Well my deer hunting career started out when I was 18. No one in my family is a hunter and I cannot explain where my deep desire and passion comes from for hunting except that I always felt left out when all the guys at school would get out for the week of thanksgiving to hunt. I couldn' t wait till they got back to hear there stories. I am a self taught outdoorsman. I have learned everything from trial and error, videos, magazines and anybody willing to share information. I hunted with bow for about 2 years without seeing or not harvesting a deer. I practiced and shot that thing like a mad man in hopes of getting a deer. After 2 years of not seeing a deer I got a little discouraged and sold it. I remember sitting out there freezing my rump off many hunts. I started college and didn' t have as much time to shoot so I sold my compound and bought a crossbow, My first year with the foxfire crossbow i set out to hunt as most areas close by you cannot gun hunt. I got out of school early and decided to hunt one afternoon. I didn' t have a stand I mostly sat on the ground. the daylight was fading and I decided to get up and walk some old roads. As I slipped down an old road, it came to a Tee and I looked down to the right. I saw something. I couldn' t tell if it was a deer, I raised my crossbow up and down several times trying to get the dark grey object to move. It was about 45 yards down the road in the tall grass and all I could see was its chest, neck and head. still undecided and with darkness approaching to where i couldn' t see my pins in about 5 minutes I said what the hey, I centered my 40 yard pin on what i thoughts its head was and let the bolt go. The object vanished. It must have been a deer. I just shot and wasted 12.00 I thought to myself. Well, I went down to look for my arrow and discovered blood. A lot of blood. Like someone sprayed the bushes. I pulled out my flashlight and looked for my arrow but couldn' t find it as someone told me this is what I was supposed to do. well, since I had blood I gave up on the arrow and decided to look follow it. I didn' t have to go far as the little doe, some say a suitcaser, was only 10 yards away. I was soooooo happpppy. I couldn' t believe it my first deer. she weighed about 50lbs but by the time I finished draggin her to the truck she felt like a ton. As I loaded her into the back of my pickup and still couldn' t believe it. All those years of not seeing a deer now seemed worth something. I paid my dues and now I got my reward. Remembering I was only about 22 at the time. I drove through the backwoods as fast as I could to get to a phone. I had a deer but had no idea on what to do with it now. I called my mom and asked her about a friend of hers that husband hunted if he would help me. she made some calls and he graciously agreed to help me. I drove to his house where we took some polariod picts and he helped me to butcher it up. I was hooked on deer hunting from that day forward. I killed a deer the next 3 years in a row with a bow before I ever picked up a gun and muzzle loader. Now I hunt deer by all methods with a passion. I have never seen a deer that scores more than 100. I still dream of the big ones and maybe oneday will get lucky to seen or harvest one. My passion for the outdoors has spilled over to my family as I am lucky to have a wife that too has hunted with me for over 8 years. She has harvested a doe every year nearly for the past 5 years. I have a 5 year old girl who I have taken to deer camp since she was 1 year old. Over the last 2 years i have taken on stand with me and finally this year we seen our first 2 deer together. she was just totally amazed. I am not as serious about hunting when I am with her because I have learned over the years its not about the kill but about spending time with the ones you love in the outdoors.