Your first gun and your first deer.
 

I thought that it would be fun to hear about eveyones first gun they hunted with and their first deer that they took.

It was November 15 1999. I was 16 years old and had a doe tag in my pocket. I had been bow hunting since I was 12 and rifle hunting since I was 14 without success. In the area that I hunted the DNR did not allow anterless hunting for several years. I hunted hard but could not connect with a buck. Finally I knew that 1999 would be my year.

I got out in the woods real early and couldn't wait for first light. At the time my Pop and I hunted about 200 yards away from each other. At 745 AM I heard my Pop shoot. I got real excited knowing that my Pop does not miss with a rifle. It's tradition for us to stop hunting and go help the other hunter when we hear a shot. At that point I realized that I would have to get out of my stand soon and that my morning hunt was probably over.

I decided to wait about 10 mins and get down. As I was waiting, I saw three does running at 100 yards due west of me. All of a sudden they changed course and ran straight to me. I bleated and the largest doe stopped at 35 yards broadside. One shot through the heart/lungs put her down real fast. I couldn't believe that I had just shot my first deer.

The best part was that Pop shot at 745 and I shot at 750. After we got our deer I called my mom at work to tell her the good news. When she answered the phone, the first thing she asked was if Pop got a deer. I told her that he had. Then she asked if I got a deer. I told her that I too had shot a deer. I remember her saying that she couldn't believe it was 800 Am and we were both successful hunters.

The real neat thing about that hunt was the rifle that I used. My grandpa bought a stevens 30-30 bolt action back in 1946. He used it for many years but did not get a deer. In 1964, Pop started hunting and took ownership of the rifle. He shot his first deer, a large 5-pt with an 8-pt frame, back in 1978. When it was my turn to rifle hunt the 30-30 was handed down to me.

It was a very special moment with a very special gun. I used that rifle, and took many deer, up until 2008. Now she sits in the gun cabinet until I have a child that goes hunting for the first time.

Well my first deer with a gun was in 1995 in MI. I had shot a big doe (first deer ever) with a bow earlier that fall so i was looking for my first buck. Opening morning came and dad took me to my blind which was about 200 yards from his, so that we had intersecting shooting lanes so he could keep tabs on me. As I say there anxiously awaiting first light I could swear I heard deer in the lane in front of me, as dawn broke a deer-like shape materialized 50 yards in my lane against the snow. I picked up the Savage 99 in 300 savage and put the scope on it. It was a buck!! I waited a couple minutes as legal shooting light came about and picked a spot behind the front shoulder and BOOM! The deer bolted in the direction of dads stand. 3 Minutes later I hear a BOOM from dad's 30-06 and a deer came staggering into my shooting lane and fell. I got up and walked out to where I thought my buck was and saw tracks but no sign...i was bummed so I went back and sat down. I sat there waiting for dad I saw him walk up to his deer and look at it, then walked up to me....He said "Did you get a buck Buster?" I said "no I missed, did you shoot him?". He said "no you didnt miss, I got a nice 8 point that came from the east". We walked out there and stopped where i said "he was on this runway dad"...dad said "what about the next runway (about 8 yards further) with blood all over it??" I look up and WOW! 50 yards later i put my hands on my first buck, a nice Michigan 7 point!

My first deer was when I was 15. I was armed with a brand new remington woodsmaster 742 in 30-06 with a 2 X 7 Redfield Widefield scope. I was using 150 gr Remington bullets. The deer was a 140 pound 3 point in a bucks only season. I was alone and shot the deer and didn't really know how to take care of it since I had never been with my dad when he got one. Soon I could see my uncle Mike come up the ridge and he showed me first hand how to gut a deer. That was 46 years ago and was my first deer. Today was a lucky day for me because I filled my Vermont ML buck tag with a 6 point. It has been many deer over the last 46 years with gun, bow and ML but every one is filled with memories and it doesn't get less exciting.

.270win BAR on a WY muley doe... think I hit her 2 or 3x, flung about 14 rounds though...

I was 15yo, maybe 14.

My first deer taken was many, many years ago in Maine with Dad's 250/3000 (250 sav).
I still have that rifle and use it a few times every deer season, mostly for sentimental reasons.

My fathers 1956 Model 64 Winchester in 32 Win. Special. First deer was in 1972 in Cherokee Park north and west out of Fort collins, CO.

Many moons ago when many here were just a twinkle in their father's eyes. Used a Winchester 94 30-30, open sights. 100 yards at the biggest deer of my life. Neck hit. Weighed 317lbs. without the guts. Rack was approx. a 140"incher. No one commented on the rack. We threw it away. Back in those days no one in the family hunted for antlers. LOL! After the shot my dad grabbed the gun from me and emptied it at the running deer. He had a few shells left in his pocket and told me to get my uncle for more shells. Hearing a shot in the distance, dad ended up catching up to it and dispatched it for me. For years I was sour because "I" wasn't the one who killed it, dad did. I know now though. From tracking the buck through thick brush, he was covered in blood. Back then we hunted in reddish flannel shirts and jeans. None of this camo and blaze orange we have today. LOL!

iSnipe

First deer rifle was a Marlin 35. I loved that gun but, unfortunately, never shot a deer with it. I ended up selling it to a friend years ago. Last year I bought a Savage 110, 30-06 from a pawn shop and shot my first deer with it on opening day. I won't retell the whole story, you can read it here. Shortly after that, I ran into my old friend, who asked if I wanted "that old Marlin" back. So far, I have two in the freezer this season with the 35. I sold the 30-06 to another friend and am planning on keeping the Marlin for good.

I sincerely hope I can give my daughter a 'first deer experience' (or first hog, for that matter) better than mine was. If I recall correctly, they handed me a rifle and turned me loose in the pasture. No one ever taught me how to shoot, how to set up, anything like that. So, I pretty much roamed around, haunted the big oatfield at the center of the lease and took pot shots at everything I saw.

Eventually I got a freakhorn 5 pointer...no pictures, no handshakes, no congratulations. Got chewed out for hunting around someone else's area, for shooting a 'trash' deer, for missing so many before that.

If I knew then what I know now.....

My dad and I both hunt. We hunt on the same property, have for years. I can't stand hunting 'with' my dad. I only have once in the past 10-15 years....he had a bad accident and couldn't hunt on his own so I took him. It was....an experience, to say the least.

EDIT: Oh yeah, Remington 700 .270 Win Mag.

1977, thanksgiving day. I shot a huge doe in the Fingerlakes area with an ancient JC Higgins 12 gauge bolt action shotgun (my first deer). My first buck I shot in 83 on the Tug Hill, with my fathers sporterized Oberndorf Mauser in 8x 57. It was a fine north country 10 pt, field dressed out at 158 points. I had only been on stand about 30 seconds when it sauntered right up to me as I was sitting under a pine tree trying to stay out of the rain.

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.

Some awesome story's everyone! Back in 04' I'd say, I got a doe. I had been walking a path with a cousin toward dawn and he stopped me, and told me to look on the ridge there was a doe, I didn't see it for about 2 minutes as it stood there and stared at me till I droped it. Shot was horrible as it ran over the ridge and dropped on the other side, i was still REALLY happy!
Edit: I was hunting with my pop's 30-30. The year after I upgraded to his .35, Now I own my own 30-06!

First deer I just halfway killed. Someone else ended up actually killing it. Biggest deer I've ever shot too. I was hunting with a group that hunts with dogs when I was probably 15 or so. They called me out of the woods. When I got almost to the truck the guy I hunt with told me to go back into the woods as he realized after he told me to come out that he had messed up. I took off running back into the woods as fast as I could. A big 9 pointer ran by me so probably 5-10 yards in front of me. I stopped as fast as I could and shot him twice in the side with buckshot. He kept on going but I knew I had hit him pretty good. Probably the best shot and closest I've ever had with a shotgun. He ran another 15 yards or so and the guy I hunt with had moved into the edge of the woods. When the deer made it to the edge of the woods he shot it in the front area. It ran another 15 yards or so and died. He said it was also the biggest deer he had killed and he had been hunting for quite a long time. When we skinned it we saw where I had shot it and the whole side was filled with buckshot pellets. Then he had hit it right in the chest area from the front. I'm not sure that it wouldn't have died shortly after had he not shot it but it may not have. Either way I'm at least glad one of us got it not one of the others in the group.

The first deer I actually got by myself was a 8 pointer that was pretty big but no where near as big as that 9 pointer. I shot it at 136 yards with a muzzle loader. I had gotten in the stand right around lunch time. I sat there eating pork rines making all kinds of noise. After about 30 minutes of sitting there this guy walked out. I shot him right in the lungs and he made it about 15 yards right into the edge of the woods.

My first gun was for my 10th birthday, it was a 20ga. Ithaca deerslayer and I still have it. my first deer was a spike, took that with a 12ga. Ithaca deerslayer

I shot my first rifle deer with a remington 7400 when I was 14. I remember shooting it at last light sitting next to my dad and it was a nice 8 point. I put a bad hit on it a gut shot and we found hardly any blood. We backed out after looking a little while and I had to go to school the next day. I remember that day like it was yesterday I was so antsy Iand kept looking at my phone in my pocket under the desk to see if my dad had called because he was going to search for it while I was in school. 1 o clock rolled around and he calls me and tells me the good news and about how proud he was of me. I was going crazy telling everyone even though they really didnt care because there all non hunters mostly lol, i didnt care I kept pouring my excitement out to them anyway. I got home and the deer was hanging from the tree I walked up to it with amazement because I had shot a truly gorgeous trophy. He was hung on the side of the house so I kept the flood light on all night and dont think I got an ounce of sleep I just sat there staring out the window at it saying to myself you did it you shot a big one with a smile from ear to ear

I shot my first deer (doe) when I was 12. I shot her with a Remington 1100 12 gauge with 00 buckshot and she dropped in her tracks at 40 yds. I think my dad was happier than I was...

My first deer (doe)was when i was 11 with my dads 308 dropped it right in its tracks

I was a freshman in college. I shot a doe at 30 yards with my remington 870. I took her to the check in station, they aged her and said she was at least 7 years old.I was proud as could be.

was a doe and was usin a sears/roebuck lever action 35 remi....she went 3 steps and crashed!!!i was hooked fer life

Bought my first deer rifle, a Remington 742 .30-06 with a 3-9X Bushnell Banner scope when I was 16. Lived in Illinois at the time, but, figured I'd need a deer rifle eventually... School, career and family obligations left me with virtually no time for hunting until 1997, the day after my 40th birthday. By that time, my Remmy 742 (along with my first gun, a 20 ga. Win. 370 Jr., my 12 ga. Rem. 870, my grandfather's bolt action Rem .22, my dad's Marlin 16 ga bolt action, and my brother's Marlin 60) had been stolen from my house. My beautiful wife had since bought me a laminate stocked Remington 700 ADL .30-06, with a 3-9X Redfield Tracker scope. My first deer was a 6 1/2 year old 8 point with a 19" inside spread, taken from a box blind at a range of 115 yards. I have since taken a variety of deer with a 700 ADL .243, a 700 BDL 7mm Rem. Mag, and this year, I hope to tag a couple with my new 700 ADL 7mm-08...

i have never shot a deer with my gun.but i killed my first deer this year (a spike) with my bow (martin sabre).shot him at 35 yards (downhill) sitting on the ground ,he ran 40 yards before falling over.

I have 2 stories
I shot my first deer in 1992 when i was 13. We were driving doe during the doe season and up pops this doe about 15 feet in front of me. I shot it with my great grandfathers model 94 winchester 30-30. It dropped right there so my dad helped me gut it and i had to drag it the rest of the drive so we could finish. I remember everyone laughing at me coming through all this thick moutain laurel with a dead deer tied around my waste.
First buck was in 1998. I was hunting alone on my dads farm(he and my younger brother were in the mountains, I had to work.) At 9 AM a big spike walked up about 50 yards away so i let him have it with the old 30-30. I shot it and was so excited but did not really know what to do. I only ever shot that one doe from before and my dad pretty much gutted it. So I ran to the house and got my step mom who hunted in her youth. SHe helped me gut it out and get it out of the woods. It was one of my prouder moments!

My first deer harvested was a doe. It was my second year hunting at age 13. I was using my .243Win. pump action which I still use to this day 15 years later. My dad bought me this gun after being unsuccessfull with a .308 lever action my first year, missing 2 deer. I love my gun and take excellent care of it. The first deer will never be forgotten and was the first of plenty that came after and will probably continue to with this gun, until they change the season to slug only.:(

First day of doe season in 1994, Browning 7mm-08...Dad and I standing together, 14 doe and fawn run across the field in front of me...Dad says "pick one out and stay with it, shoot when you are ready" as I do as he says, he quickly says "look to the right!" and i raise the gun. In all the commotion, we didn't notice one standing along the woods edge, ready to bust out and join the horde running across the field...settling the crosshairs, i make the perfect behind the shoulder shot, then start shaking uncontrollably...he asks "you got her!" and i watch him swing his rifle and take down one of the lead deer from the earlier group...he says "congratulations son, your first doe!" to which i reply "congratulations dad, your's did a somersault" i was 12 :D

Thompson Center Encore 7mm Rem Mag. Shot was about 150 yards and it was a doe. And it was my first day ever gun hunting i was 12 at the time.

I was 9 yrs old sometime in late november. I used a 20ga Franchi shotgun with just a BB sight and shot a 6pt in the rear as he was running off