USA: I Finally Killed My First Deer!

[Inline6]

Awesome job!

 

[WAB]

We’ll done!

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats on a nice buck and thanks for sharing!

 

[RTG]

Congratulation, that is fantastic! My wife just started hunting with me this year. Great to start sharing these experiences. My kids and I have killed a lot of deer with 6.5cm along with some elk and pronghorn. All that matters is accuracy. Make the shot and the animal never complains what you hit it with. (But if someone is a bad shot, maybe bump up a few calibers to compensate ;-)

 

[gillettehunter]

Nice buck! I've killed a lot of mule deer over the yrs and haven't had them that broken up. Wonder if the bucks in my area are wimps and just don't fight as hard or if the horns of your deer are a little more brittle? In any case thats a deer to be proud of. Well done
Bruce

 

[Hogpatrol]

Congrats on a nice buck. One never forgets their first one. Hope many more follow.

 

[Just Gina]

Congratulation, that is fantastic! My wife just started hunting with me this year. Great to start sharing these experiences. My kids and I have killed a lot of deer with 6.5cm along with some elk and pronghorn. All that matters is accuracy. Make the shot and the animal never complains what you hit it with. (But if someone is a bad shot, maybe bump up a few calibers to compensate ;-)

Thank you! Loved your post. I agree. This guy didn't complain about me using Bob's truck gun, or know what hit him for that matter.
That is great your wife started hunting with you and I love that you take your kids out!! My son loves to hunt and he started taking his daughter out (my Lilly). As of right now, she would not ever kill a deer even though her Daddy got his first one at 8 years old. She however is being taught how to hunt responsibly and respectfully, so I love that! My dad taught my son how to hunt, so he had an excellent teacher. So wonderful to see that passed down!

 

[Just Gina]

Nice buck! I've killed a lot of mule deer over the yrs and haven't had them that broken up. Wonder if the bucks in my area are wimps and just don't fight as hard or if the horns of your deer are a little more brittle? In any case thats a deer to be proud of. Well done
Bruce

Thank you, Bruce! Interesting question about the difference. That is one I am not sure about! There were more without broken ones than with. Maybe @ActionBob could shed some light. I am curious now! I really wish I had taken pics of some of these monsters!! I have not seen any fighting yet, but goodness....I bet that would be something to see!

 

[Spooksar]

Well what’s there left to say, for your first deer that one is awesome, congratulations on what should be the first of many more to come.

 

[Bullthrower338]

Great deer Gina, you guys need to come up elk hunting next year.

 

[Just Gina]

Great deer Gina, you guys need to come up elk hunting next year.

Thank you Cody! We would absolutely LOVE to do that! We should make a plan!

 

[ActionBob]

Nice buck! I've killed a lot of mule deer over the yrs and haven't had them that broken up. Wonder if the bucks in my area are wimps and just don't fight as hard or if the horns of your deer are a little more brittle? In any case thats a deer to be proud of. Well done
Bruce

Bruce we are very fortunate to have a great population on our farm there in SW Kansas. I'm not sure if they are lacking minerals or something or if they are just so strong and healthy and fight a lot There does seem to be a buck for every 2 or 3 does so I think there is just a lot of competition.

When we bought the place in 2016 from a European Immigrant who is not a hunter but he was carrying a .22 in his truck to shoot rabbits and prairie rattlers. His theory being that rabbits eat the alfalfa. He did not allow shooting of coyotes because they eat rabbits. He was being paid to let an Outfitter hunt the mule deer and quail. I believe that Outfitter was taking at least 3 bucks per year.

Well I think the coyotes eat fawns as well. Especially if the rabbit population is reduced and coyote population is high... There were so damned many coyotes that about half had mange. Some severe. I started shooting coyotes. I also bought a 223 Remington for the on site manager to shoot coyotes. He's not a hunter but when he found a dead heifer calf with the teats chewed off, he decided to shoot coyotes too!

Although this is not prime pheasant country, we are starting to see a few. This is the edge of the Sandhills. There are only mule deer on our farm. There are some whitetail in the Arkansas River bottom 7 miles North. We also have a few Bobwhite and a good population of Blue or Scaled quail and some of those invasive doves that you can now shoot year round like pigeons. I digress....

When Gina and I were there for the Kansas rifle season, the rut was in full swing. Kansas has an early muzzle loader season in September and of course those bucks are not broken up then. I've shot 4 deer there. I didn't hunt it in 2016 as just bought it December 1st. Didn't hunt it last year as Gina and I had just returned from 5 weeks in Tanzania. I shot 2 of my deer during muzzle loader. One right at the beginning of season who was not busted up, and one broken up deer.

Gina and I saw around 40 deer in the short time we hunted. That seems to be about what the resident herd size is. They roam a big area, into the sage for cover, and into the fields to eat. We saw a very nice tall tired buck who obviously had his ass whooped. He was all alone and Gina could have shot him. We knew where he was hanging out and passed because he was not as wide as Gina wanted. She had spotted, well before I saw him, a nice wide buck the day before and declared she needed him! He went over a hill and disappeared. We are pretty sure that is the deer she got.

We were back there a couple days ago. Saw another really nice buck with half of his left side busted off. Hope he's there with his new set next year

 

[Nyati]

Congrats Gina, that´s a nice one !

 

[BnC 04]

Hell of a first buck @Just Gina , looks like a brawler that has passed on his genes. Well done!

 

[CAustin]

Greetings, Everyone!

I finally killed my first deer!

Before I tell you how that happened, let me give you the back story!

This is hands down THE MOST FUN I have ever had deer hunting!! In years past I was always told I had to sit like a statue, as quiet as a statue, and heaven forbit I breathe, blink, get a drink, or even worse, smoke a cigarette. I had to freeze to death and be miserable and never once got a deer (or even saw one).

Well! Bob and I went white tail hunting at home in MN but did not see any bucks that we wanted to shoot. We have been on the road for months working and would be home for a day or two. Long enough to unpack, do laundry, re-pack and leave again. During one of those brief times at home, we went out hunting and saw plenty of deer. In the stand, I had a heater, drinks, snacks, AND….cigarettes. Guess what? Plenty of deer came around. Did plenty of chit chatting and laughing too with my husband! We would have to quiet ourselves down a bit from laughing when one of us saw one and we would then get down to serious hunting business and decide if we wanted to shoot one. We did not on this occasion. As I said, I wanted a buck and out of all the does and bucks we saw, we decided to pass on all of them.

Bob and I were at our farm in Kansas working and managed to squeeze in a little time for hunting. Despite me being sick, I managed to get this 12 pt mule deer less than 20 minutes before last shooting light.

We had been out a couple of times that trip on the 2300 (no fences) acres doing work related tasks and there were quite a few amazing mulies out there, but I saw this guy and knew that was the one I had to have. Some of his tines are broken but I did not care. He was a nice big handsome guy, and I hoped I would be able to get him.

We saw a couple more that were bigger, some smaller; this one was the one for me though. It was cold and I was not dressed for the occasion. I didn’t really plan on hunting that evening because I felt so terrible. We were leaving the farm for the evening and whilst driving around checking on things I saw him again. So, I had to try.

Hunting out there is spot and stalk and there is generally a lot of walking and even more crawling involved. I was not going to spend hours on this endeavor due to the above-mentioned bit about being sick. Curious thing is, once the adrenaline gets pumping and you are after one, you forget a little about feeling so terrible. I still felt the cold plenty though, that is for sure!

He was over 500 yards away when I spotted him. Bob was with me, of course, and I needed to get closer. He moved to the top of a hill, and I told Bob, “I am not chasing him anymore!” We moved in and he was at 338 yards. Bob said, “You can make that shot no problem.” So, I put out my cigarette and did. We were out with Bob’s ‘truck gun’ which just happened to be…..wait for it….

6.5 Creedmoor!!

No seriously. That is what I killed it with!

The ammo I used: Hornady 129gr interbond @2950 fps.

The combo worked quite nicely, and Bob’s shoulder acted as my ‘shooting sticks’. My first deer was dead! I really did not want to walk anymore in the cold wind but walk more I did.

We went back to get the truck and drove it out to where my dead deer was. Bob took pics and then we were tasked with getting this big guy in the box of the pickup. I am quite thankful for ratchet straps and the sheer strength Bob possess since, thanks to my bad shoulders, I am far too wimpy to lift more than the tail. Well, I did hold his head up for the pics. (I do what I can haha!)

I am thrilled I got an amazing deer and even more so with how much fun I had and the memories I made this season deer hunting!!

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WOW! Great story! Congratulations

 

[Randy F]

Congratulations on getting that old brute! Heck of a first deer, well done!

 

[Tra3]

Nice deer! And a special on considering it is your first.

I can only imagine the violence that it took to break those tines. I would love to have watched the bucks fighting when that happened.

Since you did the shooting, doesn’t your spouse now have to cook a celebratory venison steak for you!

 

[enysse]

Congratulations on the mule deer! Nice shooting!

 

[ActionBob]

Since you did the shooting, doesn’t your spouse now have to cook a celebratory venison steak for you!

We have an old neighbor who is down on his luck. We had given him some beef and venison from home earlier in the year. We are actually a bit worried about him. I know the church gives him meals occasionally but he lives way out there by himself. I shot another younger deer on my tag and we donated both to him... it felt right to fill his freezer with two deer.

We have whitetail at home and of course we have our own prime beef

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Congratulations Gina!