First buck stories?
06-29-2003, 02:42 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Columbus, OH
Posts: 380
First buck stories?
Hi guys,
Just hitting my 100th post on the forums, so I figured I' d make it something worthwhile: first buck (or maybe just memorable hunt) stories. Here' s mine!
My first buck came several years after I had started hunting. We hunt in Florida, where seeing a deer with antler on its head can be a real event. I had actually hunted through two deer rifles (a .44 mag Ruger semi-auto and a .243 Win bolt action) and settled on my .270 Win Remington Model 700 SS before I shot anything of the whitetail variety.
It was a normal fall morning in Florida - reasonable and humid before daybreak, then the mosquitos came up out of the water and started really going to town. By mid-morning it was too warm for the jacket, pants, and cotton gloves I had on, but without it I' d be uncamouflaged, which was worse than sweating.
It was just about time for my dad to come pick me up at the stand, when I heard a little ' splush' in the cut behind me. A forkhorn had stepped out of the planted pines, along with a button buck. The buck was standing about 40 yards behind me, and over my right shoulder. Luckily, I' m a lefty, but it was still quite a twist around in my ladder stand to get the scope on him. I was so excited to have a shot I could make that I went completely into autopilot - the safety flicked off and the trigger squeezed itself as soon as I found the vitals. After the recoil and reload, I looked back to where the deer had stood before - nothing. The button buck he was with, though, had jumped twice and then turned and stood stock-still.
Then he did the young deer move of staring at the dead buck, stamping, walking three steps to the left, stamping, walking forward cautiously, twirling in the air and jogging away, etc, before he finally did that stiff ' deer on alert' walk into the bedding area. I figured from his behavior that the buck had dropped at the shot, but I had no idea what kind of shot it was, or where exactly he was... and worse yet, as you' re bound to do when you' re left to sit and think, I started to doubt my appraisal of the buck. Maybe he was only a spike? Maybe I imagined antlers?
Ten minutes later, my dad came walking up the road with his best hunting buddy (besides me and my brother, of course). The forkhorn was lying nearly in the road, so he called me down from the stand to check out my buck. I never came down from a stand quicker; I bet I darned near floated. The shot was good - the angle was so steep and weird that my .270 had hit the spine, then angled down and destroyed both lungs and the heart. I got the slap on the back and handshake every kid wants to get from my dad' s hunting buddy, and a giant hug from my dad. Then me and my dad both grabbed a leg, and took my first buck out of the woods. It' ll probably be the smallest buck I ever kill, but I' ll be darned if there' s a feeling in the world like I had that day.
BTW, how does everybody like my new sig? Just finished The Old Man and the Boy today; kinda got the good hunting memories stirred back up in me.
Just hitting my 100th post on the forums, so I figured I' d make it something worthwhile: first buck (or maybe just memorable hunt) stories. Here' s mine!
My first buck came several years after I had started hunting. We hunt in Florida, where seeing a deer with antler on its head can be a real event. I had actually hunted through two deer rifles (a .44 mag Ruger semi-auto and a .243 Win bolt action) and settled on my .270 Win Remington Model 700 SS before I shot anything of the whitetail variety.
It was a normal fall morning in Florida - reasonable and humid before daybreak, then the mosquitos came up out of the water and started really going to town. By mid-morning it was too warm for the jacket, pants, and cotton gloves I had on, but without it I' d be uncamouflaged, which was worse than sweating.
It was just about time for my dad to come pick me up at the stand, when I heard a little ' splush' in the cut behind me. A forkhorn had stepped out of the planted pines, along with a button buck. The buck was standing about 40 yards behind me, and over my right shoulder. Luckily, I' m a lefty, but it was still quite a twist around in my ladder stand to get the scope on him. I was so excited to have a shot I could make that I went completely into autopilot - the safety flicked off and the trigger squeezed itself as soon as I found the vitals. After the recoil and reload, I looked back to where the deer had stood before - nothing. The button buck he was with, though, had jumped twice and then turned and stood stock-still.
Then he did the young deer move of staring at the dead buck, stamping, walking three steps to the left, stamping, walking forward cautiously, twirling in the air and jogging away, etc, before he finally did that stiff ' deer on alert' walk into the bedding area. I figured from his behavior that the buck had dropped at the shot, but I had no idea what kind of shot it was, or where exactly he was... and worse yet, as you' re bound to do when you' re left to sit and think, I started to doubt my appraisal of the buck. Maybe he was only a spike? Maybe I imagined antlers?
Ten minutes later, my dad came walking up the road with his best hunting buddy (besides me and my brother, of course). The forkhorn was lying nearly in the road, so he called me down from the stand to check out my buck. I never came down from a stand quicker; I bet I darned near floated. The shot was good - the angle was so steep and weird that my .270 had hit the spine, then angled down and destroyed both lungs and the heart. I got the slap on the back and handshake every kid wants to get from my dad' s hunting buddy, and a giant hug from my dad. Then me and my dad both grabbed a leg, and took my first buck out of the woods. It' ll probably be the smallest buck I ever kill, but I' ll be darned if there' s a feeling in the world like I had that day.
BTW, how does everybody like my new sig? Just finished The Old Man and the Boy today; kinda got the good hunting memories stirred back up in me.
06-29-2003, 09:40 AM
#2
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: PA
Posts: 9,085
RE: First buck stories?
good story....my most memoral day and my first buck is on the same day.....first day of rifle season 2002...nice fresh snow on the ground...we walk our 2 miles to our spot and settle in...first light a deer was browsing around and dad couldnt get a shot so he passed...5 mins later he sees it again and has a shot...drops it...he checked it over and over to make sure we didnt take button bucks from out spot....this was the biggest body and littlest nubbed button buck ive ever seen...hes gutting it and im standing there watching..i see a doe bound across a big cut trail about 60 yds away....i unsling my rifle just incase i can get a shot at one...i hear a train coming..i look an a herd of deer is running righ at us...about 40 yds away on a dead run through a thicket...i toook the lead deer and took her right out of the air perfectly...dad couldnt believe it...we put our deer in a pile and throw extra orange clothing on them to be safe...about 830-9am i see a doe....im out of doe tags for that county but somehow dad got himself 2 and me only 1...i was like dad dad take her...he looks up and say oh! a nice buck! i look and see a rack sticking out of both sides of a tree...it was looking right at my dad and he couldnt move... i twisted around because the deer was behind me..got a rest on a log and fired...i couldnt believe it..my first buck!! after 4 years of hunting i finally got one! it was only a little 6pt but i think its the greatest in the world...
06-29-2003, 05:32 PM
#3
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,846
RE: First buck stories?
I was posting a drive, covering the end of this finger...i was in the middle of the pasture, laying down in some grass. I saw a fork horn come around the finger. He stopped and i waited for a clean shot. I shot him twice, both in the lungs within 23 inches of each other..
slayer
slayer
06-29-2003, 09:33 PM
#4
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Whitetail Ridge Iowa
Posts: 949
RE: First buck stories?
I still feel a little guilty (lucky, too) about my 1st deer.
I shot a bow for the first time in my life just 3 weeks
before this day. I' d hunted upland birds and small
game with a passion my entire life, but had never
had the desire to hunt deer. A good friend of mine
talked me into giving it a try. I paid $50 for a old,
used Bear wheel bow and bought 4 arrows and a
finger tab. My friend had several good farms to
hunt with both portable and permanent stands.
I knew absolutely nothing about hunting deer
and still owe him to this day.
One morning, after a blizzard the night before, the
wind was blowing 30-40 mph and the temp was
11 degrees....I thought he was crazy[
]! This
beautiful 11 point came behind my tree following
a doe. I shot him at 11 yards, taking out the liver.
He grossed 148" and netted 140" , with a 22 1/2"
inside spread. Never had a thrill like it, and yet I
was sad at taking the life of such a magnificent
animal.
Needless to say, ever since that day I eat, sleep,
and dream about whitetails....24/7
[:-]. That
was 10 years ago and I remember it like yesterday.
Thanks to my good friend T.D. for introducing
me to this wonderful sport.
I shot a bow for the first time in my life just 3 weeks
before this day. I' d hunted upland birds and small
game with a passion my entire life, but had never
had the desire to hunt deer. A good friend of mine
talked me into giving it a try. I paid $50 for a old,
used Bear wheel bow and bought 4 arrows and a
finger tab. My friend had several good farms to
hunt with both portable and permanent stands.
I knew absolutely nothing about hunting deer
and still owe him to this day.
One morning, after a blizzard the night before, the
wind was blowing 30-40 mph and the temp was
11 degrees....I thought he was crazy[
]! This beautiful 11 point came behind my tree following
a doe. I shot him at 11 yards, taking out the liver.
He grossed 148" and netted 140" , with a 22 1/2"
inside spread. Never had a thrill like it, and yet I
was sad at taking the life of such a magnificent
animal.
Needless to say, ever since that day I eat, sleep,
and dream about whitetails....24/7
[:-]. That was 10 years ago and I remember it like yesterday
.Thanks to my good friend T.D. for introducing
me to this wonderful sport.
06-29-2003, 10:47 PM
#5
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Columbus, OH
Posts: 380
RE: First buck stories?
Two Beards, you sound about as lucky as my snot-nosed little brother. Were you born with a horseshoe around your neck, or a four-leaf clover in your ear? 
Awesome buck... a lot of people hunt their whole lives without seeing one of those big boys.
I know it' s not a hog-hunting forum, but here' s the story of my first big game with a gun:
So I' m 10 years old, and my dad wants me to draw blood during my first season (y' know, keeping a kid' s interest and all that), so he takes me out stalking hogs. I don' t know if any of y' all hunt like this, but basically you have the 80 degree Florida fall, with thick, tangled planted pines. You still-hunt your way from row to row looking for fresh rooting. Well, my dad found the thickest, nastiest planted pines this side of the Amazon, and off we went, looking for hogs.
We finally came upon an area that was seriously dug up by the big tuskers. It was pretty fresh, too, so, keeping the wind in our faces, we tried to find where they were now. Before long we found a group of them - three or four bigger hogs, and a mess of little ' uns. They were of plenty big size to live on their own, though, so we didn' t deal with them in our decision making. Dad found the biggest of the hogs, and told me to line it up.
So I raised my single-shot 12 gauge, put the bead on the big hog' s head, and squeezed. At the shot, the hog went down (00 buck to the head, go figure). My dad, as excited dads are apt to do, yelled ' Great shot!' and slapped me on the back. He started running toward the hog, and I figured that was the thing to do. So I started running up to where the hog was - about 30 yards or so.
Those who are paying attention: what did I not do?
Just then, the hog finds new life and stands up. Of 360 degrees it could choose to run, which direction? That' s right, towards 10-year-old me. What had I not done? Reloaded my single-shot 12 gauge. So I' m five yards from a charging hog, with a useless metal stick in my hands. My dad' s yelling ' Shoot!' , but of course I have nothing to shoot with.
I turn to run, but here' s the situation: ' husky' ten year old in rubber boots running through torn-up mud and grass. Think about how the land looks when a mine goes off. I' m desperately trying to run in knee-high rubber boots through the most uneven, sticky piece of ground you' ll ever see. I stumble, the barrel of my gun gets planted into the mud, and I fall on my face. I spin, look at the charging hog, and say a prayer. There was nothing that could save me.
Nothing except the hog giving up the ghost, which it did just as it was about to trample me! Just before it reached me, it veered right and fell on its side.
The hog, of course, was dead as a doornail. But that didn' t keep it from teaching me a lesson. From that day forward, I have known how to reload my gun (whatever it may be) faster than anyone else I know. Single-shot, pump, bolt, lever, it doesn' t matter. That animal' s getting a second shot faster than it can think to run.
My dad spent an hour and a half dragging that hog out of the woods, but I don' t think he minded. [8D]
This is good stuff! How ' bout some more?
Were you born with a horseshoe around your neck, or a four-leaf clover in your ear? Awesome buck... a lot of people hunt their whole lives without seeing one of those big boys.I know it' s not a hog-hunting forum, but here' s the story of my first big game with a gun:
So I' m 10 years old, and my dad wants me to draw blood during my first season (y' know, keeping a kid' s interest and all that), so he takes me out stalking hogs. I don' t know if any of y' all hunt like this, but basically you have the 80 degree Florida fall, with thick, tangled planted pines. You still-hunt your way from row to row looking for fresh rooting. Well, my dad found the thickest, nastiest planted pines this side of the Amazon, and off we went, looking for hogs.
We finally came upon an area that was seriously dug up by the big tuskers. It was pretty fresh, too, so, keeping the wind in our faces, we tried to find where they were now. Before long we found a group of them - three or four bigger hogs, and a mess of little ' uns. They were of plenty big size to live on their own, though, so we didn' t deal with them in our decision making. Dad found the biggest of the hogs, and told me to line it up.
So I raised my single-shot 12 gauge, put the bead on the big hog' s head, and squeezed. At the shot, the hog went down (00 buck to the head, go figure). My dad, as excited dads are apt to do, yelled ' Great shot!' and slapped me on the back. He started running toward the hog, and I figured that was the thing to do. So I started running up to where the hog was - about 30 yards or so.
Those who are paying attention: what did I not do?
Just then, the hog finds new life and stands up. Of 360 degrees it could choose to run, which direction? That' s right, towards 10-year-old me. What had I not done? Reloaded my single-shot 12 gauge. So I' m five yards from a charging hog, with a useless metal stick in my hands. My dad' s yelling ' Shoot!' , but of course I have nothing to shoot with.
I turn to run, but here' s the situation: ' husky' ten year old in rubber boots running through torn-up mud and grass. Think about how the land looks when a mine goes off. I' m desperately trying to run in knee-high rubber boots through the most uneven, sticky piece of ground you' ll ever see. I stumble, the barrel of my gun gets planted into the mud, and I fall on my face. I spin, look at the charging hog, and say a prayer. There was nothing that could save me.
Nothing except the hog giving up the ghost, which it did just as it was about to trample me! Just before it reached me, it veered right and fell on its side.
The hog, of course, was dead as a doornail. But that didn' t keep it from teaching me a lesson.
From that day forward, I have known how to reload my gun (whatever it may be) faster than anyone else I know. Single-shot, pump, bolt, lever, it doesn' t matter. That animal' s getting a second shot faster than it can think to run.My dad spent an hour and a half dragging that hog out of the woods, but I don' t think he minded. [8D]
This is good stuff! How ' bout some more?
06-30-2003, 11:33 AM
#6
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: St. Mary\'s County Maryland USA
Posts: 393
RE: First buck stories?
My first buck came 2 years ago when I was 23. (I' ve been deer hunting off and on since I was in middle school BTW) I had a favorite stand and had been seeing does out of it but was waiting for one of the bucks I knew was around. At about 5:30 I hear something behind me and turn and there he is, walking my way. The first I saw of him was a bright blonde patch between his antlers, he was a nice 8 pointer with an unusual brow tine on the left side. He came down the same trail I had used and I knew he was going to smell me. He stopped just off of my left side at about 27 yards and I drew, aimed and released. The arrow went right through him and into the ground and he took off running. I grabeed my grunt call and blew it as hard as I could and he stopped, looked back in my direction and started walking back. He stopped about 20 yards off to my right and laid down. I was trying to get another shot at him but there was too much brush and I didn' t want to scare him so I waited. About 5 minutes later 3 does came from another direction and started feeding off of my left side. I thought about taking one of them but didn' t want to be greedy so I waited. Another 15 minutes and I thought my buck was done so I grunted just to see if he' d raise his head. The does took off and the buck got up. I could tell he wasn' t doing to well though. He walked around to the front of my stand and laid down about 5 yds from me and he was done. I got down, went and checked and that was it. I was so excited I ran to my truck, grabbed my cell phone and called my buddy who was......out hunting so I called another friend and we went down and got him. It was such a great feeling to finally have gotten a buck!!!!! He was 8 points with a 16" spread. The right side was typical but the left side had a split main beam so it looked like he had a 10" brow tine. He looks great on my wall
06-30-2003, 01:06 PM
#8
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: palm bay fl
Posts: 4,504
RE: First buck stories?
my first buck was awesome, it' s my only buck, for now.......anyway , my sister harvested a nice 6 pt the day before, she said i could hunt her stand the next and only day left off muzzy season, so of course i hunted the next a.m., i was still upset over the week before, i had walked 2 miles, with my sisters climber hanging upside down, they put it on me, said i was just too lil' , it was suppose to hurt....yeah right...lol...well i get to my tree and she has the key , i cried, i couldnt use the climber, well when i got to her climber that next weekend, she said everything was there , all i had to do was get up in the tree before sunrise, i was there and guess what? no safety harness , well me being totally irrate i said screw it, i' m goingup anyway, well i got scared being up there without a harness , so i was about to get down and something told me to wait, i saw a leg coming my way, it was a small spike , legal, but too small for me to be taking, i called her up , i was soooooo excited that i had passed on the temptation to take him, even though i had never gotten one, i hung up with her and here comes another brown thing walking my way...it was another spike, but this one had 10 inch tines, handsome cowhorn[:-]i waited til he got to an opening in the palmetto leaves and i nailed him, he dropped,the phone rings, it was my huntingbuddy , he knew that it must of been me who' s shot he heard, i almost shook out of the tree, literally..........i had to hug the tree so i wouldn' t..... i called my sister and the dang thing got up and walked away while i was talking to her, i wanted to jump out of the stand and tackle it...lol....but i waited, prayed the whole time.......i got down , had to go potty, while i was , i saw brown......there he was my first buck...he had only taken a couple of steps , but i couldn' t see him fall again, he was behind a tree.........by the time i drug him out , my sister and her nefews were there to helpme load it up and check it in..........then we wnet to her house and cleaned it, deboned it and deboned her 2 bucks from the day before and another one that she ahd gotten a couple of days before that.....we were two tired pups after that day was done..........i relive it everyday....it was awesome........2 bucks taken 2 days before our birthday and out of the same tree and same climber....she had passed on my buck the day before when she got her 6 pnt., when i showed her the lil whole i had made my shot through , she freaked, she was going to take him out of the same shooting lane too........God works in so many ways......he is awesome
.......anyway , my sister harvested a nice 6 pt the day before, she said i could hunt her stand the next and only day left off muzzy season, so of course i hunted the next a.m., i was still upset over the week before, i had walked 2 miles, with my sisters climber hanging upside down, they put it on me, said i was just too lil' , it was suppose to hurt....yeah right...lol...well i get to my tree and she has the key , i cried, i couldnt use the climber, well when i got to her climber that next weekend, she said everything was there , all i had to do was get up in the tree before sunrise, i was there and guess what? no safety harness , well me being totally irrate i said screw it, i' m goingup anyway, well i got scared being up there without a harness , so i was about to get down and something told me to wait, i saw a leg coming my way, it was a small spike , legal, but too small for me to be taking, i called her up , i was soooooo excited that i had passed on the temptation to take him, even though i had never gotten one, i hung up with her and here comes another brown thing walking my way...it was another spike, but this one had 10 inch tines, handsome cowhorn[:-]i waited til he got to an opening in the palmetto leaves and i nailed him, he dropped,the phone rings, it was my huntingbuddy , he knew that it must of been me who' s shot he heard, i almost shook out of the tree, literally..........i had to hug the tree so i wouldn' t..... i called my sister and the dang thing got up and walked away while i was talking to her, i wanted to jump out of the stand and tackle it...lol....but i waited, prayed the whole time.......i got down , had to go potty, while i was , i saw brown......there he was my first buck...he had only taken a couple of steps , but i couldn' t see him fall again, he was behind a tree.........by the time i drug him out , my sister and her nefews were there to helpme load it up and check it in..........then we wnet to her house and cleaned it, deboned it and deboned her 2 bucks from the day before and another one that she ahd gotten a couple of days before that.....we were two tired pups after that day was done..........i relive it everyday....it was awesome........2 bucks taken 2 days before our birthday and out of the same tree and same climber....she had passed on my buck the day before when she got her 6 pnt., when i showed her the lil whole i had made my shot through , she freaked, she was going to take him out of the same shooting lane too........God works in so many ways......he is awesome
06-30-2003, 03:57 PM
#9
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Columbus, OH
Posts: 380
RE: First buck stories?
Hey Johnny, yeah, he was a forky after all... I fixed it in the post, thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Beautiful story, huntinma... those post-shot shakes are something else, aren' t they?
Beautiful story, huntinma... those post-shot shakes are something else, aren' t they?
06-30-2003, 04:39 PM
#10
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: palm bay fl
Posts: 4,504
RE: First buck stories?
FL/GA Hunter
i just read your story again...i skimmed it the first time , this time i read it in detail, i am in tears...........the last hog i shot ran right at me after i shot it, i freaked, all i could do was jump out of the way......i know the fear of God went through you...lmao..........i didnt have time to even think about another shot, it was like a 10 -13 yard shot.....he was headin one way and when i shot he turned towards me and that death run was on..........and i was barefoot, i would of been dyin' if i were in rubber boots like you were.....that is just too funny , i can picture it all too clearly i ended up smelling himin the palmetto , i didnt see him while i was in there at first, then i looked and he was to the side of me, dead , thank God, i would of been toast if he weren' t..........
i just read your story again...i skimmed it the first time , this time i read it in detail, i am in tears
...........the last hog i shot ran right at me after i shot it, i freaked, all i could do was jump out of the way......i know the fear of God went through you...lmao..........i didnt have time to even think about another shot, it was like a 10 -13 yard shot.....he was headin one way and when i shot he turned towards me and that death run was on..........and i was barefoot, i would of been dyin' if i were in rubber boots like you were.....that is just too funny , i can picture it all too clearly i ended up smelling himin the palmetto , i didnt see him while i was in there at first, then i looked and he was to the side of me, dead , thank God, i would of been toast if he weren' t..........