A bowie knife.

I came home from overseas and bought my first bow in 2009. I was also shopping for a Jeep. That same day I went hunting for the first time with my brother-in-law and near dark I had a phone call from the dealership. I had to pee so I went ahead and got down from the stand. While peeing and talking on the phone, 5 bucks walk up. I threw the phone, picked up my bow, and shot a 6 pointer in the now dark. It fell right where it stood and I though that meant I did the right thing. About 10 minutes later when my BIL came to my area, the buck got up and headed straight for the huge drop-off of a holler.

All 3 of us wrestled down that hill for about 10 minutes until my BIL finally got a good hold on him and I ended the suffering with his knife.

Noone ever believes it, but that was my first hunt. The next 2 times I went I also harvested nice deer. Since, I haven't got a deer in 4+ years.

Savage 111 in 30-06. A nice doe made the mistake of stepping out of the woods below a pond dam. I was sitting above the valley.

a Proline youth bow we bought at a yard sale for $20.

BS. You said you shot it with a bow. Lots of us on the forum have used a knife to finish the job but make no mistake that deer was tagged with an archery tag wasn't it?

They didnt stipulate that it had be legal. They said first. If you are close enough for a bow a cci mini mag will work too.

This always makes me wonder. Technically... finishing a deer with a knife is illegal in many places. But most of us have done it...
-Jake

A borrowed Mod 94, doe @
70yds.

An Emil Ketner Mauser in 9X57 from a tree stand. I was an adult at the time, the deer was an eight point buck.

With a 12 gauge shotgun with double 0 buckshot in GA. Little basket rack 5 point. The funny thing was when my brother threw him over his shoulder crap flowed out of where one of the pellets went in the gut and all over his shoulder...haha

I hunted for 10 years without being successful. Took my first deer at dusk with a Horton Steel Force crossbow. The shot was about 30 yds, downhill in the last moments of visibility. Scrawny Doe ran about 100 yds before she tumbled up. I will always remember that hunt.