GMMAT

OK....we're talking deer hunting.

I’m interested in hearing about the first time you saw a MATURE buck. I’d heard the term thrown around…but I wasn’t sure of what to expect. I saw him my 4th day of hunting season, last year.

The image of him stayed with me for several reasons…..and I didn’t think about him in the aspect of him being a “mature” deer until I saw him, again. It was the day after Thanksgiving when he let me see him, again.

By this time in the season…..I’d seen over 200 deer. I’d seen plenty of smallish bucks….lots of does….and I guess I wasn’t ready for the sheer SIZE of him….when I saw him, again. It was literally like a bull had just sauntered in behind me. The very first thing I thought of is…..this deer looks like a bull, compared to the other deer I’d been seeing. I was seriously taken aback. I’ll NEVER forget him coming in and seeing his body for as long as I hunt. I kinda felt like I shouldn’t be there (if that makes any sense). Kinda like I was intruding.

Rack-wise…he’s no marvel. Body-wise….he’s a ….well….he’s a bull (comparatively).

Does anyone else have a similar (or dissimilar) story about their first (or subsequent…or any) encounter with a mature buck? Size is relative to where you hunt…..and isn’t really important to the overall.

Germ kept telling me I’d know one when I saw one. I’ve seen one.

davidmil

YUP, and the first time I saw him I shot him. I called my hunting buddy at the time and told him, "I just shot the Bull of the Woods". I can relate to the similarity of BULL. The deer had run about 5 does by me so fast I just got a glimpse of "Holy COW" and they were out of sight. A minute later a little 5 point came charging up the hill and went by. The 5 does followed. And just swaggering up the hill came the bull. He walked right by at 18 yards just slobbering all over the place.

zubba

Yep, I was 12 and it was during gun season. When I close my eyes, I can still picture him. I have seen a lot of bucks since, and only one what was equal in both body size and rack size.

Damn, why didn't anyone tell me to slowly raise my gun and squeeze the trigger. I was 12, first year hunting, learning on my own (my father nor my brother hunts), so I jumped up and tried to get a shot. Of course the buck spooked..end of story. Oh if I only knew then what I know now.

SoggyCereal

I haven't ever seen a mature buck.

Next season...

GMMAT

David..

I'm so glad to see you post that.....knowing someone else can relate. I was just replaying that scene again.....and I remembered being totally in awe of him as he was below me (at about 4 yds).I wasn't even looking at his rack.I was looking at howWIDE hisBACK was.

shed33

I saw some huge mule deer before the age of 10... hunting with dad. I remember one dad shot that was an 11x13 nontypical...he gave the antlers away...imagine that..

As for whitetails.. It was my first year of huntingwhitetails in 82 and I was alone. I stumbled across a bedded beast.. I thought I had him dead in my sights... Not!... he disappeared into the brush quicker than I could throw up the 270.. I was amazed by his big wide chocolate rack and huge body size.. Looking back now,I think he was a big 5x5..probably a 140-150 class buck, he looked huge back then.. I tracked him in the snow the best I could for two more hours...I got one more glimpes of him before finally threw in the towel..I had never been so adrenalized in my life..that buck really got to me...

From that day on I was hooked on whitetails...

HuntinGUS

I have seen a few and yes they are truely a different animal. The one that stands out is obvisously the one that got away.

I was bow hunting in a blind and it was raining, so I was able to get in quietly. About an hour after daybreak, he decided to stand up in the downed tree top that he was bedded in. I don't know how long he had been standing, but he stood completely still for at least 10 minutes only moving his ears. He must have been bedded with a doe, because I noticed her moving out in front headed my way!
At 60 yards he cleared the tree top and I could see his entire body. WOW! He dwarfed the doe like nothing I had ever seen. The doe kept looking back and I just knew she would bring him to me. He took a4-5 quick steps toward her and she bolted.....................in the wrong direction. As he ran I was amazed at size of him and he actually ran different than other bucks I had seen in the past.

He wastruely an BULL and different from any bucks I had seen prior to this.

GMMAT

This is exactly the kind of stuff I was hoping to hear. It's amazing.

Shed....what a great story.

HuntingBry

Yes, and he was running straight at me!!! Early in my bowhunting career we did a lot of driving and they pushed a nice big mature buck out of the thicket that came running at me and jumped over the brush pile I was in 5 yards from me. That was a rush.

The first time I actually got to take it in was when I saw the monarch of our woods for the first and only time hunting. I had seen this buck on numerous occasions outside of the season and in the summer months, but seeing him in the woods, on stand, and in full rut was a completely different experience. I remember wondering how he was able to get his rack through the woods without it getting caught up. What struck me the most was how such a big animal could move so silently in the woods. He was the king and I but a mere subject on his land.

markj

Honestly.........no I can not remember the first time.Many other things in the way of that. I recall all the ones I haveon my wall or European mounts but not the very first one.

I messed up a long time ago. Never took photos or anything because I was the only one in the household that hunted and cared anything about it. It would be nice to have photos with animals when I was a kid but it aint happening. Photos help you remember.

oops. Talking about sightings. I really cant remember the first one.