Your first buck

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Shot this guy on my first (and only) deer hunt. He was a 10 pointer. I had been sitting out since well before sunrise, and was pretty cold. I had stood up to stretch and warm up, and probably head in for lunch, when I saw him walking towards me. I shouldered my 590A1, flipped the safety off, and let a 3" slug fly. Slug connected and the deer dropped right there. Hopefully I get to get back out there this fall and try it again. deer.jpg
 
The year was 1971 in rural Beaver County. I was hunting with a friend on the last day of Pennsylvania's rifle season with a borrowed Winchester 94 in 30-30. It was sleeting that morning but gradually cleared by late afternoon. We very slowly still hunted along each side of a shallow creek. Suddenly a big buck jumped up from his bed at the edge of a meadow. I aimed through the tang sight and cocked the hammer back. But the buck stopped after a few jumps and looked back; that's when I sighted upon his white throat patch and squeezed the trigger. Distance was about 75 yards or so. The animal dropped so quickly that I thought I'd missed my shot, but there he was lying in the meadow with a big hole through the back of his neck. I felt tingly all over as the adrenaline rushed through me. My friend was excited, too. It took us over an hour to drag this big buck to the road. He was weighed later at the butcher shop-185 lbs after field dressing! The rack only has 7 points but it is still a trophy deer for me. Great memory.

30-30 is a keeper!
TR
 
SoonerMedic said:
Hey, maybe you should call them up and buy something and use me as a reference :D
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As soon as I saw you posted I thought about that dead horse.....and Jerry's.:rofl:

I'd post a pic of my first buck. But I don't have any. Even the story isn't that great. Borrowed a bow and climber, walked around in the woods, found a tree I could climb. Made it all of 8 feet before I found a limb on the other side of the tree (lesson learned for the future). Sat down, 6 point comes running by. 10 yards on the trot. Drew, "mawed", released. Lung shot. Buck went 30 yards an piled up. He was about 20" tall and maybe 8" wide.
 
BigBore44 said:
As soon as I saw you posted I thought about that dead horse.....and Jerry's.:rofl:

I'd post a pic of my first buck. But I don't have any. Even the story isn't that great. Borrowed a bow and climber, walked around in the woods, found a tree I could climb. Made it all of 8 feet before I found a limb on the other side of the tree (lesson learned for the future). Sat down, 6 point comes running by. 10 yards on the trot. Drew, "mawed", released. Lung shot. Buck went 30 yards an piled up. He was about 20" tall and maybe 8" wide.
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I hope you mean the rack...I mean I know the deer aren't very big down that way (I lived in TX a couple years) but that'd be a tiny deer......;)
 
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entropy said:
I hope you mean the rack...I mean I know the deer aren't very big sown that way (I lived in TX a couple years) but that'd be a tiny deer......;)
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Ha! You didn't know we had duiker here in Oklahoma? It was a great shot!
In all honesty, had a guy I went to high school with who shot a buck, on public land, about a mile from my house. Scored something like 176" and weighed a whopping 88lbs.
 
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BigBore44 said:
Ha! You didn't know we had duiker here in Oklahoma? It was a great shot!
In all honesty, had a guy I went to high school with who shot a buck, on public land, about a mile from my house. Scored something like 176" and weighed a whopping 88lbs.
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Wow!our button bucks weigh more than that!!!:rofl: hard pressed to find racks that big around here though.the yr e arounds,but usually far and few between.
 
Col. Harrumph said:
Bones741 (the OP) said:

That got me curious. I found this after a few seconds with duckduckgo:
https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/game_management/deer/nutrition/

Maybe you could plant something tasty for them for next year.
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A food plot would be perfect .I agree better diet = better racks.when I aquire a piece of property of my own I will definitely put a plot in. I work for a John Deere dealership,so I have access to all kinds of equipment.

Unfortunately we hunt on a 1200 acre property lease,owned by a forest group,so can't put any feeders or plots in. We can't even nail into trees,everything has to be strapped. But beggers can't be choosers!
 
First buck was a spike in 1975. We had a one week regular season in Arkansas back then and in south Arkansas you were lucky to see a few deer. A lot of kids would take the whole week off but my parents would only let me take Friday. Deer hunting was actually an excused absence.

I had been deer hunting for a few tears but not connected. That day I had a cold and it was raining. Fortunately I was in a covered stand. I was sneezing and coughing and didn't expect to see anything. About mid-morning a spike stepped out about 50 yards away. One shot from my Marlin 30-30 took care of him. I still remember it like yesterday.
 
i've hunting off and on my whole life took a few does but never a buck.3 years ago my grandfather passed he was an great hunter of all legal game around here.i thought since my mom had his place on the market i better deer hunt there all i could since it would be sold soon and i'd never get to again.next to last day of rifle season a buck stepped out into the field 4 points on one side the other missing (fighting i assume) 100yard shot .308 savage 111 Federal blue box ammo i took the shot and there you have it my first buck.mom sold his place a few months ago so this year i'll be hunting my dads place and public land
 
BigBore44 said:
Ha! You didn't know we had duiker here in Oklahoma? It was a great shot!
In all honesty, had a guy I went to high school with who shot a buck, on public land, about a mile from my house. Scored something like 176" and weighed a whopping 88lbs.
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My forkhorn in post #18 was about 180#! Yeah, all the deer I saw down in TX were around 100 max, but big racks.
 
Already posted about my first buck but my first deer was a month earlier. I had seen a couple of deer by the road on my way into my Uncle's farm. The next day I stopped and took a look. There was two prominent trails intersecting where I had seen the deer. I managed to climb a Post Oak near the trail. I couldn't have had my feet off of the ground over 8 feet. I had jumped as high as I could to grab the limb that I sat on. A couple of hours later I heard a rustle in the leaves behind me. Slowly turning I saw a doe and yearling slipping down the trail that ran under my tree. When the doe was straight under me I pulled my recurve and sent a Bear Razorhead completely through her. When I found her at the end of a 100 yard bloodtrail you could have heard me yell for miles. That was 48 years ago and I remember it as if it was yesterday.
 
entropy said:
My forkhorn in post #18 was about 180#! Yeah, all the deer I saw down in TX were around 100 max, but big racks.
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That buck was not typical for us. Exceptionally small weight. But I'd say our average is for a nice buck is ~150 dressed. But we occasionally see them over 200lbs dressed out.
 
Here is North Central Arkansas we see very few deer that will dress 150 lbs. Out of the nearly 300 deer I have taken maybe 5 or 6 would push 200 lbs live weight. Since the state went to the 3 points to the side rule (4 pts in some zones and WMA's) it has gotten a little better by improving the age but we don't have the feed. Very little agriculture in the Ozarks. Eastern and southern Arkansas has more crops and bigger deer.
 
My first buck came at 15 years of age. Even today I'm not great at sitting for a long time, but at that age I could barely do it. However, this was my first chance at not being the "driver" (younger brother earned the duties) so I was in a stand. I got up to head in for lunch at what turned out to be only 9am.

A short distance from the stand I saw a white tail bounding over the hill. As I was taught, I stopped and waited for the deer to circle back. About 30 minutes later I nearly dropped my rifle when I saw a 9 pointer coming at me. I scoped the big guy, but waited, because he was on the wrong side of the property line. As soon as his front feet hit our land I shot, and he was dead before his back feet touched.

I let out a whoot that rang through the hollers. Then the long drag up the hill, but I didn't mind. I had adrenaline for days. When I got to the house and dad saw the blood on my hands, he asked what I got. When I put my hands to my head like antlers he did a touchdown dance. It was a great day.
 
Oddly, I don't remember my first buck. I've thought about it, but just don't. But I do vividly remember a young stranger's first buck. I was sitting in a tree stand opening weekend. It was just after sunup when across a swamp about 125 yards away, I heard a shot, then a second. After that, I heard the most ungodly bloodcurdling scream I've ever heard in my life. Then again, and then again. It made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. All I could figure was that the person shooting at the deer had shot another person or him/her self. I was pretty unnerved but knew I had to go help and was unloading my rifle to climb down out of my stand when I heard another voice screaming "What happened - what's wrong!" The reply was, "Dad, I just shot my first buck!" Turns out the father was just as unnerved by the screams as I was and spent almost 5 minutes reaming out the kid for scaring him like that. So I guess there are at least three of us who will never forget THAT first buck.
 
I hunt in south-central Arkansas about five miles from the Louisiana border. I have never seen a deer over 180 lbs down there. There are some studs in SE Arkansas around Lake Village and Eudora closer to the river.
 
I killed my first buck (a Pennsylvania 7 pointer) in 1971 with a borrowed Winchester 30-30 using the plain iron sights. Distance was approx 75 yards or so. At the shot, the animal bounded away but toppled after just a few jumps. My bullet wrecked the chest organs. 30-30 is a keeper!

TR
 
Wish I could bring back the enthusiasm and excitement I felt back in my teens deer hunting. I honestly don't recall the rack size, probably a 4 or 6 pt whitetail. But I remember very well the hunt and how I felt.
 
Button buck at 60yds with .256 winmag marlin 62. I was about 11. I have pics at my folks house, but it's not a good pic and it's not a great deer, BUT it was apparently something odd as it had a row of spots along it's flank like a fallow deer has, and there is a fallow deer herd about 10 miles and a big lake away. I always assumed it was a crossbred deer.
 
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