how long did it take
 

How many years did it take you to kill a deer. I have been going at it 5 years now I have yet to get a deer. I missed two last week which was my first year bow hunting. my third out of the last four hunting. This is my fifth i still have not got one. Am i in with alot of guys or am i just doomed.

RE: how long did it take
 

I dabbled w/ bow hunting when I was younger.. not too serious, so, not counting that, I think it was my second season of seriously bowhunting. Nice fat doe. Stick with it...it will happen. Once the ice is broken, it will get easier!

RE: how long did it take
 

it took me 4 years with a rifle and 3 with a bow so your not alone it just takes time and it gets way way easier after the first one

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I hunted probably 30 times in '05 (my first season) and took one ill-advised shot on the closer. Nothing for that year.

I came back in '06 and took 5. Took 9, last year....and 3 (so far) this season.

Hang in there, pal.;)

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My 2nd year of hunting I got my deer. I'm thinking It was my 2nd or 3rd sit of the year and I was 13 years old. I hunted 3 times my 1st year hunting, I wasn't Into It too much my 1st year for some reason.

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I also dabbled with bow hunting when i was 13. I got the game deer avenger and was hooked. Kind odd but so be it. Then on my birthday me and my parents stopped at a yard sale. There sits a 6 month old bear bow. The local store had it for 200 bucks. The closed and sold it for 50s bucks. I bought it for 50 bucks with 24 arrows and everything to shoot. My uncle helped me get into shooting. He told me not to hunt until i had to go from 6 arrows to 3 because i was trashing them. Which i took for real good groups. He told me it would take 6 months. In three weekends off shooting i was robin hooding his arrow with mine. After that i shot first then him. I hunted two years then. I had a field behind my house. I would walk around and look for the deer not much of a hunt though.

I lost my bow when camping my dadhung it on a tree at the camp site. He did not bother to tell me. The camp manager went home with a nice bow that night.
If i had it today it would be hanging on my wall and i would have hunted ever since. I stopped due to lack of funds to replace the bow.

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I got my first deer with a bow during my third season trying..

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Ishot my first deer first day of my second season. But my second deerwas 6 years later.

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About 45 minutes.

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RE: how long did it take
 

Killed one my on my first hunt.

A nice mature doe.

It will happen for you. There are plenty of deer out there, keep your head up. :)

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Took me 8 years and several hundred hours of stand time.

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It took me 45minutes on my first bowhunt to tag a nice 6pt. I hunted for 3years after that to kill another with a bow. Since than i've killed 4 more. I Killed my first deer with a rifle my 2nd year hunting and i've killed atleast 1 every year since. Stick with it it'll happen.

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Shot mine at 8am opening morning on my first season ever (this year). Before he came in I think I let 6 or 7 other deer walk that were anywhere from 10-20 yards.

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Are you forcing the shot? Be patent and it will come. Use the wind as your ally not your enemy.

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bowhunting....well it prolly took me 6 years. i killed my first with a gun at 7 and where i hunted at it was hard to bowhunt and i had nobody to teach me, so i tried with a recurve and an antique bear compound but never tried real har. i mean why should i? i was killing deer left and right with my gun. then about 2 years ago i started bowhunting hard and last year i finally scored. 60 lb yearling that had my heart beating like you wouldn believe. i have killed several really nice bucks but the only 1 thast comes close to that yearling is the huge 8 pt that i helped my fiance kill this last weekend. her very first deer and 1 hell of a buck to boot. iv never been that excited about a deer i personally shot

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I have been shooting a bow since I could walk, but I never hunted with one till I was a teenager. That year I missed a ton of deer. It was nothing like shooting on the range. Awful buck fever didn't help any either. But I did get a little doe later that season. I've been lucky enough to get a deer every bow season I've had a chance to hunt since then.

Don't feel bad about missing a few deer with a bow. Until you break the ice and get the hang of it, it's going to happen. Just keep at it, and after you get that first one, things will become much easier.

RE: how long did it take
 

I got my first deer the 2nd year I started hunting with a rifle.....and I got my first doe kill in late archery season (december), also in my 2nd season of bowhunting.

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About halfway through my second season i shot a small dow at 40 yards while walking back to my truck. Since then it has all been smooth sailing. The reason i didn't get one my first season is because i just didn't have a good place to hunt with a large deer herd. You can't compare yourself to others, because some of these guy's were blessed with amazing places to hunt and may have even been guided by an experienced hunter on where to sit and what to do. Maybe you should try looking for more options as far as hunting properties go.

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I bowhunted about a year in 1965 and in 1966 got in a club and shot some indoor target. Right away I seen way I was missing. I was shooting at the hole deer and not a spot. The secound year I got a heaver 65 Lb recurve like allthe big boys in the cluband could shoot center out of a spot all day longand shooting in the 270 sto 280 bare bow.That year I took two buckone in my home state and one out of state and back then there wasn't as many deer around.Ihave been taking two to four big game animal Evey year now forthe last 40 + years.

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5 years

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In 9 years of bow hunting, I've gotten 2 does and athree point buck from last year. For one reason or another, I missed many bucks over the passed seasons. As long as you are enjoy it, keep practicing and tweaking you set up and you will score. The best thing I have done is get very comfortable with my bow.When that moment is right, you don't even think about form. It becomes so automatic. Good Luck...btw...nothing yet this year and I have only 2 weeks leftfor bow!

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It took me 6 years with a gun and 3 days with a bow....[&:]

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took me 2 years before my first deer. 3 years to get one with a bow.
this year aint looking too great...i got ZERO under my belt.

Just hang in there....you will get your deer:)

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I have got a deer every year, 3 years in a row now. My first was a big nanny. It wasn't till my second year I got a small 5 point. This year was a 7 point. I am trying to go with the attitude of a bigger deer every year, and so far so good. GL, hang in there you will get one.

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The second year for me,probably the most excited I have ever been after a kill.8 pointer at 37 yards,a memory I will never forget.

RE: how long did it take
 

rifle i killed my first the last day of our 2 week season my first year...

bow, i killed my 2nd season...

flintlock? i lost track...but got my first kill last year(deer kill atleast) its been 5-6 years hunting with that thing...i was beginning to think it was cursed...just never happend right...admittedly missed a pile with it because i keep picking my head up...took a while to realize that....id come home every day and shoot a can at ranges FARTHER than i missed deer and nail it pretty much every time. i couldnt figure it out till i felt myself lifting my head....trying to beat the smoke cloud and watch the deer i guess...



dont worry about killing a deer...it will come. if you worry about it and try to make it happen, its gunna be a long frustrating ride....sit back and enjoy it...when it happens it happens....believe me, the time adding upto it makes it all the more sweeter...took me 5 years to kill a dang turkey....boy that was an awesome feeling carrying that longbeard home....

RE: how long did it take
 

There's a guy on this forum who took over 20 years!! He posted his story not too long ago.

It took me about 4 years. Longer for my first turkey....that took about 6 years. I owned a bow before I owned a shotgun. I hunted both game with bow only for the first three years. The 4th year I shot my first deer (a doe) with my bow. The following year I got a shotgun. Took me another year before I managed to get a turkey. I don't know what the heck I was doing wrong with turkeys but those buggers really gave me a hard time.

Like the others said: once the first one is under your belt, it seems to get a little easier. A lot like the first time you....well...you know! hehe!

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It was my 5th time out on my first season. I shot a 1 1/2 year 7 point. Since then I have been harvesting anywhere between 5 and seven a year.

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I got my first deer with a shot gun my first morning out. My first deer with a bow was the next season, about the third or fourth time out. My first buck was with a shot gun, which was my fourth year of hunting. My first buck with a bow was sixth year out.

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It took me 2.5 years but it was worth the wait!!! Keep at it!!

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It took a few years of walking thru the woods in work boots and blue jeans and building crappy homemade stands before my 40lb Ben Pearson and I connected.
That was about 1974 and there really wasn't many of us out there except I****he indian and Mr. Hill.

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no on the first he got behind a tree and when i went to let my draw down i tripped the release a d shot over him. The second was a perfect quarter away with nothing in the way i got buck fever and was shaking to much

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first deer was a small buck... third time out in the first season i ever hunted.

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I started bowhunting in 2005. That year I shot a 90 something inch 8 pointer on the second day of the bowseason. in 2006 a few weeks into the season a 130ish 9 pointer came that i shot at. it got away. last year i hunted all bowseason and did not see a buck and this year three weeks into bowseason i got a 135" 9 pointer. I have not taken a doe while bowhunting yet. Here in texas, during bowseason (bow only is the month of oct.) when there are does, that more than likely means she has a fawn or two with her. I'm just not going to do that. I did miss a doe when my arrow deflected off ofa tree limb a couple of years ago in late december.

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I got a doe my first year, a doe my second, a spike my third, a doe and a six my fourth, ......

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Got a deer my first year rifle hunting and 2nd year bowhunting.

I doesn't sound like your "doomed' as it sounds like you have just made some mistakes.

Youneed to calm downand get the job done the next time you have an opportunity.

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It took me about an hour with my bow to get a doe and about 3 times in the stand with a rifle.

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It was my 2nd year of bowhunting. Then I went 6 years until another. then I stuck 1 for the next 7 years.Now I'm good for at least 1 a year.

This guy that hunts with me is on his 26th year of bowhunting and 0 deer. He has only drawn his bow twice. Now that's a run of crap luck. Of course he doesn't take to seriously. He reads in the stands and has no scent control. So basically you get out what you put in.

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3 or 4 years it took me. I used to drive out to very heavily hunted public lands when I wasa teenager...most of the time I saw nothing and didn't know how to hunt. Then my friend offered to take me out on his farm on public land when I was 19-20...I killed two bucks that day, a 3 pointer and a 5 pointer. It was well worth the wait and I believe the long wait has helped me to become a better hunter. I appreciate just seeing one deer on a sit.