and came back with my pickup, wrestled into the bed, took it home, skinned it and cleaned and took to the butcher shop. Kind of a sorry looking thing by the time I got it home, but I had done it all by myself-the first of many, though I have greatly refined my packing style.
Post by: huntnphool on December 10, 2008, 06:41:00 PM
Post by: EastWaViking on December 10, 2008, 07:20:39 PM
Post by: Elkstuffer on December 10, 2008, 10:32:22 PM
Killed my first buck five years later. A nice fat grain fed forked horn mulie.
Last year I took my first archery buck, a 2x4 blacktail. It was like I was 12 years old again. Love that feeling.
Post by: bigdave on December 10, 2008, 10:40:04 PM
Flash forward 2 days. A herd of whitetail does and fawns in a farmers alfalfa field, I creeped up a fenceline with my Dad and put my iron sight on an old doe at 80 yrds. Dad had a tag too and so we tried the old 1,2,3 thing. Anyway I squeeze the trigger, my doe falls like a ton of bricks and about 50 ft off to the side and behind her so does another deer, it's a fawn with SPOTS. It's kickin' and floppin' on the groud like a chicken with it's head cut off. Incredulous, I look at my Dad and ask him why he shot a fawn. And you guessed it, He looks at me and says he didn't shoot. I made him empty his rifle so I could count his bullets and he was still full.
He made me tag the fawn so that I would remember it for the rest of my days. He tagged the doe and our hunt was over. After we took it home and showed my Mom and sisters they didn't speak to me for a week. Sorry, no pics, I think you understand. Important lesson learned that day.
Post by: huntnphool on December 11, 2008, 11:02:33 AM
Post by: croix on December 11, 2008, 11:54:45 AM
I had hunted most of the season with a couple of good friends, but they were on different boats and had to go to sea before the end of season. Luckily I met a guy leaving work one day who was in a simialr situation and we decided to make a go of it on the final weekend.
We headed to Brown's Creek - Mason County, NW of Shelton - and spent all day Saturday and most of Sunday hiking some pretty tough terrain. After lunch on Sunday I talked him into crawling through some old willow trees to a small clearing that I had seen plent of sign in earlier in the season.
I hunkered down under the boughs of a Fir tree and he found a spot in an old snag pile 50 yards from me. We sat in the rain and sleet for over three hours. It was nearly dark and I was miserable. With 15 minutes of legal light left on the 31st of October, I started to get up and this big bodied blacktail with a small forked rack walked out in front of me at about EIGHT yards. I am sure that he only stuck around to find out what the shaking was all about since I had suddenly come down with full blown buck fever.
He had turned to face dead away from me and was looking back over his shoulder. My inexperience got the better of me and I tried to make a head shot. Of course I did not account for the range of EIGHT yards and my shot was a complete miss. Miraculously, instead of running for the hills, this suicidal deer simply turned broadside in pure amazement. I think even he was confused by my ineptitude. His confusion was his downfall, however, as even in my shaking buck crazed state I couldn't miss a broadside shot at ... that's right... EIGHT yards.
Despite the 7MM mag shell blowing through both of his shoulders, he still managed to run / hobble 25 yds across the short end of the clearing and reach the 20 foot straight drop at the other side before expiring at the base of a tree. I suppose that is my retribution for missing the first shot. The first 20 feet of that drag took almost as long as the rest of the drag to the truck.
Naturally, my new found friend was confused at the whole affair. He heard the first shot.... second shot..... crazy raucous going over the bank. Thank god he was there though, or I might still be trying to get that deer up the first 20 feet. He earned his share of the deer meat that day.
I know it's a bit of a long rambling story, but that is partly because I can still remember every detail of that day - just as I can remember every detail of every deer I've taken since then. I hope that I never lose that feeling I get when I take an animal, or the complete roller-coaster of emotions leading up to it. I want my last hunt to feel just like this one did.
Post by: Skyvalhunter on December 11, 2008, 11:56:36 AM
Got my first moose this year, isn't that part of the deer family? ;)Yes indeed and you earned every ounce of that big deer!!
Post by: TeacherMan on December 11, 2008, 12:21:11 PM
Post by: walt on December 11, 2008, 02:30:08 PM
Post by: 7mmfan on December 11, 2008, 03:31:14 PM
Post by: PacificNWhunter on December 12, 2008, 08:21:18 AM
I'm heading to my parents this weekend and will try and find the pic's, scan and then post them for you all. Bone, I have a too have a couple scars on my left from that first deer.
Post by: strutnrut1984 on December 12, 2008, 01:52:16 PM
Post by: fishseeker on December 13, 2008, 06:01:13 AM
Post by: C-Money on December 13, 2008, 03:30:07 PM
Post by: Hoytstaffshooter83 on December 13, 2008, 03:48:34 PM
Post by: stlhdr1 on December 13, 2008, 04:47:36 PM
Keith :chuckle:
Post by: clindsayrun on December 14, 2008, 06:46:07 PM
Rockin' at 28 years old!
I've been a bird hunter my entire life. My family used to live to duck hunt. I can remember being like 12 or 13 and being so disappointed when the hunting shows were about whitetail hunting. About the time my brothers and I were heading off to college we somehow made the shift into big game hunting. Now it feels like we've been chasing deer, bear and elk our entire lives rather than a few years.
I've previously had a couple of unsuccessful seasons in western Washington. My little brother on the other hand has been a west side deer killing machine for like 9 years! I spent five seasons living in Arizona. You can hunt archery over the counter but rifle tags are by lottery drawing. I never drew a rifle deer tag and never connected with the bow! I did draw a cow elk tag down there and I shot plenty of Javelina, so it wasn't all bad.
This season I drew a special access permit for the Mary Eder Unit near Oroville. The Eder unit is about a half mile from my house. In fact I can see much of it out of my kitchen window. The day that tag showed up in the mail I almost had a heart attack I was so pumped! I was saddened that I wouldn't be hunting with my brothers, but it was a worthy trade. I did quite a bit of scouting and saw a few pretty good deer.
For those who weren't aware WDFW gave out 5 archery, 5 muzzle loader and 5 modern tags.
Anyway October 11th is also my son's birthday. He was having his first birthday this year and the party was starting at 2:30. I made a promise that I would be there by 3.
So opening morning I headed out, it was about a 60 second drive from my house. There were nine does in the Unit's parking area and about five more walking along the road. From sun up on I was counting deer. Over the course of my day I saw easily 400-500 deer. A good mixture of whitetail and mule deer. I saw quite a few bucks, but most were pretty small. I figured I had a week to fill the tag, and I most likely will never draw it again, so I wanted to shoot a pretty good deer. One of my brothers had predicted that I would hold out for at least a 5x5. My other brother thought I would shoot the first legal deer to walk in front of me. Anyway, lots of deer out there. I saw two different pair of whitetail is locked antlers, sparring over their respective patches of land. It was a pretty good show.
I saw one good 5x5 whitetail but couldn't make it happen. About noon I was working a rocky section of ledges up by the border. I came over a small rise and saw 6 mule deer at 50 yards working up the hill towards me. There were two or three 3x3's a bunch of forked horns and one 4x4 leading the bachelor group. He looked good enough to me so at 35 yards I put one in his neck. He went strait down like a ton of bricks. Later he was scored at 140 gross.
I was pretty pumped. As it worked out my father and brothers had just showed up at my place for my son's birthday party. I gave them a call and they headed out to meet me. I gutted the deer and had to drag it for about a half mile until I ran into my dad and brothers. We all dragged the deer the 3/4 mile to the gate and loaded him into the truck. While we were dragging the deer out we ran into a hog of a 6x6 whitetail at 75 yards.
Anyway it was a great hunt. I took a good deer and was still able to share the experience with my family.
A lot of guys have told me that I should have held out for a bigger deer, but it's tough when you're really looking to put meat in the freezer and you've never bagged a deer to begin with.
I also met a 9 year old boy who drew a tag. He was out there with his father and younger brother and bagged a fantastic 4x4 whitetail.
Oh, just for information I saw 12 other hunters (not counting the boy and his father and brother) that morning. javascript:void(0);
Dunno
Maybe they all had the "extra-special access" permit. Fish and Game Officers can't be everywhere at once and these guys knew it. Later I talked to a warden and he told me last season they found 21 gut piles on the unit.
Attached are a couple of pictures. The first is my deer on the ground. The second is after I cleaned the skull. Later I'll post pics of the finished european mount.
-Corey
Post by: Elk4me on December 14, 2008, 07:18:07 PM
Post by: 270Shooter on December 16, 2008, 08:20:57 PM
Post by: wilsongideon on December 19, 2008, 08:57:35 PM
Post by: addicted on December 20, 2008, 12:20:41 PM
Post by: PacificNWhunter on December 29, 2008, 02:16:38 PM
Post by: deerhunter94 on December 29, 2008, 03:28:49 PM
Post by: finnman on December 30, 2008, 02:16:38 PM
I made it count though!
A fella out by Eatonville needed his ten acres surveyed, so my dad and brother, WAPITIHUNTER, went out and did the job on a Friday, after talking with the guy for a while, he says he is having deer problems! My dad speaks right up and says, it just so happens we will take care of that for you for no charge!!! The next day they go back and sure enough my dad drops a little 2x3 with his 'ol 7x57 Mauser, as they walk to the buck a different bigger buck jumps down the trail and my brother takes a quick snap shot at, just grazing the rump, sending some hair flying! After a look around, no blood, no buck........
The next day WAPITIHUNTER and me go back and look for the big buck, no doing, we decide to drop into the dark timber on the north property line and still hunt the salal thickets. 15 minutes into it I look up and see ANTLERS!!! Big ONES! The big 4x4 buck is just 15 feet away hiding in the salal! One quick shot to the neck with my .270 and he is down!
That was in 1991, since then I have been fortunate enough to harvest a deer every year, except 2007!
Till this day he is still the biggest Blacktail I have taken!
Post by: Emptyhanded on December 31, 2008, 02:14:44 PM
Post by: Bofire on December 31, 2008, 02:39:24 PM
As we walked along they were telling me stories, we saw a little Tow head buck at the bottom of the RXR grade about 25 yards.
Gramp Pete croutched down and put his arm around me in front of him. He held his old 25-20 winchester up for me and I aimed and pulled the trigger. Little deer went down, we walked up to him and Uncle Mack said, " Ya did real good boy, cept fer one thing, ya shoulda chased the little turd up the grade fore ya kilt im" I actually thought I did wrong and kinda tearred up over it. :)
When we got it back to the wood shed and hung him up my older brothers came in and had not seen a deer.
and Yup I gotta confess, I did not have a license or tag!!! That little bugger hung up on the wood shed wall with all the others until Gramp Pete died and Gram Bertha sold out.
Carl
Post by: Pathfinder101 on January 03, 2009, 08:55:59 PM
My dad got the point without me having to fully pronounce any word in the english language (luckily he spoke fluent buck fever), stopped the truck, and told me to load my rifle. I was carrying a Model 94 Win. 30-30, which I actually managed to lever open on only my 3rd try. Getting a cartridge in the chamber was another thing though. I was shaking so badly, it must have taken me a full minute. All the while this buck is lying bedded in the brush, not 30 feet from the truck. In my defense, he was in fact a pretty big buck.
Of course, when I opened the truck door, he jumped up and ran off. We watched him run through a stand of thick timber and into a small clearcut. His tracks were pretty easy to follow until we got to the clearcut. They were still logging the area, and they hadn't finished piling the slash to burn yet, so there was slash buldozed into piles everywhere. After poking around for a bit it started getting dark, so we were headed back to the truck. Man, was I butt-hurt! I knew no one was going to believe me. My first day of hunting in my life, 10 minutes from town, up a mountain that everyone and their brother hunted, and I had just missed my chance at the biggest whitetail buck I had ever seen in the flesh.
My dad was standing at the top of the clearcut, waiting for me. I was at the bottom of it, about 100 yards from him. Between us, at the east edge of the clearcut was a large, loosely buldozed slash pile. I was walking back, doing my best impression of a kid that just dropped his ice cream cone, when I decided to climb up on one of the bigger logs in the brush pile. Y'know, just to take one more look... And I almost stepped on him. God only knows why he hid in there, but he did.
Didn't have time to get buck fever on this go-around. He went bounding out of the slash pile to my right and I fired at the brown blur (we was about 15 feet from me). He piled up face first on the opposite side of a log he was jumping over.
My dad walked up and inspected him. Shot right behind the ear. Let's just pretend that's where I was aiming...
The deer is hanging in my mom's living room in Kettle Falls. Still the biggest whitetail I have ever shot. I have never actually put a tape on him, but I figure him at about 130-something. A testament to beginner's luck...
Post by: Pathfinder101 on January 05, 2009, 04:46:09 PM
Post by: Pathfinder101 on January 05, 2009, 07:42:21 PM
Post by: C-Money on January 06, 2009, 06:06:40 AM
Post by: GUHunter on January 15, 2010, 10:18:04 AM
Post by: huntergreg on January 15, 2010, 11:33:53 AM
Post by: whacker1 on January 15, 2010, 06:25:40 PM
I was a freshmen in highschool and I fished with my Dad a lot, but he didn't hunt. All of my dad's brother's and my cousins hunted and it intrigued me, so I asked him one day if I could take hunter safety and learn how to hunt. Well during that fall I went for a ride along with an older buddy during hunting season and he shot a 2 point buck not far from the road. Well this really got me intrigued.
Well Mom and Dad agreed, and I took hunter safety with another buddy from school that spring. We were like oldest two kids in the hunter safety class.
Anyway fast forward, sophmore year of high school. I am going out hunting with my older buddy. No luck on the weekends - I pushed some deer to them, but they were sleeping in the truck. Anyway, while my buddy was out hunting on his own, his dad and I went out on the last wednesday of the general season about 15 miles from my parents house after school. We had gone out a few times in the evening in an attempt to see if we could make soemthing happen. He had already filled his tag, so he was just helping me out.
we were road hunting, because he was disabled, and we got out to a landing of some reprod and we were walking the edges of the landing glassing for deer on the other side and he spotted a deer. he told me it was a buck and got me ready. Tore the limbs off a small jack fir and used it as a rest. We were about 250 yards away and he told me to put the cross hairs on the top of his back and pull the trigger. I shot - he yelled, and I was not even sure what to think. He told me I got him and that he saw hair fly in the scope. We drove around to the other side of the hill, and I asked "do we need to bring the gun down the hill with us?" He said "no, i saw hair fly and watched him go down". I was like cool. We dove off this steep hill in the mud and went sliding down the hill. We got to where he was standing, but very little blood, and a little bit of hair. We followed a set of tracks a few steps and saw a skid going down through the mud. Well we followed and found the deer about 100 yards below. Still alive with a broken back and his antlers caught under a log, so he couldn't get away from us. So my partners says, "where's your knife?' I get it out, and he says, "Do you have another knife?". To paint the picture, all i have is a folding blade knife - with out a lock. 2 1/2 blade. Not the ideal choise. So he says "stab it in the neck and try to puncture his wind pipe or artery." So, I stab, and the blade collapses on my knuckles. Well, as you can imagine this went on for some time 30 - 40 holes in his neck later, I finally got a good couple of holes in his wind pipe and he expired. Not my favorite clean kill story. So we hang the thing in a tree, and head home.
My folks were at a meeting, so we head into his house and now my buddy is home and can't believe the story and the size of the buck. This blacktail buck is a 4 x 3 with double eyeguards on the 4 point side and a single eye guard on the other. But when measured by Boone & Crocket scores they actually score it as a 6 x 3, because it is only 7/8 of an inch on that 3 point side. 114 5/8 was the finally talley. My uncle shot a regressed 2 point later in the season that was huge, so we used the cape from it for my buck and got it mounted. Still sits in my living room next to my black bear and 2007 mule deer.
I was the talk of the school for the rest of the season - envy reared its ugly head for some, but most folks were congratulatory. I'm addicted from that point on. The intensity of the addiction grows each passing day.
I shot my first elk during my senior year of high school - a cow on a special permit.
Sorry this got so long.
Post by: carpsniperg2 on January 15, 2010, 06:32:32 PM
Post by: Jamieb on January 15, 2010, 08:15:22 PM
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv376%2Felkhunter%2Ffirstdeer.jpg&hash=62bfbbcfcbcf5785300b4b9e4530d17781aa07f4)
Post by: buck wild on January 15, 2010, 09:11:38 PM
Post by: huntnphool on January 16, 2010, 10:38:35 PM