Your first buck with a bow
Whitetail Deer
Contributors to this thread:
With deer season right around the corner, let's share our first bowkilled buck, or doe for that matter. Include the bow used. My first deer ever was a doe killed from the ground. My second was the spike in the middle of the photo, killed from a treestand. Both killed in '78 or '79 with a Bear Black Bear compound bow, don't remember what broadhead, but probably a Bear.
I don't know who this little kid is. Doesn't look like me anymore :)
2000. Hoyt Raptor. First bow buck
Great first bow buck Bake.
I grew up on a 300 acre farm in north Georgia. A young mans dream. Killed this buck by myself on a day off of school. The first of many. October 10 1990. Jennings lighting and A Keller sight. Can't wait for the next one. Best of luck this year. Hunt
Horicon Marsh in 98', not sure I ever seen my grandpa smile so big when we dragged him out. Bear Compound, muzzy head and a 30ish yard shot.
Also looking forward to the next one!
I ca'nt remember back that many years!
2014 Mission Riot, Halloween night of the 2014 season. (I'm a young'un)
1977- shot with Browning recurve with 2018 aluminum's and Savora 4 blade broadheads. 10 yard shot from the ground 13 years old.
It was either 78-79. I cant remember what I shot other then I took two first yr and 4 the second yr , and 8 the 3rd. It was not a buck thing for me rather a steak thing.
November of 2006. 3 year old 10 pointer. Hunting some heavily pressured private land as far from any other hunters as possible. For the 2nd day in a row he came in harassing a doe directly under my tree. No clean shot. Fortunately for me, I got down the previous evening and came back with a climber the next morning and moved 20 yards away so when he did it again on the same trail they developed, I stopped him with a bleat and he was dead broadside.
I hate you Boggs.....Lol. Awesome deer for your first, middle or last. Congratulations!!!
Unfortunately no photo of my first. It was a Doe in 1988 when I 17 years old. I was so excited and when I got home I found out that my great uncle passed away so it took the wind out of my sails and the deer went right to the butcher without taking a photo. Was taken with a 50 lb Browning Bushmaster, eastern gamegetter aluminum tipped with a 125g Thunderhead. The next 3 or 4 were does until my first buck which was a spike.
This will be an interesting thread.
YZF we must have posted at the same time, I hate you too....Lol. Awesome buck for a first deer!!!!
First bow buck. Shot plenty with the gun but waited with the bow for a nice one. Grunted and rattled to 4 yds. Carbon element. Exodus heads. Nov 5th
Killed my first buck many years ago when the PSE Mach Flight 4 I was hunting with was a new bow.
Killed my first in 1977 with a Bear recurve, looking for a pic. Small 4pt shot at 10 yards while standing on a limb about 12ft. Up a big oak tree. I was about to turn 13 at the time. Shawn
My first was a small buck with broke off antlers and he fell straight down on arrow impact baaing like a sheep.
Nov 6, early 90's. 7:37 AM. I'd just bleated a couple times and he came walking right in. I drew and had to let down when he chose to walk behind v in front of me - at inside 10yds. He looped around, I let down, drew again, and made a 25yd heart shot.
It was my first field dressing attempt, and I did it with a swiss army knife my sister had bought me in Switerzerland when she was an exchange student. Note to any new hunters reading this - dont use a jackknife to field dress a deer :)!
That day, right through today, I loved every moment of the drag. It is hard work, and feels like a really positive part of the process - like it "should" be a part of the process.
First deer with a bow 1989
First Buck. 1991 legend xi magnum bow with a 100 thunder head. The good old days!:)
If I remember right! 1964! Bear Tiger Cat bow. 48# with bear razors! My Mon took me out and dropped me off and picked me up later that evening, Boy was she surprise! Me too! One antlered spike, just a little shorted than the ears! I didn't even know it had a antler. It was a deer!
Doe-Eddings 45# recurve, wood arrow tipped with MA3 blade. Double Lung pass thru 35 yds. on the ground. Dropped in 30 yds. Illinois 2nd ever Deer Season 1958 & my 2nd year Deer bowhunting.
my 1st Buck was on a weekend trip to Northern Ws.. 20 yd shot with a Bear Razorhead out of a 60# Pearson Mercury hunter recurve in 1964.. 2016 starts my 60th year in Archery/Bowhunting & Bucks in the 130+ class get a pass from me now..
My first bow kill deer was a small 5-point on an evening hunt in late October with some wet snow. I spined him the first shot then emptied my quiver, climbed down, pulled an arrow out of the dirt and finished him. Felt humiliated and proud all at once. Bow was a PSE Impala recurve. Year was 2008 and I was 15.
This is not the best picture, but it's the only one I could find that was digital...
The european buck all the way to the right with the broken left main beam is the first buck I ever shot with a bow. Ben Pearson '05 model compound bow...the other european mount is my best bow buck to date...same bow.
The full shoulder mount is my first ever shotgun buck...I kept the cape for that one since it has a bit of a double throat patch and was an awesome day hunting overall...
I should add...the button buck euro mount is my wife's only kill so far... a 20 ft shot from the ground with a minimal blind the morning after I killed the buck above it...
2010, I was 11 in Maine with my Mission by Matthews, 10 yard shot on the last night of our week long trip 169lbs 10 pointer. Hard to believe it's almost been 6 years!
Kc Hunter wins the thread!
1985 8pt with a 1982 Martin warthog bow, razorbak 5 broadheads. Dragged the deer a 1/4 mile down a creek bed. I didn't gut him as I was afraid I would containimate the meat. I could not get the deer out of the creek bed by myself. I got help from a couple of locals who got a laugh when I pulled out pages from an Outdoor life magazine on how to field dress a deer. I didn't have hunters in my family! I have learned a little bit since then.
2006 Oct. 20th.... best day ever. 1st buck with bow, 1st deer ever with Martin bow. G5 Montec. Fingers....
It was in the early 80's. Biggest three pointer in WI. Standing on the ground. Broadside at 15 yds. PSE Proficiency, Easton arrows, Satellite broadheads.
1976 Black creek Wisconsin 9pt shot with Browning wasp,Savora 3 blade.
This was my first buck in 2005. Bear TRX 32. Heck I didn't even have access to a digital camera then (sorry for the crappy scan), as neither I nor my immediate family owned one. Amazing where things have gone since then.
I think that makes nine years of bowhunting before I shot my first with antlers. I had shot a couple does prior, but I think it took me 7 or 8 years for that.
The year was 2004. Second year bowhunting. My first deer actually came about 35 minutes earlier when a doe quartered by at 12 yards and this 5x5 was out in the field. I thought well after hunting so hard, I am not looking a gift horse in the mouth and plowed her with a rocket Steelhead and she ran about 45 yards through the corner of the field and died.
The above buck was in the field with a bachelor herd of bucks and a few does, and they just watched her go and went back to feeding. I couldn't believe my luck and had a hard time stifling my cheer. Kept sitting and this buck walked by at 20 yards and I spined him. He ended up netting 143. Couldn't believe it.
My first archery kill was a 5point buck in 1993. Shot it on the last day of the fall season with a Fedora Backpacker Recurve, cedar arrows and Zwickey two blade. Rushed home to show my Dad only to find an empty house. Turns out Mom had taken him to the ER for troubled breathing. He was in a room overlooking the parking lot so that afternoon I took the buck over to show him. He was happier than I was but it would be a lousy winter for him and he would pass in the spring from lung cancer. Everytime I look at that little buck I remember him giving me a thumbs up from the window and the big smile on his face. I'd give up hunting and every memory I have to spend one day with him now. He was my hero and too young to go at 67.
December 28, 1987. I was home from college and shot my first deer from home made treestand after getting a nasty case of poison ivy climbing the wrong tree! I shot a button buck at 12 yards and he only went about 30 yards before dying. Shot him with a PSE Jet Flite Express, Easton Orange XX75's, and bear razorheads. Took me 5 years to kill a deer with my bow! Steep learning curve for me back then. I remember we had to drag that little deer so far, we rubbed all the hide off one of his back hindquarters!
First bow buck was a spike in 1981 with either a Jennings Super T two-wheeler or a Bear Polar II, can't remember which. Shot him off the ground as he was walking out of a corn field that was being combined. Easton Gamegetter arrows and Bear Razorhead, of course. Still using Razorheads...
First deer was a doe in 1978 with the Bear.
Utah 1986.... hard to believe it was 30 years ago, I remember it in detail. Ed F
I don't have pictures. It was 89 or 90. Darton something or other was the bow. 2213 arrow. Bear Razorhead. I don't remember if it was a spike or three or four point. It wasn't big. But, it was a trophy. God Bless
1982....after 6 years of hunting I FINALLY took my first deer...a button buck Shor at 30 yards with my Bighorn recurve after countless misses at 6 yards...lol
I waited over the deer proudly in the dark as my uncles flashlight worked towards me from where he hunted that night. I stood with a big smile waiting for his congratulations only to hear...you shot a baby deer? Ohh well...
1985 nortwest of Craig, Colorado arrowed my first animal I ever harvested with any weapon. 1985 Hoyt Ram Hunter II bow, XX75 arrows with Rocky Mountain Broadhead. Qwikee quiver and a Pro-injector release directly under a single nock. Dovetail sight and plunger with TM curved launcher arm rest. Man the good old days...
Charlie told me he would post his first bow-kill.......but they didn't have cameras back then. :)
It was 1980 a nice 8-pointer from a tree stand made from a 4x4 oak pallet in the crotch of a HUGE oak tree. Was shooting a PSE Fire Flight Express with Easton XX78's and a 125 grain Rocky Mtn Supreme BH. Deer ran about 45-50 yrds after a text book double lung shot. Opening day morning of IL's bow season on Oct-1st.
Have the rack still but can't find the pics since moving in 2001. That was 26 deer and 13 bucks ago.
1990ish... Pearson Spoiler @60 lbs. Bear Broadheads, Easton 2219 arrows I think... A Small Forky @ 6 yards on the ground... I walked right up on him as he was feeding, he never even knew I was there. My first year hunting deer... I thought wow that was reallllly easy!!! took me a few years to kill another one:/
Scar.
1990ish... Pearson Spoiler @60 lbs. Bear Broadheads, Easton 2219 arrows I think... A Small Forky @ 6 yards on the ground... I walked right up on him as he was feeding, he never even knew I was there. My first year hunting deer... I thought wow that was reallllly easy!!! took me a few years to kill another one:/
Scar.
1983. No picture, but it was a fat one-horned spike. 7 yards. Liver shot.
PSE Phaser 2 bow with aluminum arrows and probably a Wasp or Razorback broadhead.
BOHNTR: I'll look I just may have a picture (black & white) of my first but here's one of Dad's first from 1957. I was 4 in this pic!
Great thread guys!
1975, 45# Shakespeare Necedah Recurve, Cedar arrow and Bear broadhead. Big fat corn fed Pennsylvania 8 point on my grandfathers dairy farm.
20 years ago, public land near OKC. I would use the kill photo but it has faded a bit, since it was a Polaroid. I was proud enough at the time to mount the 100" 8 pt. Never forget that day!
Not my first, but the first one I ever took a picture with. Election day 1992.
Used a Browning Mirage Hunter 90 cranked to 82 lbs, with Easton XX78 aluminums and Thunderheads.
Notice the old-school Check-It sight. I shot the bow with fingers and no peep. Good times!
PS: Purdue....let's see your's!
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First week of October 1999, my 3rd year bow hunting and probably my 5th buck(4 rifle). I was nearly 16 shooting a Darton Dakota at 60#. Buck was right at 130" green at the time.
My first buck with a bow was in 1989 and it had 4" brow tines...................and that was it. I have a picture somewhere of me holding my Dick Idol rattling antlers on top of his head. LOL.
1998 in my back woods. First buck with a bow (Hoyt). Had never seen him before but learned at our group Christmas party he was in and out one of our secretary's back yard (about 2 miles from me) every year for the previous 6 years.
Heck, been so long ago I'd of had to hired an artist to paint it.
My first deer was taken in 1995, I was 18-years old. Bow was a Bear Horizon Hunter, XX75 2413 Easton Aluminum arrows.
First buck came in 2002. Martin Prowler bow and Easton XX75 arrows in 2413.
11-25-87 Shooting a York Express and Savora 4 blade broadheads with Easton XX75s
A seven point two year old out of a ten foot homemade ladder stand in a red oak tree on the last day of bow season in 1979. A Bear Whitetail II with aluminum arrows, a brass-pin sight, a Satellite or Savora head, shooting fingers with a calf-hair tab. I remember every detail of his approach, the shot, and the recovery. I mounted the antlers on a plaque along with the arrow and gave it to the landowner as it was the first bow killed deer ever on his place. I had killed a yearling doe a week or so before on a place nearby, and after I killed that little buck, I thought this bowhunting thing is pretty easy. Ha !
Coming back to this thread and starting where I left, I see where I said 1989. Guess I was trying to make myself 10 years younger. Fat chance ! :)
Really brings back great memories when I see the pics of guys with spikes and forkies and BIG smiles.
I miss those days when any deer was a trophy, nobody second-guessed your animal and it was more about the hunt, and the equipment, than a bunch of numbers.
Neat thread. Thanks for the start.
No pics of mine. Cameras hadn't been invented ;)
Well this wasn't my first but I believe it was the first one I got a photo of and it was 1979. I think it was probably my second buck, first one was a 1-horned spike. Back then it was a big deal if you killed a buck with a bow and it made the local paper. Of course the reporter got the story wrong, it wasn't an 80 yard shot, it was an 80 yard blood trail.
My bow was a Bear Whitetail Hunter and I used a Savora broadhead.
The buck is in the trunk of my '70 Chevelle SS 396; fastest hunting car in the county!
I will post a pic when i can, but I remember that day like it was yesterday. 13 years old, sound asleep in a tree when i heard foot steps... Opened my eyes and he was at 20 yards. Stood, tried to draw but couldnt! Shaking to much lol. He walked closer, turned his head, tried to draw, still couldnt! Finally after he walked past my tree I got my bow back on the fourth attempt and gut shot the hell out of him!
At 14 after waiting 3 years to finally go deer hunting with my friend's Dad,(my Dad didn't hunt); I finally got the chance on Oct 1, 1966 in NJ.
Within the first 10 minutes after dawn, crouched among branches of a beaver-cut tree in the corner of a large field, I stuck a big old doe. It was a 35 yard running shot as she cut across the corner with two yearlings. None of the old timers there believed me. It took a few hours to find her, but I did and as you can imagine I was hooked on Bowhunting for life.
There were no cameras, just great memories. I used a 45 lb Bear Cub recurve that I saved up for along with cedar arrows topped with Bear Razorheads. My home-made camo consisted of grey jeans with iron-on patches cut into shapes.
I sure was one happy 14 yr old!
November of 93. Little 5 pointer came through the timber chasing a doe. 25 yard shot and watched him fall. Wished I'd have smiled in the pic :)
Shot with a PSE xsr 3000, XX75 2512 and a Thunderhead 85s. I remember it like it was yesterday.
Great thread guys.
Glad I started this thread, love seeing all the old timers photos and all the old bows, as well as the younger hunters with their success. Also the guys that started bowhunting later in life. It's all good stuff. Some really nice first bucks too.
Don't worry about the smile JW. My long time hunting partner never smiles for photos. He says, "Hunting is serious business".
Couldn't find any pic's. But, mine was Sept 21, 1968. A running, 15yd. shot. 44# Bear Super Kodiak. Wood arrow w/Bear Razorhead. I was 16 yrs. old, and it happened opening morning in Split Rock, WI.
1985 when I was 12. Michigan buck..:shooting a Darton. Made bad shot...in the neck. Dropped within 59 yards
Oh Wait, bucks only!! I just had a senior moment.
Ok, this doe was my first deer with a bow.
1962, I was 23 years old (54 years ago) UP of Michigan while stationed at KI Sawyer AFB.
Ben Person 48# recurve bow, cedar shaft arrows with three blade Bodkin heads. Notice bow quiver without a BH pocket. We knew nothing about bow equipment back then. Fred Bear was making bows in Michigan and was showing some of his hunting films on TV, Wild World Of Sports.
and just to throw another "wrench" into this thread here is my last buck from the 2015 season. Well, at least a buck this time.
my best, Paul
1985 when I still had hair!.... 7 point buck I shot with my PSE Dealer Cam as he was running past my stand.....I would never take that shot today.
Hey, I knew that guy the minute I saw the pic! A lot has changed since that pic in the corn. Good Memories!
Here was my first buck with a bow 16 years ago. shot him at 4 yards
First buck 1984
Proline hurricane satellite broad heads
First bow buck, Oct 13, 2000. I'm on the right, BIL on the left.
My first deer was a 6 point whitetail buck that field dressed at 162 pounds in 1985 when I was 14 years old.
Bear Silver Magnum compound at #40, 2117 arrows (way over spined) and a Satellite broadhead with the .010 thick blades.
The arrows were made by Bear Archery as well; my dad got them for me at a Coast to Coast hardware store.
Great stories and pics. Shot my first 30 odd years ago with a PSE Citation 4 wheeler, swedged 2117 and Snuffer. It grossed 138". Natural groundblind @ 20 yards. First shot hit him in the spine, had no clue an arrow could knock an animal down. I actually looked around to see who the hell shot my deer with a gun before I clued in.
My first and most recent deer
1965. 45lb Kodiak. Homemade woodies. Bear Razorhead. Shot out of an old outhouse. 5 yards.
Nov. 15, 1983. Jennings Forked Lightning, 2117 Game Getter arrows tipped with a Wasp Camlock, I believe.
First deer and I remember it like it was yesterday. I lived in a 1950 something, 10 x 50 trailer house in the middle of the timber with a wood stove for heat. Dirt cheap rent and I could literally walk out the door to start hunting.
This was my first year to hunt deer. I only took up bowhunting in order to kill the month of October before trapping season started. I didn't kill anything in October so this was just a quick hunt one evening about an hour before dark just sitting on the ground watching a trail. He came in following 2 does and I drew my bow when he went behind a tree. He didn't expose his vitals for a bit and I was starting to shake, holding the bow a full draw. He finally steps out and I'm about to lose it trying to get the pin on him. I finally launched a hail Mary, hit him high and back but drilled the femoral. For some reason I just knew he was dead even though I didn't see him fall so I walked back to my trailer to tell my gf while waiting the obligatory 1/2 hr.
Blood trail was easy and the feeling I got at the sight of that buck laying there changed me forever. Still remember those deer chops, too. Best steak ever!
I love the 80's or earlier photos, glad you guys made it through sitting in those death trap tree stands year after year; of course with no safety harnesses. I'm sure many of you got there riding in the back of a truck too; like I did.
I don't have any photos of my 1st deer because we were 14, it was 1988 and nobody had a camera.
Eastern South Dakota 1960 when I was 15. Ben Pearson 47# Javelina model bow and Bear razorhead. Got my equipment from the Herters catalog. I didn't know anyone that bowhunted. Got a doe the year before and was hooked on bowhunting and am still at it.
I'd give something shiney if I had a picture of the first one with bow or gun. I g uess cameras had been invented. I know the first gun buck was in 1956 and the first bow buck was 1973. However, I had killed a couple animals with a bow a few years earlier.
1983 PA. Ben Pearson recurve I bought for $8 at a garage sale. 5 yard shot.
My first buck taken in 2014, after 15 years of trying and maybe being a little too picky I got this 5.5 year old Tennessee 9 point with my Martin Couger FC. It didn't have a huge rack but was built like a tank.
1992- second week of November on Long Island. Dumb luck. Picked out a spot in the dark, set up tree stand, climbed up. A group of deer came through in the dark then later a buck came through with his nose to the ground on the same trail. I had been practicing with my bow like crazy and was confident. I made a good shot and watched him go down. I had no idea how many more years it would take to get another of that caliber.
Here is the spike I got in 1981 that I described above. Cut and finished the tree slice myself that it is mounted upon. Was pretty darn happy about that beast, and it still hangs in a place of honor on my wall in my "bow-room", as my wife calls it.
Here is a better picture.
Midwest, how did you get those fancy FirstLite bibs back in '83? :^)
Mid October, I think 1987. As someone else stated, I had hair back then! Oneida Eagle bow with Easton aluminum arrows. Probably a Thunderhead 125 broad head. This deer and another about the same size came to within about 70 yards feeding on acorns but wouldn't come any closer until I grunted to them. Curiosity killed him. I remember being so pumped that I had finally gotten the job done!
1988 After blowing a easy shot, he ran out to 52 yards. Still the farthest shot I've tried/made on a whitetail.