Do you Remember your first time?
 

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.

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

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.

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

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.

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

I haven't ever seen a mature buck.:)

Next season...

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

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.

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

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...

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

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.:D

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.

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

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

Shed....what a great story.;)

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

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.

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

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.

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

This story always makes me cry......Here we go...

November of 2005. I'm on an inside corner and the weather is perfect. I had intentions of sitting dark to dark but I had a couple errands I had no choice but to do. So I got down about 10:30 and at noon I was climbing the tree. I had just got to hunting height and heard something running to my left. I looked over and a doe was busting tail right to me. I think to myself, "Now what's eating her?" and about 10 seconds later I saw what it was......

Bout a 140" 10 point hot on her tail, and they are headed right to me.....Yeah, that's right, my bow is still on the ground, I haven't pulled it up yet.....Ya'll, I've been in the stand LITERALLY 15 seconds....They run directly under me, and he even stopped broadside at 10 yards just for good measure. Then ran off. I pulled my bow up and heard a grunt....Looked left, and here comes about a 130" 8 point....SON OF A!! I don't have my release on yet.....

I watched those 2 dog that doe the rest of the afternoon on the next ridge.....Never got a shot......I now climb the tree w/ my release on, and my bow comes up ALOT faster.......

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

I have hunted the U.P. of Michigan my whole life, and IL last year for the first time. I've killed some nice deer in the UP, but never killed, nor have seen a real bruiser. It was the third week of season in IL last year, like the 20's or October. My friend Ross and I were hunting together, about 70 yards apart on a hedgerow, both up in trees. The wind was howling into our faces, sleet, cold, just miserable. It was 4:00 and my phone vibrated, and it was Ross. He was calling to see if I wanted to call it quits, which I was more than happy to do at that particular time. So, we go back and forth on leaving, and he says "Oh my God, look behind you up to the top of the bean field. There is a monster coming right down here." So I said, yeah, whatever, I'll see you ina minute. Well, I turn around in my stand to start getting down, and holy god, biggest buck I have ever seen is 150 yards away and sauntering my way. The deer is in the middle of no kidding, 500 acres of bean field. I have no clue where he had come from, but he was coming. I always get excited when deer come in, does, bucks, it doesn't matter. I have never been affected like this by a deer. I hunt from a Summit climber, and I was facing the tree as I was planning to shimmy down and head to the truck. So, I see the deer, take stock of the situation, sit down on the front bar of my stand, basically it was sit down or fall down, as I was shaking so bad. Next thing I notice is the wind...it was perfect for the set-up for that day...but absolutely wrong for that deer and where he was coming from. The only hope I had was that it was blowing hard enough to go right over the top of him. When he got to about 75 yards, and I realized that it could actually happen, I got really nervous, like conciously nervous. I raised up my bow, to be ready...and in doing so I came to the unnerving realization that my EZ hanger was right where the shot was going to be. So, I put down my bow across the rail of my stand, reach up and start to unscrew the hanger. About 1/4 turn into it, the hanger lets out a squeak and would wake the dead. The deer looks around, but continues to come. He is now at about 60 yards, to the south west, wind howling out of the NE. I get the hanger out, bow back up, release clipped to string, begin to draw...buck freezes, one foot up in the air still. I know he caught my wind, but just a hint, and he isn't too spooked, just cautious. I maintain position, and he takes another step, and freezes again. This time, I sprayed a tiny bit of Docs 249, and he threw his head up and was sniffing like crazy, took one more step, and caught me again on air. We did this for maybe 10 minutes, and finally he bounded about 10 yards, and then just turned and walked straight way. He got to within about 45 yards, and with that wind, no way I was taking a shot.

Still the best encounter of my season, and just an awesome experience. I have never had a deer rattle me like that, it was almost a little embarrasing to tell my friends about it and Ross saw the whole thing happen. Sure I would have liked to get him, but it may even make a better story this way!

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

Oh yes like it was yesterday.

The first real encounter was right after I shot my first buck.

My first chance at a mature deer came a few years later. I looked up and there he was standing on top of a hill. Just like you see in pictures. He walk past meat 5 yds. Went to a tree put his head down and started making a scrape. He was qrt away slightly and I was ready to send him a Game Getter two with a 125 Thunderhead.

I never took my eyes off the buck. I was zoned in right in the kill. I hit the bush perfect right in front of him:D Year later I shot his son I think at the same tree. I trimmed the damn bush:D Now I always make sure to check lane a little better[:-]

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

I actually have 2 stories to share about this. I have hunted the PA woods for a long time now and have seen my share good bucks but never any monsters that were in bow range. 5 years ago I had the good fortune to relocate to Montana for about 20 months and on the first night sitting in the stand for whitetail it was early Sepy and they were still in bachelor groups I am in my stand for about 45 minutes and 3 bucs appear out of nowhere. All 3 of them are far bigger than any buck I have ever killed,and they are only 30 yds away, the trailing buck was the largest a 142" 10 point and I took the shot, hit him hard and sat and gave him an hour. while sitting in the stand 3 more bucks show up walking down the same trail and the smallest one is the size of the one that I just shot. I swear if I didnt have a harness on I would have fell out of the tree. The largest of the 3 was probably about a 170 class 7 x 6 and it was the most amazing whitetail I have ever seen. The brow tines alone had to be 8" and the spread was easily 24" but the body is what was incredible my dear weighed in at 205lbs and I am telling this 13 was damn close to 300lbs. They grow alot bigger in MT than we do in PA

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

it was one of those things when hunting just "clicks" like learning math or science. it was 5 years ago (i was 18) and it was the last weekend of rifle season. my dad and grandpa had been up hunting and had seen another "bruiser" of a deer and had told me where they saw him. i went therefriday afternoon and followed the trails the deer had been walking...crossed the road and saw they were walking a trail parellel with the road...lots of sign on it....next morning my cousin dropped me off and i just sat right on that trail....had a view looking down the hill into hardwoods (view of only about 100 yards or so) the wind was hitting me in the face and i knew that they came from down the mountain and crossed the road in the morning (lots of road hunting/scouting over the years led me to this discovery) it was about 830 and i looked over to my left where the oak trees met the pines and the pines were thick and a caught a glimpse of something shining...then there he was...just walking out of the trees....all i could see was a monster body and a huge rack (for a blacktail) i went to make the shot but his vitals were behing a buttom branch of the pine....i made the decision NOT to shoot...then he walked up the ridge some and i lost sight of him....felling like a big pile of %#*% i sat there and visioned him for a minute keeping my eye over there just in case he were to come back out.....and then i saw him....he walked up the ridge and was on the same trail i was sitting on walking right for me....with his head down walking on the trail i took my shot at about 18 yards ( yea i know, but it was now or never as there were pines between me and him and this was my only oppurtunity) he jumped up and fell over then rolled down the hill some......an awesome 5x4 (western) or 11 pointer (eastern) ...

this was my first encounter of a true monster buck......we guessed his age at around 5-7

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

hey yooper that was an awesome story I just wish it could have ended better for you

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

Really can't recall my first time. About the closest was when I was pretty young and ran the trapline with my dad. This one morning in early november, we saw 3 large bucks, one of which is still burned into my memory as it ran down thru the field. I was small so everything looked big, but my Dad agrees that that buck was a beast.

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

i dont recall seeing such a thing!:D

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

Yes the first time I saw a Genuine Monster while hunting..Dad and I had hunted in the Morning and then we we going to another place in the afternoon. This is the last Saturday of Rifle season in PA geez...1980-ish. We are nearing the place we are gonna hunt in his 1970-something Bronco. About 300 yards ahead of us deer start crossing the road 15-20 of 'em (back when deer numbers were alot higher in Pa). The last one steps out on the road. We both simultaneously yell.."last one is a huge buck!" Dad punches the gas we go around a few corners he finds a make-shift trail and we have the Bronco bouncing up the mountain..sideways..through stuff over stuff..
We are gonna get ahead of them! We hit the mountain top, grab our stuff and take off. Dad finds a decent funnel (somehow ..while we were familiar with the "area" we'd never hunted, exactly, here.) We get set and deer start coming..I'll never forget we thought we had'em..we saw 29 deer come through in the first 30 minutes..but I guess the old boy got big and stayed alive by knowing when to break off from the group. I've seen my fair share since but he was the first jaw dropper and we still relive the memory virtually every deer camp!

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

My first time was just a couple years ago. It was the West Virginia rifle season opener, and I still hadn't found a good spot.So, Idid some asking around, and a few guys told me that there were some real big bucks at the Cabela's in Wheeling, WV. So, I loaded up the .300 mag and headed for Wheeling. I was optimistic.

I got out of the car and loaded up. For it being a Cabela's, people sure seemed skittish around a hunter on opening day. I really don't know what their problem was... The greeter at the door asked me if I needed some help. "Thanks but no thanks buddy, I'm just looking for a good spot to set up - it's already daylight, I'm running late"

Anyway, no sooner than I got inside the door, I caught an outline of a whitetailin the distance, and there he stood. King Megabuck - he was perched up on a rocky bluff in the middle of the store, kinda looking the other way.Tines everywhere - totally majestic.

I got a rest on a rack of Scentlok gear, leveled the sights on him andtouched off the trigger.All hell broke loose. Foam stuffing and deer hair blew everywhere. People were running and screamingwhile I wasbusy cycling the bolt for a follow-up. Just before I got a second shot in him, some guy from security wrestled me into a Billy the Big Mouth Singing Bass display.

After the arraignment, I did 30 days in County Jail, and Cabelas has a restraining order against me, so I never did make it back down there to look for a blood trail or anything. Not sure what ever happened tothat buck. He was a guaranteed booner. I think that security guy might have taken off with my prize.

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

I don't know what's funnier, Fran....

.....Your story....or me imagining the scenario as it unfolded in my head.:)

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

Thanks man!

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

Great stories guys. Being from Kansas big bodied deer are common. I do however remember the biggest racked buck I have ever seen like it was yesterday. I had a small 8 point come into my set up about 8:30 on a cool early November morning. He was just browsing the forest floor without a care in the world. Once he would get about 30 or so yards awayI would give a light grunt and he would come back searching. We played this game for the better part of an hour and he decided to bed down about 20 yds from my tree. I was enjoying watching him chew his cudd and groom himself when his head quickly turned to his left. Well there he was comming in behind a hot doe. I litterally think I said " Jesus" out loud when I seen him. This buck was thick, tall, and wide. Steam was comming from his nostrils in the cold morning air. I never seen a rack like that in the wild that had everything a hunter could dream of. He was simply amazing. I have a couple of 170 class bucks and this guy was way bigger. Well I never had an ethical shot at him but as he was going out of sight all I could see was his ivory white rack slowly blending back into the forest. For now he hangs on my memory wall.

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

Here's "the bull"....

Rough photo....but he's a wide-bodied bruiser for these parts.

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

Atleast i can see the big body but its hard to see much antler or any.

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

BBH, seeing a real bull mature buck has nothing to do with the antler he carries, sometimes he's on a downhill slide and is dwarfed by younger deer buck when you see one, you know it....

To answer your question Jeff, Yes.....

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

Some of you may remember these pictures, as they were only taken two or three years ago. Not much of a story, really. I spotted him on the way back from a bear bait site in Augustwhen baiting was going through legislature and there were no laws against it. I saw him two more times that year; once during the September season and once again during the November season.

The picture quality is horrible, but I pulled it from my old video camera.





Looking back on it, this is a nice buck. He isn't huge for my area, as Troy can attest to, but he was the first mature deer I had personally come across.

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

My 2nd year of bowhunting I stumbled across a big 10 point that was using a soy bean field I had access to. I watched him all of August and September. By the time October 1st rolled around I knew his daily routine better than he did. Opening morning we he came under my stand I developed the one and only case of buck fever I have ever had. My legs became so weak I could not stand to shoot. I was unable to pull my bow back and shook so bad I thought I was going to fall out of the tree. Needless to say I calmed myself down and attempted a shot. But I misjudged the yardage (this was before range finders came around). I was heart broken. It was awesome though.

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

Absolutely I remember and will never forget. 2nd season rifle hunting, I was sitting with my father in the same spot I had killed my first buck the previous year. It was a long skinny oak flat between two fields, probably 150 yards wide and 800 yards long. End of the oak flat came to the bottom of a mountain in the bottom of a long hollow that went up the side of the mountain. We would sit on the downwind side of the hollow and hunters would enter the end of the oak flat to walk in and push everything by us. A huge buck came through in a hurry with some does as other hunters walked in that morning and I will never forget. I was young, maybe 12 or so and handling the M77 .06 was cumbersome at best, I wasn't able to get on the deer fast enough when he stopped about 50 yards away in the middle of a group of does to look back at the direction the hunters were coming from. I did get a good look at him though for a few seconds. That was the last time I saw a mature buck alive and whilehunting for about 6 years.

Second incident which I remember even better was the fall of my senior year of highschool. I hunted like a madman that year and this was really the beginning of my obsession with archery hunting. I had bowhunted since I was 11 (I think) but this was the first year it became my priority over rifle hunting Anyhow, I quit all fall and winter sports so I could hunt more that year. Opening day of PA's archery season (1997) I filled my buck tag with a 3 pointer. This was before AR, and when I was still shooting anything I could. Later that week after school I was back out with no buck tag trying to fill some doe permits and sure enough possibly the biggest buck I have seen in PA came out of the young hemlock patch bordering some oaks that I was sitting on. I watched him feed within 50-100 yards of his patch of hemlocks for probably half an hour before he passed me broadside at around 25 yards and headed to a field that was downhill from us. He never knew I was there. I was so pumped on adrenaline and shaking so bad the leaves on the tree I was in were literally vibrating. He was a main frame 12 pointer that I am now guessing went mid to high 130's. He had a scar on his back too between his shoulder blades.........no wonder I never saw another buck out of that tree stand.

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

I honestly can not remember for sure. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of deer. But of course they were of deer that my father and grandfather brought home.

Being in the wild, I remember one time where my oldest brother and I were walking in a creek on a deer drive. Niether of us were hunting quite yet, but were always involved in deer drives. I was probably about 1st grade and my brother was in 7th or 8th grade.

We were in a dry but deep creek bed, when he decided that we should climb up the side of the bank. So he starts crawling up the side, and when he gets to the top, he looks back down at me and says "Big Buck". So I get really excited and try to climb up the steep creek bed, as fast as I can, but have trouble doing it. He reaches down, grabs my hand and pulls me up. As soon as I'm at the top, I see a mature buck and a doe, maybe 25-30 yards away at the most. Then they ran off.

Nowadays, I can close my eyes and see the whole image still so clear. It's an image that will stay with me forever.

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

I can see why.;)

Man....this is some good stuff!

And Rob....

That photo of the bull was taken out of the same tree I was in the afternoon we hunted together. He proceeded to walk by the tree you were in at no more than 5yds. I'd asked 2 people to hunt with me, that day. Both declined (including Mitch....who opted to sleep;)). I had no tag.......

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

Had to be 1984 with Dad. We were driving his bronco downa fire lane when 3 does come racing across it right in front of us. Dad yells STOPPP
of course and I ablige and almost send us in to the bank due to snow cover. He gets outs loads his gun and says turn around go back up that hill we came down and wait 10 minutes and come back. SLAMS the door shut and im like WTF he always stated when you get out dont slam the dang door. Well I turn around and no sooner get driving up that hill and hear BAM. So I turn around and get up to him and he says what are you doing back I said wait 10 minutes. I told him I heard a shot and he said it was him but he wanted to have it gutted by the time I get back. So I just sat there likea dazed 18 yr old then he laughed and said just teezing about the gutted part and then made me do it. He made me do it because 3-4 hours prior I got my first gun buck and as he put it had to gut the damn thing lol. Turns out that buck stayed back and waited to see if we were going to leave before crossing and whenI left thought we were gone. Well anyways the buck was a 4 1/2 yr old buck 8 pointer.
Not huge but for public timber company land thats a mature buck running around. I learned a lot that first year and the ol buck went down to someone who just was a tad smarter that year. Well I now have those antlers in my garage since dads passing past March and someday I will get one up north on that public land that matches.
To date just like every year, DNR ahhh year n half buck lol
Those in Wi know what im talking about.

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

[blockquote]quote:

ORIGINAL: Bullet Hole Bailey

Atleast i can see the big body but its hard to see much antler or any.
[/blockquote]


BBH, seeing a real bull mature buck has nothing to do with the antler he carries, sometimes he's on a downhill slide and is dwarfed by younger deer buck when you see one, you know it....



yes i shot a deer two years ago....was a forky....and antlers were all deformed looking (kinda cool actually)...we thought he was just a freak, but his teeth were almost all the way worn down...he was anchent...very little skinny body...i first thought he was just a 2 or 3 year old....but he was on his way down...

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

this year actually...was diggin in my backpack for a snack and looked up and there he was twenty years from me...broad side...woulda been a perfect shot but i live in wisconsin and i can thank earn a buck for not filling my buck tag

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

ok guys here is the second story, its the second weekend of september and I am in the Beartooth Mountains just outside of red Lodge MT. I am hunting elk and am in a meadow at about 10,000 ftelevation there is a small patch of aspens right in the middle of the meadow that are maybe 30yds x 30 yds and there are 3 different wallows within bow range of these aspens so I head into them about 10 yds and just sit down with my back to a tree and I am watching these wallows. I am there for about an hour and I havent seen a thing and I can hear some thing behind me in the aspens. I turn around and all I can see are horns and I mean everywhere pointing in every direction and they are on on top of a giant muley and hes no more than 30 yds from me and I cant move I mean i try but I just cant I am shaking and I have so much adrenaline going through me that I think I am going to burst and the muley is there for what seems like an hour but was probably a minute or 2 and he just turns and walks away. I mean I could not believe that just happened and I didnt even attempt a shot 30 yds broadside and no clue that I am there. I wouldnt even attempt to guess what this thing would have scored or how many points that it had, but I know that I will never see anything that massive again, that was the first non typical that I had ever seen,and I blew my chance. I still see that brute standing there every time someone brings up muleys. The worst part is when I get home and tell my wife she starts ragging on me what do you mean you froze and didnt take a shot, she still teases me about it and that was almost 4 years ago. Ok I need to go cry now.

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

OH BOY, long time ago, im 41 now and was about 18 or 19 when i seen my first official mature buck, he was dogging a doe, he had one side of his rack snapped off, they came by at a quick trot, i was young and tried to make the shot while he passed at 15 yards shaving hair off his belly just behind the front leg. [:o]I still can see it clearly in my head, somebody stop the maddness!! [X(][8D]:D

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

The first mature buck I saw ever, we kicked it up when we were pheasant hunting in Niagara county .... his back was chocolate brown and looked as wide as a sofa ..... he jumped about 20 yards from us ... his huge circular rack was dark and was as wide as his back ..... I was 12, and I hadNEVER seen a buck like that again .....until.....................

About 20 years later, I was bowhunting in SW NY in Sherman .... we hunted the morning and back in the stand for the afternoon .... about 2:30, it sounded like and infantry was coming through the woods .... I was on the edge of group of tall pines and muxed hardwoods .... blowdowns in front of me .... more woods beyond that .... bedding area infront and to the left of me ....... I look towards the noise and her comes the biggest buck I have seen to date ..... I mean that sucker was MASSIVE .. he dwarfed the doe he was running with big time .... so they break through the woods across from me, running into the blowdown area .... right towards me .... then all of a sudden the slammed on the breaks and looked right up at me!!! I swear to you guys, I didn't move a muscle for him to see me ....... before they even came to a full stop, they exited, stage right ...... [&o]

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

Yup, the second day of my Alberta hunt last season I rattled in a MONSTER buck, the first truely mature buck I'd ever seen while bowhunting. He got as close as 19yrds but didn't offer a clear shot. He was a real thick 10pt and probably 300lbs or more. He was a horse. I'll never forget that buck!!
Then on my next to my last day of my hunt I was able to take an OK 8pt that also was a 300lber. I wouldn't call my buck mature though, especially for Alberta.;):D

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

Its like a picture that was imprinted in my head. It is the second week of bow season this year and i know there is a big buck on this ridge andI know he travels it every day. SO i get there on a south west wind ( what i though was right) and it blew right down the ridge into my face like it was supposed to. about 6:00 i turn and look behing me and there is a doe standing there and he is right beside her. I went straight to his horns since i couldnt see his body through the bushes. Well as always the wind is now in his face and the doe gets wind of me. He turns makes two jumps with the doe and they are gone. THen the week of november 20 my birhtday week and rut weeks i am back there on the 23. I get in the stand and deer start pouring out of everywhere. THere are 10 in front of me feeding on the acorns and the wind is right i knew it would be a special day. Its gettin dark and the deer all scatter very very fast. I know this i saw it before. The man is here and they dont want any part of him. Sure enough he comes down the ridge just like he is supposed toand he weighs a good 230 lbs but wait this isnt the same deer he is wide. No shot at all and i have never seen him again but i have seen the one that haunted me the first time on the camera.


I then went to illinois in october and it was hot action. There i am the first day with a pope and young beside me but i pass then two days later i saw the first 140 class deer ever come right to me 17 yards broadside. I settle in and everything is perfect thwap right in the shoulder he gets away with something sililar to a bad bee sting[&o].

Well heere is the picture as best as you can see it of the one i saw first here in north carolina. Main frame 8 with double brows and a kicker off of his g2

RE: Do you Remember your first time?
 

The hunting season was in the early 70's around1973.Dad an I had went down to my grandparents house to go deer hunting. The rain was falling pretty good an I had my fathers yellow rain jacket on. The jacket was about 200 times to big for me. We were in a stand about 75 yards apart. My relatives were doing a deer drive. I looked an saw 5 deer coming towards me. The last one was a small buck, shot an missed.I looked to my left,still can recall a deer standing there with antlers past both sides of his ears. I counted 12 points. I started trying to put another shell in my single shot 20 gauge. I dropped all the shells on the ground. I looked back up an he was not standing there. Needless to say I had BUCK FEVER!!