My first was a smallish doe from the tip of the mitt in Michigan. I was 17 and it was 1970. About a 70 yard shot with my Steyr 7 x 57, it ran about 70 yards in and through a cedar swamp with a great blood trail. at first I couldn't find any blood but finally noticed that the tall light brown marsh grass had a little blood up high...around deer-chest-high. By getting my eyes down to the blood level and looking horizontally I could make out the escape route where it entered the swamp. My shot was off, but I had severed both neck arteries and the doe actually drowned as it ran...lungs were ballooned with blood when I found her. I'll never forget coming up on her as I was bent over at the waist the entire time through the cedar swamp...and all of a sudden she was right below my eyes. Not a great shot but I was still pleased with myself.
It was a tough drag...and a memorable day.