Wife's First Deer!

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wankerjake

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Flagstaff AZ
My wife has finally expressed interest in hunting and after we found out she didn't get an elk tag this year she decided she would try for deer. The only hunt available that was convenient and had good draw odds, and didn't screw with any of my planned hunts was a muzzleloader hunt in a unit that is close to our house and that I've spent a lot of time in. The area is fairly heavily populated with does (for Arizona) and generally holds a fair number of yearling bucks. Not only are there usually a lot of small bucks, but the deer are generally not too spooky and often times won't even run when you get out of your vehicle... it's a good beginner hunt.

The only wildcard was that neither of us had ever shot a muzzleloader before. I ran the idea by her and explained that I didn't reckon that muzzleloading would be rocket science and she agreed! So she drew the tag, I bought her a muzzleloader and we shot it on several occasions before the hunt. The rifle was sighted and she was dead on at 100 yards and I was pretty confident she could kill a buck if I could get her a rest and a buck would hold still for her long enough that she could get on it in the scope.

Well opening morning finally rolled around, I just worked 16 days straight and the last thing either of us wanted to do was get up at 430. But we did. We got out to our spot a little late , we forgot something important and had to turn around. Anyway, I had an old logging road in mind that I wanted to walk so we were headed for that. It's quite a ways back into a large area that holds deer. We had been driving literally about 2 minutes past the spot I generally even start looking for deer when she spotted one. After a quick look-over I could see one was a small buck. She eased out of the truck and got the rifle and the monopod, the deer just kept eating as she set up. We had to wait a minute for the buck to pop out from around a large pine, I kissed at it and she fired. I'm not used to the immediate white-out caused by that smokepole so I was frantically trying to see around the smoke. I was still in the truck. I heard her say "I got it, it's limping." Finally the smoke cleared enough that I could see a few deer running around and I could see white legs kicking and knew she had him down.

I'm pretty excited for her, I was more excited for her hunt than I was for mine (coming up next week). Getting one on the drive in, 2 minutes into the hunt is one of the least exciting ways to shoot a buck but we'll take it. She's happy, I'm happy, and she wants to do it again next year. Mission accomplished :cool:

The particulars: CVA Wolf shooting .452" 300gr Hornady XTP with 80gr Triple 7. Shot was ~50 yards, quartering slightly towards. She was kneeling and on a monopod. Lunged him pretty good, shot was a little high and back for my liking but the deer didn't know the difference. Clipped one side of lung and mangled the other side, looked like good expansion and pass thru. Ruined zero meat.
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Picked up the kids from a friend's house, they are excited to eat mommy's deer:
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Hanging weight, dressed out. Leaves something to be desired. I haven't seen a deer killed in awhile, I'm used to hanging elk:
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Great story, great pics! Thanks for sharing...tell her congrats and welcome to the hunting club!!!
 
Congrats to you both. When centerfire season opens for me I hope to have as good of luck as y'all did. I'll be hunting to shoot my first deer.
 
Congrats to your wife, and to you for being there to help introduce someone to our world. It's a nice write-up. You have a beautiful family. It's good to share experiences like this with our little ones.

Thanks for sharing,

Geno
 
So you killed a baby deer. Not impressed

I would have thought that even someone from Tennessee would have enough manners not to badmouth a woman's first big game animal, taken with a muzzleloader no less.

Yep, he's a little guy and she's good with that. She's not in to big racks but she's glad to have the 33lbs of Italian sausage and ~15-20 lbs of roasts and steaks. She even helped me grind.

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Its good she got one. Hell I've never even been hunting and I know you don't shoot babies. You shoot the older bucks. That one right there should have been given one to two more seasons to mature before blasting him. Congrats on her first kill. I think for my first kill I'll shoot a fawn dead just because I get excited that its the first deer I see lol.
 
Its good she got one. Hell I've never even been hunting and I know you don't shoot babies. You shoot the older bucks. That one right there should have been given one to two more seasons to mature before blasting him. Congrats on her first kill. I think for my first kill I'll shoot a fawn dead just because I get excited that its the first deer I see lol.

Was it in season? Was it legal?

If so, then who cares what you think? There's a reason why the make the deer seasons the way they do and declare what's legal and what's not. It's not going to hurt the deer population in the least if it's a legal kill.

In Arizona the Coues white-tail deer apparently rarely get over 100 pounds for a buck and Does weigh in at about 65 pounds. The other Arizona deer is the Mule deer, which this one don't look to be.

So it seems to me that this is a perfectly good kill, despite what you may think. Maybe young, but definately not a "baby" if it dresses out at 75 pounds.

Deer come in all sizes across the states.
 
^This... Whitetail get smaller the closer you get to the equator.

Here in upstate S.C. zone 2, a 150lb Buck is rarely taken where I hunt.
Breeding age Does run from 85lb on up to 120lb taken by my club.

Wish they where bigger!
 
There are either some very young hunters, some very ill informed hunters, some non hunters, or some complete idiots posting here. Probably a combination of the above.

If the only hunting you have ever done was watching Bill Jordan or Jackie Bushman then please don't post a reply. I am a trophy hunter and I would NOT have shot this deer but I think it is absolutely awesome that a young woman took her first deer and as long as it didn't have spots on it it is a PHENOMENAL kill. A trophy is in the eye of the beholder and I always tell new hunters to shoot whatever they want and I don't care if its a knot head buck.
I have two women scheduled to hunt with me this year that have never been in a deer stand and I hope both of them can get this fortunate. I am putting one of them in MY stand on opening morning with me and I know there are some nice bucks in there but I will let her shoot anything she wants.

The last time I tried to eat antlers they were a bit crunchy.
 
Its good she got one. Hell I've never even been hunting and I know you don't shoot babies. You shoot the older bucks. That one right there should have been given one to two more seasons to mature before blasting him. Congrats on her first kill. I think for my first kill I'll shoot a fawn dead just because I get excited that its the first deer I see lol.
It's obvious that you've never been hunting by your first remark. Arm chair anything is easier than the real thing.
 
Its good she got one. Hell I've never even been hunting and I know you don't shoot babies. You shoot the older bucks. That one right there should have been given one to two more seasons to mature before blasting him. Congrats on her first kill. I think for my first kill I'll shoot a fawn dead just because I get excited that its the first deer I see lol.

This shows how truly ignorant you are about the situation. I went ahead and bolded the only important part about your response. Here's two quick lessons; Fist, deer typically don't grow antlers their first year of life. I don't know how to age teeth but most likely this deer was 1.5 years old. Certainly a young deer. AZ Game and Fish determined that it was legal to shoot and allows hunters to do so. So your emotion-based opinion means jack, and you voicing it serves only to ridicule a woman's fist big game animal. That brings us to the second lesson; It is best to have an idea what you are talking about before you open your mouth with a judgment. When you know nothing about the subject, questions or silence are generally the two best options so you don't come off as being either an ignoramus, or an insensitive blowhard. That's a life lesson;)

Thank you Jrdolall for your informed opinion.


RetiredUSNChief: This buck was a young mule deer. Coues deer are even smaller. A Coues buck that dresses out at 75lbs is a very big buck. That 100lbs you referred to is a live weight. The average Coues buck dresses out closer to 50. I shot a small 3x3 Coues buck a few years back and I think I got like 40lbs of meat. They are great eating though, I prefer them to Mule deer.
 
Congrats to your wife! And congrats to you as well, you have a beautiful family! I'd love to have the same good fortune. I hope to get a deer myself someday before I croak.

And pay no mind to the TN yahoo, he's probably jealous because he thinks wimminz should be barefoot and in the kitchen, not out intruding in "man activities".
 
FYI...babies are yummy....as a meat hunter..I say....job well done..

Dear down..get the meat wagon....Can't eat the rack anyways..
 
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