Your first bow kill was a(n) __________?
General Topic
Contributors to this thread:
Your first bow kill was a what?
Reply with specie
Nice pronghorn buck, spot and stalk at that.
At seven years old a rabbit and I buried it before my dad got home thinking he would kill me.
First bowkill was a ground squirrel on the Kemmerer, WY golf course when I was 9 or 10. Grandma just smiled when I proudly brought my "trophy" home to share my accomplishment. ;-)
First big game bowkill was a doe antelope.
First kill was a bullfrog. First big game was 8 point whitetail.
Rabbit. Hoyt recurve around age 5ish
1.5 year old 7 point whitetail buck
1.5 year old 7 point whitetail buck
A rat. We used to go to a quail farm and shoot the rats that came under the elevated cages to eat the feed seeds that fell thru.
I don't remember exactly .. a mule deer doe maybe in 1991 ?? if it was, a 5x5 bull elk a week later.
8pt whitetail buck when I was 16 years old. Started bowhunting when I was 12. I sure missed my share before I finally was able to kill one. I missed the same spike 3 times in one night.
Wood Rat, we used to go to the local dump starting when I was 5 and shoot them with .22 and pellets guns, when I was 7 my brother and I took our bows, Red Wing hunter and an old Bear Cub. Killed 4 rats that night, took me around 75 shots to do so. Scooby
Hate to remember this one but it was a skunk in my grandma's chicken coop. Oops
A robin. My father made me eat it.
Spike/fork elk in Utah, circa 1997
Whitetail doe. I was 16. My 3rd year of bow hunting and 5th year of hunting overall
Apart from assorted fish & snakes....
Fork mulie - 28 paces, on the ground, with a recurve. 100-yard dash.
6+ foot Timber Rattler and it was delicious!
A cottonwood seed puffpod, floating in the air. And the neighbors roof shingles when the arrow plowed through it. Got spanked afterwards, circa 1966 or so.. 1981 big buck at 60 yds (bad idea), 1984 big doe 16 yds (good idea).
Grey squirrel. Vortex 2 1/2 in cut, hit it in the throat and picked 2 pices.
Barnyard chicken.
Dec. 1958
Javelina @ Medina Base 1986
Button buck! And couldn't be more proud.
Whitetail, first year actually hunting.
Was this 2.5 year old whitetail doe. Just 2 weeks ago.
Den mothers son. Shot him in the butt when he kept running in front of the target. Not a bow "kill", but it did get me kicked out of cub scouts. First kill was a whitetail.
chipmunk, and Mom wasn't happy, Dad was proud though.
Fall turkey. Shot through the neck - almost missed.
Whitetail doe in 1978 or 1979.
A 120" 8 point whitetail in Oklahoma in 1984.
Pronghorn antelope buck first day first hunt. Stalked him while he was bedded. Knew immediately my gun hunting days were over.
Jackrabbit followed in a couple days by an antelope buck.
First bowkill was a jack rabbit. First big game was a buck mule deer, spot and stalk.
bullfrog , cottontail or dove. I shot the dove in flight. I was proud of them all but don't remember which came first. God bless, Steve
Cottontail rabbit. About 1956/1957. In "Bum's Woods" in Kenosha County, Wisconsin. Used a 43# Bear Archery Cub model bow. Wooden arrows with Bod-Kin broadheads. Instinctive. Finger tab.
Whitetail buck, 8 pointer.
Coyote out of a tree stand while deer hunting.
black bear. not a bad one either.
71 or 72, my first was a bobcat at about 6 or 7 yards. When I hit him it looked like that cartoon Tasmanian Devil on Bug Bunny...... sounded like hell had come to earth..... and then in a few seconds all was quiet and still and he lay there where I had pinned him to the ground. Pretty wild. Had his pelt that I could hang on a wall for several years before losing a bunch of stuff stored after a move.
Bighorn sheep ram in 2000
Whitetail buck, small 10 pointer, 2006.
Rabbit. 1st big game was an 8pt 1.5 year old buck.
2pt Muley with a long bow I made in High School woodshop.
Good luck, Robb
IDK, as I cannot count the number of deer that I have killed. Fifty years years hunting has been a blur. I am leaning towards a rabbit.
I wish I could remember like some of you guys. If I remember a certain animal then I can remember all the details but between gun hunts, bowhunts, and living in 10 states and hunting an additional 5 more it becomes a challenge for me. My nemisis is that I am focused on the next animal not the last. Hell, I didn't even take pictures until my wife talked me into it at about 27.
Whitetail I also new my gun days were over.
Porcupine,while deer hunting. I proudly carried it back to our campfire at lunch time. My uncles told me I had to cook it up and eat it. It wasn't real tasty!
Bob
Blackbird. No I didnt eat it. Knocked on my buddies door wi it still on the arrow and his mother answerd the door ... priceless . I was around 10 yrs old mi 70s fiberglass recurve
About an 18 lbs button buck lol
OK maybe a tad bigger
A Pigeon that I shot out of the air with a fiberglass recurve when I was in junior high. First big game was a non-typ WT buck that scored 174+
Rabbit, 1969 with a 68 Bear grizzly. I still own the bow.
largemouth bass.
believe it or not it was out of a tree that was hanging over the pond.
crazy, never really thought of that before, but it's true.
Whitetail doe, after many years of tryin.
cnelk, you've been collecting a lot of information from us. Should we expect a report to come out with the results?
1989 8 pt whitetail followed by another 8pt whitetail 2 minutes later.
1983. I took up bowhunting to kill time before trapping season opened. I lived in a 1950 something 10 x 50 trailer house in the middle of the timber with wood heat. Great times!
A really big whitetail doe, but all we found was a small button buck! I was still very proud though.
Pa found hog First big game animal ever.. Whitetail doe.. Epic evening for a 14 year old. 100% solo as no one in my family bowhunted at all. In fact they thought I was foolish to attempt to hunt with such a thing. Lol
They all are bowhunted now.. And I've had the pleasure of watching them all take their first elk with a bow. They don't gun hunt much at all anymore. :)
13-striped ground squirrel, aka as a striped gopher, back when my age was in single digits. Shot hundreds (or more??) of them over the years, as they could be hunted year-round, which up here in MN means just the summer, but ALL summer. Although, my Mom let me shoot a chicken with my bow way back that we were going to have for supper, which would be close second.
November 7 1978, 7 point Buck, it was the first year I Bow hunted and the first Deer I ever shot at.Might have been a little luck involved, LOL. I used a Bear Polar LTD Compound and 2117 arrows, in 2008 I switched to shooting Longbows and Recurves and still having a great time shooting a Bow and Bow hunting. I am 63 as of the 5th January.
Striped gopher but Big game whitetail button buck Dec 2 1967
4 pt buck at age 17. Took me 6 years of trial & error as I was learning on my own. Now my family loves bowhunting
Whitetail - spike horn - 1977- with a Jennings Super "T" Hunter --- the last bow I cronographed....it was 157fps.
Cottontail 30 Yards Shocked myself!
Pigeon in the barn hay loft...lol. After that a 5 point whitetail.
Squirrels, birds, and chipmunks. First big game animal was a 7point whitetail buck 31 years ago. God Bless
Rabbit, many moons ago, it was with a Ben Pearson recurve! (grin)
ElkNut1
Morning dove, on the ground at the bird feeder. Bear recurve
I believe it was either a cottontail, blackbird, or squirrel. Can't really remember for sure. First big game was at 13 yrs old - whitetail doe out of a ground blind sitting with my dad. As I get older and watch how much my dad slows down it continues to grow as one of my favorite memories.
My first was a whitetail doe in 1987, dressed weight of 144#. My shot was a little high and she left no blood trail. It took me 3 hours to find her. Manitowoc County, WI.
Button buck almost 20 years ago. Was my 3rd year of bowhunting and most memorable deer I've ever harvested
Nick
130" ten point whitetail at 15 years old.
think it was a rat
we used to walk the rail near a corn syrup plant. rats would be right under your feet running under the rail
Woodchuck. I am sure I got other critters as a kid but when I got my first adult bow I went hunting.
Cottontail Rabbit at age 10 or 11 with a Bear recurve. Lots of other rabbits & squirrels until my first big game, a whitetail doe from the ground with a Bear, Brown Bear compound in 1979, at age 21. Lots of rabbits & squirrels after that too.
Whitetail doe 1975
Still have the Herter's Recurve
Probably Rabbits in 1955 as Illinois did not have a Deer season until 1957 & I bowhunted it. 1st Biggame, A Doe in 1958.
First bow kill
First bow kill
1987: Technically, a spike only because he actually expired first. I had shot a doe 45 minutes earlier, and she needed a follow up shot.
white tail doe, age 15. as a kid I spent every waking moment in the woods, knew every day at 3pm this big doe would get up from were she was bedded behind some houses and come into a small swamp that I frequented for red rider chickadee hunting. first day of archery season the school bus dropped me off at 2:30 I ran home got my bow, then ran the mile and a half or so to the swamp were I had left a chair the week before. not two minutes latter their she was. I drew, fired,and missed by a mile. she ran off. after several minutes trying to calm down I headed back for home, just to realize she was still standing at the other side of the swamp looking back, trying to figure out what had just happened. I walked too within 20 yards of her and shot again, she didn't go twenty yards.
Ground squirrel. 145 class whitetail, (went unrecovered for a month) trapper on the land found him, this set me back for a few years, didn't hunt just shot alot. Still have the antlers in the shop with the tag taped to them, I tagged it after it was found and said I had alot to learn before I did that again.
oz
A chipmunk! Shot a few of their tails off befor I finally connected on that one...and I packed him out in just one trip!!
Mine was a rabbit and a rabbit ,,,,,,,, and a squirrel , and more rabbit ,,,, ground hogs ,,, then deer in 1977, with a recurve , doe and a doe , next yr I got 4 deer , one buck all with recurve , and more assorted small game , . I eventually bought a Bear whitetail and a Bear whitetail 2 . the deer then fell 8 each yr.
Cow moose, I was alone. I was around 16 or 17. Hit her in the spine with the first shot, arrows where flying all over until she was holding still. A moose kill zone is pretty big at 25 yards, but you'd be surprised all the places arrows end up when things break loose.
Whitetail spike. Liver shot, incredibly tough blood trail, but my buddy and I stayed on it and found him.
I'm the one with the slingshot..9 yrs old ,, rabbit.first kill...Pick on left..I'm 16... First deer.8 pt..If you check out my bow..A rare bear Delta v...It was fastest bow in the world then...
Whitetail doe. 1987. UP of MI west of Ralph on the Turner Truck Trail.
Backyard rabbit when I was 9 or 10. First big game animal was a scroungy 5 point first morning of the season when I was 14.
4 point whitetail buck. got the euro in my office, one of my favorite mounts.
Whitetail buck, right hand (I'm lefty) 55# Browning Nomad Recurve, 1979
Cotton Tail Rabbits- a bunch, and then a forky mule deer buck. Easton Bow, fingers with sights. 1980's
Small 5 point whitetail after several years of trying.
Amazed at some of you guy's first bowkills!
My first bowkill was a cottontail followed immediately after by a big rattlesnake that actually had the rabbit in his mouth when I found it. Would have been about 1975. Lots of rabbits, snakes, birds, raccoons, skunks, opossums, feral cats, dogs running sheep, and other varmints after that.
Finally killed a whitetail doe when I was 16. My family was adamantly against me even trying to kill a deer with a bow on our property. Got mad at me when I came in with that doe. Still a touchy issue with them to bowhunt when I go down there even though I have killed critters with my longbow on a couple of continents up to buffalo over the last 35 years.
Tried and tried with my recurve to get something, but long time of misses. Then suddenly in one day I killed 5 (five) red squirrels! Probably 1978ish. Enough meat combined for my mom to make a squirrel pot pie!
After that red squirrels & snowshoe hares had to look out.
Tried bowhunting big game in 1996. Took me 2 years to kill my first mule deer buck, nice 4x4, and at that point I was hooked on bowhunting for big game.
A fly that was buzzing one foot over the back of a whitetail buck.
First big game, the same whitetail buck. (The deer came back minutes later after I airmailed the first arrow!)
Free range Axis Buck taken in Boerne TX
8pt Whitetail buck 1989, remember like it was yesterday. My brother was so pissed. He gave me permission to hunt his stand after he had hunted it all weekend, and seen nothing. I headed out after school and stuck him just before dark. It was the first deer anyone in my family had killed with a bow.
Mule Deer doe - surprised how many guys first kills were MD Doe. Not the wariest of animals but make good targets. A month later I shot my ID Cow Moose with my bow.
Whitetail doe when I was 11. 45 lb Shakespeare Necedah and Bear Razorheads
Jasper that's awesome. my son's first big game kill was with a 45# Necedah, Zwickey Eskimo heads on cedar shafts (feral hog)
Whitetail doe 1975 with a recurve
cottontail at about 7 years old. Granny almost had a heart attack when I brought it inside.
Haaa John... Climbing the ladder was fantastic!!!!
Coyote while huntin deer on the Kaibab in the 80s
Rabbit with my 1966 Herter's Perfection recurve.
Fuzzy, does your son still have the Necedah? I sold mine when I was a teenager and regret it all the time!
Thanks Savage! That was 45 years ago and I still remember it well!
1.5 yr. old whitetail doe, 1982, Brown Bear bow, Kolpin broadhead, Easton aluminum arrow...18yd broadside, 40 yd recovery with Coleman lantern... thought I was Fred Bear lol!
Scentman I hear ya..I tried to build a tree bridge across a stream.like the one in Fred's Alaskan Delta pic...Every stalk on a bear...... Actually a groundhog.. Every lion kill... Actually a sparrow...All molded,and drove me to dream of ,"really bowhunting like Fred"...I'm still that kid ..40 years later..
Yes Jasper he actually does. The backstory on that bow, is I bought it used in 1996 (the year my son was born) for a friend's son, who was about seven years old at the time. Of course the kid shot lighter bows until he grew into the Necedah, and made his forst big game bowkill (a whitetail doe) with it at age 12 (2002). My son borrowed it from him for a hog hunt in 2008 (age 12 again, he was shooting a 35# Browning Wasp at the time) and ended up buying it from him after that trip. I wonder how many other "firsts" that old Necedah has contributed.
A Black bear in Québec! 2nd year hunting with my bow, but was my first kill and shot an anything with a bow...hooked ever since!
Little whitetail buck - I call it a six... you could argue it was a spike with stickers though ;)
Whitetail doe fawn. Shot with my PSE Vector II with Thunderhead Razorbak broadhead. It was the 3rd deer I shot at that day and the only 1 I hit.
A rabbit or a squirrel,don't remember which one.
This is a great thread......Takes us ALL back there..When it started....I'd be a different person if I'd never become an archer....
I agree good thread..i enjoyed the pics.....mine was a 6 pt. 1980 50# bear grizzly recurve.
Ok, here is my first and then my last deer killed with the bow. The first was in 1962 in the UP of Michigan. I was stationed at KI Sawyer AFB. Recurve bow, wood arrows, three bld Bodkin BHs. Notice no hood on arrow quiver, used burnt cork on hands and face. I had climbed into a crotch of a tree 12 ft up and the doe walked under me. Straight down shot.
Last Deer. A Coues buck in AZ last week. More modern equipment but just as exciting as the first kill. Hope for a few more. my best, Paul
white tail button buck about 1970
English sparrow around 1963. Still have the fiberglass bow. Lucky it was not me or a friend when we would shoot straight up in the air and scatter.
Mule deer doe, spot and stalk. Just the thought of that feeling when the stalk and the shot came together with that arrow hitting her in the ribs still gets my heart pounding.
Glad to see that most of you take better field photos today than you did back then!
Forked horn whitie. Perhaps my last will be the same:)
A frog. Shot a mess of bullfrogs. And man, were they good eating! They were in a private pond and the bow was silent. I think I was in 7th or 8th grade. It was an aluminum recurve, about 35 lbs. plenty for frogs!
Woodchuck shot with a solid fiberglass bow and cedar arrow. Saved my 1 dollar a week allowance for 5 weeks to buy it.1972 I think.
First big game was a wt does. First bow kill was a groundhog.