I shot my first deer 20yrs ago. I was twelve and I was a stander on a drive. I didn't know if I was in the right spot but 3or 4 does came out and I got one of them. She was a big doe. I was either using my dads model 94 lever action 30-30 or his marlin lever action 30-30. I used both of them my first four years of hunting. I killed several more with his guns. I bought my own gun when I was 16.

My dad gave me his .270 Remington 700 after he bought a .300 win mag. Went to Indiana to a friend's farm and didn't see anything my first year hunting. Up until then I had only gone pheasant hunting but did shoot the rifle at the range. After 2 years of unsuccessful deer hunting we got the opportunity to go to Africa.

1st day in Africa, saw a bunch of different antelope but no shooters. 2nd day while driving around we suddenly came upon 3 zebra in a field about 75 yards out with a large stallion at the lead. The two females ran off as I was putting the gun to my shoulder and as soon as I looked through the scope, I was right on his shoulder. He was getting ready to bolt when I pulled the trigger and down he went. Because he took a step my shot was a bit high and directly hit the spine. An unbelievable experience to say the least. Learned alot from my professional hunter who was amazing.

Since then have had better success with whitetail does. Have yet to get a buck yet, but getting any animal yearly is so exciting and brings me back every year. Sorry for the long rant especially since it doesn't really tell of my first whitetail but thought it was related.

My first deer was taken in '88. I was using a Remington 870 LW Mag 20 gauge with a 20" slug barrel and shooting Winchester Super-X 3", 7/8oz, slugs. The shot distance was 50 yards and the mature Doe dropped in here tracks. Easily one of the most exciting hunts I've ever had!

Both of my sons also took their first deer this season.

My oldest son (10) was using a T/C Omega .50 cal muzzleloader topped with Nikon Moarch optics. Shot distance was 30 yards and the small buck dropped right in his tracks!

My youngest son (9) was shooting a T/C Encore Pro Hunter 209x.50 muzzleloader topped with Nikon Omega BDC optics. His shot was just over 40 yards and the small buck ran about 40 yards.

Both boys were shooting 100 grains of Pyrodex and a 250 grain Shockwave bullet and MMP sub-base.

I was a late bloomer. I think I was about 23 when I took my first deer, it was a small 6 point buck. I was using my Dads old Winchester Model 12, 16 gauge.

Last deer season.It was a button buck,shot him with a Rem 700 243 with a leupold 3x9x40,stepped out right at dark,put the crosshairs right behind his shoulder,BANG-FLOP!!!Next day,i killed a 13 point.Opening day of this rifle season,killed 2 does,Friday killed another doe.

I always hunted with my dad and still love to, but he didn't hunt this year, I will talk him into it next year for sure though. My first deer gun is a 30-30 Marlin that my dad picked up for me when I was 13. Bought it for $95. with coon hunting money. I had hunted with dad for years, tagging along and learning everything I needed to know. Deer hunting was hard then because there were so few deer and sitting and waiting for them was impractical bordering on impossible, so driving them out was the main method. Driving out and seeing one deer was a successful week of hunting for a large group of hunters. Only bucks were legal and taking one was rare. If a man in your group killed a buck the whole group were heroes. Skip forward 5 years and I was 18, deer were becoming more plentiful and a guy could brag about seeing more than one in a day and might take one every 2-3 years. I was with my dad and my 30-30. I had scent out, some kind of apple cover scent, and we were sitting on the ground waiting. My dad was trying to urge me to go but there was 10 minutes of legal shooting left and everything seemed right. Finally he said lets go and turned to get up and said BUCK! I turned to see a tail going out of sight down the hill and ran to follow and keep him in sight. I fired at that buck while running full speed myself and knew that when airborn between steps, which were long running steps downhill, I was very stable to aim and fire. Fourth shot put him down and I had my first 8point buck. My dad was amazed that I was so calm and handled the gun so well and safely under the conditions. It wasn't something I would reccommend anyone doing, but I had trained for it for years. I always liked moving and shooting on foot, from horseback, and vehicles and practiced hitting targets from all sorts of positions with rifles and pistols. If you've ever seen the show Impossible Shots, thats the way I shoot. Grew up loving exhibition shooting and learning to do all the tricks, especially shooting on the run, fast draw and accuracy. And though I was outwardly calm, I was very excited to have made such a shot and taken my first deer that way. Nowadays I look for perfect close shots at standing deer even though I can still instictively hit far away and fast moving targets. I'm not a kid anymore. But I did use that same 30-30 to very good effect on a doe last week, and even though the season was terrible weatherwise and I had to work every day, I found time to keep my streak alive. One or more deer every year since 1984. And I still may borrow a muzzleloader for the hunt starting in 12 days. So, my first rifle, killed my first and last deer, and many in between, even though I experimented for years to find the perfect rifle for me. I didn't always use the 30-30 but have loaned it to my dad and others who have killed deer with it too. And I still enjoy killing at least one deer with it every year, like this year when my daughter wanted to use my other main weapon, the AR-10, that she took her first buck with, 8 years ago. No problem at all. I still have my 30-30, 30 seasons later!

1979 I was 15 years old. 5pt at 100 yards with marlin 336 30-30.

I guess it would have been 1994, I was 14. My step-dad had taken me down to his parents place. Had a 5 point walk out at 100 yards. I remember being so nervous, i shot once and missed. The buck just stood there looking at me, so i jacked another shell in to the old model 99, .243 that my step-dad's grandpa had given him and took a steady aim and pulled the trigger. I remember the deer running toward a small patch of trees and disappering. My cousin had been hunting about 200 yards on the other side of the trees and came walking my way after he had heard the shot. I asked if he had seen the buck come out the other side of the trees and he said he didn't. We went and looked for the deer and there it lay only 30 yards from where i shot it.

Took my son to almost the same spot this year and he killed his first deer only 50 yards away from where i killed mine. On the other side of the patch of trees. With a .243. Not the old savage, but with his great grandfaters model 700 that he had gave me several years back.

Great thread SwampDog!!

My first was in 1987 (15 years old). I shot a basket rack 8pt on opening morning with my dads Win model 94 in 32 win special. Still remember every minute of it.

My brother and me tagged team a doe in a golden rod field in 1984. But in 1985 I shot my first deer, a 10pt with a 7" drop tine with my rem 870 wingmaster. That is the gun my son used this year to shoot his first deer also.