Your first memorable deer encounter

Discuss deer hunting tactics, Deer behavior. Post your Hunting Stories, Pictures, and Questions/Answers.
User avatar
backstraps
Moderator
Posts: 10109
Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2012 4:44 pm
Location: Tennessee
Status: Offline

Re: Your first memorable deer encounter

Unread postby backstraps » Thu Feb 04, 2021 8:58 am

It’s kind of funny for me to think back on it. I know some may say, no way you can remember back that far, but here goes....

So I was 4 years old. My big brother was a kindergartener. My Dad worked on the Air Force base.
Dad had came home from work and I was relentlessly going on and on about a deer I had seen come through our back yard and into the woods. So his reply was, “well lets go find it”

I remember how slow we were going and how Dad made sure I was super quiet. It felt like an adventure I had watched of Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom. I remember Dad showing me tracks in the mud. We hardly went anyways beyond that mudhole and walked up on to the doe bedded!! She jumped up and ran and she scared the daylights out of Dad and me. At the time Dad proved once again to be some kind of super hero that could stalk up on animals

Once I had gotten older and realized he was just as shocked we walked up on her as I was hahahahaha

However, I think that was the moment that made me want to learn how to stalk prey

To this day, I still get more enjoyment from stalking right up to critters when hunting

Sure miss my Dad and look forward to reuniting with him someday


Drich
Posts: 246
Joined: Sat Jan 16, 2021 3:39 am
Status: Offline

Re: Your first memorable deer encounter

Unread postby Drich » Thu Feb 04, 2021 9:51 am

Maybe 12 years old and not a hunter, but along with the older brother, his friends, and one of their drunk fathers for the weekend hunt. I get woken up at day break by the drunken father who was suppose to be out hunting, "You have got to see THIS! You will probably never see this again!" I stumble out of bed still half asleep and put the binoculars up to my eyes to be able to see a buck mounting a doe in the field. :shock: 30 years later and I have not seen it again.
User avatar
greenhorndave
500 Club
Posts: 13819
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2018 11:23 am
Location: SE WI
Status: Offline

Re: Your first memorable deer encounter

Unread postby greenhorndave » Thu Feb 04, 2021 10:30 am

Drich wrote:Maybe 12 years old and not a hunter, but along with the older brother, his friends, and one of their drunk fathers for the weekend hunt. I get woken up at day break by the drunken father who was suppose to be out hunting, "You have got to see THIS! You will probably never see this again!" I stumble out of bed still half asleep and put the binoculars up to my eyes to be able to see a buck mounting a doe in the field. :shock: 30 years later and I have not seen it again.

I haven’t seen that inside my house for about that same timeframe...
----------
Sometimes when things get tough, weird or both, you just need to remember this...
https://youtu.be/d4tSE2w53ts
User avatar
hunting_dad
500 Club
Posts: 1363
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2014 1:43 am
Status: Offline

Re: Your first memorable deer encounter

Unread postby hunting_dad » Thu Feb 04, 2021 1:31 pm

Has to be my first archery deer...a big old doe. I climbed up on some limbs in a giant old oak tree on the edge of a hidden corn field behind our house. Can’t even remember how I got up there on those limbs to be honest. I stood there that morning and had 3 deer come out of the woods across the corner from me and headed my way. I was using an old Proline Typhoon XT compound bow and Trebark camo, still have both to this day. That lead doe got to about 20 yards and I only had one pin on my old cobra sight. I remember putting it low behind her leg while trying to keep my balance on that limb. Let the arrow go and watched her run about 50 yards or so and disappeared. I had no idea what just happened. I jumped down and went to where she was standing and there was blood everywhere. Found her and made my first attempt at gutting a deer. Not my best effort I’m sure but it sufficed.

I look at that picture and it’s still my favorite morning and favorite deer ever to this day. I can picture that whole morning like it was yesterday. If my back ever gets better and I can shoot my bow again, I want to take that old bow out and get another with it.
tim
500 Club
Posts: 2731
Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:43 am
Status: Offline

Re: Your first memorable deer encounter

Unread postby tim » Thu Feb 04, 2021 8:28 pm

Getting home from church on the farm and my dad sitting at my grandparents table . When asked if he got one (dad would sit all day) he shook his head . How big ?he put up one hand then the other 10 pt. Then we drove to the hill and I watched him drag that big ole 10 pt down the hill and we put it into the trunk of the 75’ Buick Le sabre. That will never leave me. That lit a fire that will never burn out !
User avatar
Wolfie417
Posts: 152
Joined: Mon Jul 02, 2018 1:29 am
Facebook: brett wolf
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Your first memorable deer encounter

Unread postby Wolfie417 » Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:43 am

greenhorndave wrote:
Wolfie417 wrote:Didn't end in a kill.... but the first time I ever hunted deer it was in northern Minnesota. I saw a lone doe being chased and eaten alive by 3 wolves. Extremely cool encounter that showed a young man the reality of nature.

Well, not in a kill by you. :D

That must have been remarkable to see in person.

To be honest I kinda took it for granted at first. I didn't understand how cool it is to see wolves in the wild. I thought everyone went to northern Minnesota to deer hunt. Young naive boy I was lol :lol:
User avatar
greenhorndave
500 Club
Posts: 13819
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2018 11:23 am
Location: SE WI
Status: Offline

Re: Your first memorable deer encounter

Unread postby greenhorndave » Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:57 am

Wolfie417 wrote:
greenhorndave wrote:
Wolfie417 wrote:Didn't end in a kill.... but the first time I ever hunted deer it was in northern Minnesota. I saw a lone doe being chased and eaten alive by 3 wolves. Extremely cool encounter that showed a young man the reality of nature.

Well, not in a kill by you. :D

That must have been remarkable to see in person.

To be honest I kinda took it for granted at first. I didn't understand how cool it is to see wolves in the wild. I thought everyone went to northern Minnesota to deer hunt. Young naive boy I was lol :lol:

Just like all of these stories, I think our appreciation grows over time. You don’t know what you don’t know when you’re young.
----------
Sometimes when things get tough, weird or both, you just need to remember this...
https://youtu.be/d4tSE2w53ts
User avatar
Wolfie417
Posts: 152
Joined: Mon Jul 02, 2018 1:29 am
Facebook: brett wolf
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Your first memorable deer encounter

Unread postby Wolfie417 » Fri Feb 05, 2021 3:09 am

greenhorndave wrote:
Wolfie417 wrote:
greenhorndave wrote:
Wolfie417 wrote:Didn't end in a kill.... but the first time I ever hunted deer it was in northern Minnesota. I saw a lone doe being chased and eaten alive by 3 wolves. Extremely cool encounter that showed a young man the reality of nature.

Well, not in a kill by you. :D

That must have been remarkable to see in person.

To be honest I kinda took it for granted at first. I didn't understand how cool it is to see wolves in the wild. I thought everyone went to northern Minnesota to deer hunt. Young naive boy I was lol :lol:

Just like all of these stories, I think our appreciation grows over time. You don’t know what you don’t know when you’re young.

Agreed
User avatar
Lockdown
Moderator
Posts: 9957
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 4:16 pm
Location: MN
Status: Offline

Re: Your first memorable deer encounter

Unread postby Lockdown » Fri Feb 05, 2021 3:28 am

The first story I told was my first memory of me hunting. This one is probably my first recollection of an actual hunt. Dad brought me with on a bowhunt. I was probably 7-8 yrs old, and he sat me on a limb a foot or two below him. I want to say he tied a rope around my waist and called it good :lol:

We had riverbottom behind us, a plowed bean field next to us on the other side, and some CRP beyond that. Right around prime time we saw a small buck jump the fence into the plowed field. He was probably 200 yards away weaving back and forth in the plowing, but heading our direction. Pretty soon he was 100 yards. Then 50. Then he entered bow range still heading right for us. He picked a trail that put him broadside at 10 yards or so.

It was getting pretty dark by this time. I can remember hearing that aluminum arrow slide back as dad drew his bow above me.

All the sudden... WHACK!!!

I don’t remember seeing the arrow hit but the buck turned inside out and took off across the plowing heading back the way he came. We lost sight of him but heard the squeaking of him running into the barbed wire fence.

We went and retrieved some lights and gave him some time. I remember struggling to follow him in the plowing. We got his tracks mixed up with other tracks and could t find blood in the black dirt, so dad said let’s skip ahead to the grass and try our luck there.

We searched along the fence but to no avail. Luckily I ended up noticing a staple still attached to the barbed wire with a freshly broken piece of wood attached holding it in place. “Dad he must have hit the fence right here!”

Sure enough, we picked up blood nearby and followed it to a dead 6 pointer 30-40 yards away. I remember being pretty proud of my contribution to the recovery.

I already knew I wanted to hunt, but that experience solidified that. It was awesome.
dan
Site Owner
Posts: 41588
Joined: Sat Feb 13, 2010 6:11 am
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HuntingBeast/?ref=bookmarks
Location: S.E. Wisconsin
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Your first memorable deer encounter

Unread postby dan » Fri Feb 05, 2021 3:59 am

Some of my fondest memories come from my childhood. When I was 8 years old, I wanted to go deer hunting with my older brother, Bob in the worst way. He was my idol. Every Thanksgiving week he would travel to Black River Falls and come back with a little buck that seemed like a huge trophy to a young boy. He would tell me stories for hours about everything that happened.

Bob once again headed away to a place I only knew as "Up North". I really wanted to go bad, but Dad said I was too young and needed to have patience until I was old enough.

Dad was a smart man. The north woods was no place for a child who was addicted to adventure. However Dad felt sorry for the boy in the driveway kicking stones. After the hunters left, he bought me a little gift... a small, red, Fred Bear fiberglass toy bow with a couple of wooden arrows with field tips. He said, "Why don't you practice hunting with this 'til your old enough to go with Bob?" All I could think was Bob will sure be impressed when he comes home and sees the big trophy buck I am going to shoot with my new bow!

I practiced shooting every tin can I could find, imagining the cans being big bucks or charging bears. Then I started stalking the woodlots and fields around my Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin house looking for real bucks and bears. I saw a couple deer but was frustrated when every stalk was busted and the deer would just run off.

Suddenly I was faced with the last day of the nine day deer season. Dad told me Bob had called to say he got a buck and was on his way home. I had to give it one last try. I took my toy bow out for the last hunt. This time I took my dog, Beuford, along. He would help me find a buck.

I crawled through some brush into an opening in a thick overgrown field. As I stood, I was face to face with a buck staring back from about 10 feet away! Beuford circled the buck and went at it from behind while I just stood in shock staring at the buck who was staring at me. As the dog came up on the bucks rear, the animal lunged forward and ran right over the top of me. One of his antlers caught my jacket ripping it as I slammed to the ground. As he jumped over me a hoof rammed into my guts leaving a large muddy track. By the time I got back to my feet, the mighty buck was gone, never to be seen again. That's when the tears started.

My neighbor, Mrs. Martin, came to my rescue after witnessing the event from her porch. She could not cross a river that separated us, so she called my Dad who came running out to make sure I was not hurt.

"Are you OK?" he hollered.

I said "Yes" in between my moaning cry's.

He said, "Then why you cryin?"

I said, "Cuz I didn't get the buck!"

I was waiting at the door when Bob got home. "Look at the track on my jacket, Bob!" I was now part of the club...I had my own hunting story! The next week the story appeared in theMilwaukee Journal and word of "the boy who got run over by a buck" story started to spread.
bigredneck61088
Posts: 390
Joined: Wed Sep 13, 2017 10:11 pm
Location: OH/PA
Status: Offline

Re: Your first memorable deer encounter

Unread postby bigredneck61088 » Fri Feb 05, 2021 4:16 am

First deer I ever saw from a tree stand was small doe that came in at last light, I was shaking so bad when I drew my bow, not sure if I even aimed and let it fly! I somehow hit her in the head dropping her dead, also my first deer ever!
User avatar
greenhorndave
500 Club
Posts: 13819
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2018 11:23 am
Location: SE WI
Status: Offline

Re: Your first memorable deer encounter

Unread postby greenhorndave » Fri Feb 05, 2021 4:48 am

dan wrote:Some of my fondest memories come from my childhood. When I was 8 years old, I wanted to go deer hunting with my older brother, Bob in the worst way. He was my idol. Every Thanksgiving week he would travel to Black River Falls and come back with a little buck that seemed like a huge trophy to a young boy. He would tell me stories for hours about everything that happened.

Bob once again headed away to a place I only knew as "Up North". I really wanted to go bad, but Dad said I was too young and needed to have patience until I was old enough.

Dad was a smart man. The north woods was no place for a child who was addicted to adventure. However Dad felt sorry for the boy in the driveway kicking stones. After the hunters left, he bought me a little gift... a small, red, Fred Bear fiberglass toy bow with a couple of wooden arrows with field tips. He said, "Why don't you practice hunting with this 'til your old enough to go with Bob?" All I could think was Bob will sure be impressed when he comes home and sees the big trophy buck I am going to shoot with my new bow!

I practiced shooting every tin can I could find, imagining the cans being big bucks or charging bears. Then I started stalking the woodlots and fields around my Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin house looking for real bucks and bears. I saw a couple deer but was frustrated when every stalk was busted and the deer would just run off.

Suddenly I was faced with the last day of the nine day deer season. Dad told me Bob had called to say he got a buck and was on his way home. I had to give it one last try. I took my toy bow out for the last hunt. This time I took my dog, Beuford, along. He would help me find a buck.

I crawled through some brush into an opening in a thick overgrown field. As I stood, I was face to face with a buck staring back from about 10 feet away! Beuford circled the buck and went at it from behind while I just stood in shock staring at the buck who was staring at me. As the dog came up on the bucks rear, the animal lunged forward and ran right over the top of me. One of his antlers caught my jacket ripping it as I slammed to the ground. As he jumped over me a hoof rammed into my guts leaving a large muddy track. By the time I got back to my feet, the mighty buck was gone, never to be seen again. That's when the tears started.

My neighbor, Mrs. Martin, came to my rescue after witnessing the event from her porch. She could not cross a river that separated us, so she called my Dad who came running out to make sure I was not hurt.

"Are you OK?" he hollered.

I said "Yes" in between my moaning cry's.

He said, "Then why you cryin?"

I said, "Cuz I didn't get the buck!"

I was waiting at the door when Bob got home. "Look at the track on my jacket, Bob!" I was now part of the club...I had my own hunting story! The next week the story appeared in theMilwaukee Journal and word of "the boy who got run over by a buck" story started to spread.

Little did they know that you’d spend the rest of your life getting revenge. :lol:

That’s an awesome story that I don’t think I’ve heard before.
----------
Sometimes when things get tough, weird or both, you just need to remember this...
https://youtu.be/d4tSE2w53ts
dan
Site Owner
Posts: 41588
Joined: Sat Feb 13, 2010 6:11 am
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HuntingBeast/?ref=bookmarks
Location: S.E. Wisconsin
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Your first memorable deer encounter

Unread postby dan » Fri Feb 05, 2021 4:57 am

greenhorndave wrote:
dan wrote:Some of my fondest memories come from my childhood. When I was 8 years old, I wanted to go deer hunting with my older brother, Bob in the worst way. He was my idol. Every Thanksgiving week he would travel to Black River Falls and come back with a little buck that seemed like a huge trophy to a young boy. He would tell me stories for hours about everything that happened.

Bob once again headed away to a place I only knew as "Up North". I really wanted to go bad, but Dad said I was too young and needed to have patience until I was old enough.

Dad was a smart man. The north woods was no place for a child who was addicted to adventure. However Dad felt sorry for the boy in the driveway kicking stones. After the hunters left, he bought me a little gift... a small, red, Fred Bear fiberglass toy bow with a couple of wooden arrows with field tips. He said, "Why don't you practice hunting with this 'til your old enough to go with Bob?" All I could think was Bob will sure be impressed when he comes home and sees the big trophy buck I am going to shoot with my new bow!

I practiced shooting every tin can I could find, imagining the cans being big bucks or charging bears. Then I started stalking the woodlots and fields around my Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin house looking for real bucks and bears. I saw a couple deer but was frustrated when every stalk was busted and the deer would just run off.

Suddenly I was faced with the last day of the nine day deer season. Dad told me Bob had called to say he got a buck and was on his way home. I had to give it one last try. I took my toy bow out for the last hunt. This time I took my dog, Beuford, along. He would help me find a buck.

I crawled through some brush into an opening in a thick overgrown field. As I stood, I was face to face with a buck staring back from about 10 feet away! Beuford circled the buck and went at it from behind while I just stood in shock staring at the buck who was staring at me. As the dog came up on the bucks rear, the animal lunged forward and ran right over the top of me. One of his antlers caught my jacket ripping it as I slammed to the ground. As he jumped over me a hoof rammed into my guts leaving a large muddy track. By the time I got back to my feet, the mighty buck was gone, never to be seen again. That's when the tears started.

My neighbor, Mrs. Martin, came to my rescue after witnessing the event from her porch. She could not cross a river that separated us, so she called my Dad who came running out to make sure I was not hurt.

"Are you OK?" he hollered.

I said "Yes" in between my moaning cry's.

He said, "Then why you cryin?"

I said, "Cuz I didn't get the buck!"

I was waiting at the door when Bob got home. "Look at the track on my jacket, Bob!" I was now part of the club...I had my own hunting story! The next week the story appeared in theMilwaukee Journal and word of "the boy who got run over by a buck" story started to spread.

Little did they know that you’d spend the rest of your life getting revenge. :lol:

That’s an awesome story that I don’t think I’ve heard before.

i bumped the story out of the archives. it has a picture of the actual article from the newspaper
User avatar
greenhorndave
500 Club
Posts: 13819
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2018 11:23 am
Location: SE WI
Status: Offline

Re: Your first memorable deer encounter

Unread postby greenhorndave » Fri Feb 05, 2021 4:59 am

I just saw that. Pretty darn cool.

Who knew what deer hunting would turn into for you. Incredible to look back on.
----------
Sometimes when things get tough, weird or both, you just need to remember this...
https://youtu.be/d4tSE2w53ts
Brian1986
Posts: 311
Joined: Wed Dec 13, 2017 3:12 am
Location: Ohio
Status: Offline

Re: Your first memorable deer encounter

Unread postby Brian1986 » Sat Feb 06, 2021 5:07 am

My first memorable deer encounter- I think I was 12 yrs old cause I had just passed my hunter safety course in the beginning of that fall. Up to that point my dad had taken me scouting a couple times with him on the public land he hunted. He had shown me the lay of the land and what different deer sign looked like, but never hunting. He ran a custom home framing business & worked heavy overtime year around so his free time was very very limited. But he would allow himself a few Saturdays to hunt every fall with the occasional 3 day hunt mixed in, or the rarer bad weather day that gave him cover to slip away into the woods. Deer hunting was a big deal, it was his escape. And he wanted me to be part of it for reasons I couldn't begin to understand as a kid. But I couldn't go until I could put 5 of 6 arrows into the small pie plate at 20yds & pass my hunter safety course. I had finally done both.

The land my dad hunted was 100 miles away from home. He liked hunting the hill country in southern Ohio not only for the big bucks, but the amount of public land that was available at the time. There weren't many bowhunters then and the rugged terrain discouraged many from trying. Going deer hunting was an all day event. So preparation began on Friday night. I had seen the routine countless times- get home from work, clean up & eat dinner, get the hunting gear ready, watch Dallas with mom, load the truck, then head out around midnight. (My dad rarely slept Friday nights before a hunt out of fear of waking up late and missing the morning hunt. How he did it on no sleep still amazes me.) Only this time I was going too. It was the first week of November. Dad drew me up a map of the area we'd be hunting including the parking spot, logging road, and where he would be that morning. We studied the map and talked strategy. He showed me some good spots that weren't too far away from where he'd be and then let me pick what area I wanted to hunt. I picked a spot about 400yds away from his. I was all set.

Dad let me sleep during the drive down and in the parking spot until it was time to head into the woods. He woke me up, I remember thinking whoa I'm actually here getting to do big people stuff! We started getting geared up. Dad ran through the checklist to make sure I had everything- compass? map? spare truck key? flash light? Enough warm clothes? Bow? Drink? Check, check, check. We shut the truck doors and began walking into the woods a couple hours before daylight. It was my first time hiking in the dark and it was a bit intimidating. It was cold too! The leaves were frosty and crunchy. We took 2 or 3 breaks along the 2/3 mile ascent up the hill with dad smoking a Marlboro & making sure to check if I was cold or starting to sweat, reminding me that once the sun comes up it will start warming up. We made it to the top of the hill and were now stopping where we would split off. Dad gave me some reassurance that he would be just up the logging road around the bend. Then showed me a small fresh scrape with a big track in it that he had spotted with his flashlight. He then gave me a final bit of coaching & encouragement, saying there should be some trails with good scrapes on them up past the spring. Hunker down for a bit near the spring and when day starts breaking look for some fresh sign and then makes sure you set up downwind of it. All these years later and I can still remember it so vividly. We set up the time we would meet back up that morning at the same location and with a final good luck he hiked on down the trail with his stand on his back. My hunt had begun.

It was still an hour before pink light. I began to slowly creep my way up the trail towards the spring taking one or two steps at a time to break up my cadence and not sound like a human like dad had coached. Suddenly a deer blew at me from what couldn't have been more than 30 yards away. It sounded like a fog horn going off! Deer began bounding off away from me blowing several more times. Scared the living daylights out of me!!! I knew that deer blew when they detected danger but I had never heard one before! Thankfully I didn't pee myself haha. It took a few minutes to compose myself, but remembered they're just deer and dad wasn't far away. After the scare wore off me, disappointment set in. I was afraid I had blown it. But I was going to hunt my plan like dad told me.

Daylight had arrived. I started scouting my way in to where I wanted to be. I was in a shallow valley of hardwoods about 50 yards wide between two groves of 30yr old pine trees. Dad told me about a couple trails the bucks liked to scrape on, so that's what I was keeping an eye out for. Only a few minutes passed when I came upon the trails he described and sure enough they had scrapes on them. I got an idea of which way the wind was blowing and then paced off about 20yds away downwind and hid on the ground by a dead tree. About an hour and a half had passed when I began hearing footsteps in the leaves. It was a deer walking my direction! Not only a deer it was a small 8pt buck!!! I began shaking almost uncontrollably. He was about 75 yds away. He hung back in brush for a few minutes surveying the area and then began walking closer. I carefully had my old Bear Whitetail Hunter bow (that seemed nearly as tall as I was) in front of my face to help conceal me and made sure to not look the buck in the eyes. 20 yards was my maximum shot, so I was anticipating where the buck would have to be in order to get off a shot. At 40 yards the relaxed buck came to a dead stop, his head snapped up with eyes and ears alert looking directly at me staring a hole through me. I remember thinking how in the world can he see me?! He cant smell me cause the wind isn't blowing to him. Or so I thought! My first experience with swirling winds!! With a quick assured snort the buck wheeled around and ran out of there. WOW, all I could think was WOW! I couldn't believe I had seen a buck on my very first hunt!! I was so excited!! It was still a couple hours until dad and I were to meet back up but it was all I could do to not run over to where he was to tell him. I remember sitting there shaking for several minutes after, the adrenaline still coursing through me.

Finally it was time to meet back up with dad and I could finally tell him about my hunt! Needless to say he was super proud & excited for me! I shared just a couple quick details then we hiked back down to the truck and on into town for lunch at McDonalds where we share all the in depth details of our hunt- which became one of our traditions, sharing our morning hunt stories over lunch time coffee at McDonalds. Anyways, that's what hooked me. From that day on I loved deer hunting. And looking back I am so glad that my dad let me figure deer hunting out on my own! He would suggest a good spot or advise on sound strategy, but after that he let me make my choices and treated me like an adult. I'm grateful for that. I've had a lifetime of enjoying the great outdoors as a result.

Sorry this is so long! My dad just recently was released from the hospital after having heart trouble. I couldn't visit him while he was in there because of the hospital's covid rules. I got to see him the day after he got home and one of the first things we did was start retelling our old deer hunting stories. This story being among them so it was very fresh on my mind. I'm glad God blessed us with the bond that hunting has provided. Hopeful we will be able to hunt together again.


  • Advertisement

Return to “Deer Hunting”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: dlevra, justdirtyfun and 81 guests