How old were you when you killed your first deer?

[sc928porsche]

12. Mod 94 Winchester 30-30. Two deer that year. One on the coast, and the other in the Sierras.

[jhgreasemonkey]

I was in my early 20's. I was using my savage 110 7mm rem mag with burris scope.

[Miata Mike]

I was 24. There was not a lot of opportunity for me back in the day. My Son however shot a dandy 10 pointer the day after he turned 12! Lucky little bugger had his choice of either a 10 or an 8 pointer in the first two hours of daylight.

[CajunBass]

I'm not sure to tell you the truth, but I was either 25 or 26. Something like that anyway.

We got permission to hunt a place that we only got to hunt once or twice a year. Dogs jumped and ran around all morning. Shots everywere. Finally a doe came out in front of me, and I dropped her with a couple of loads of No 1 buckshot out of my then new Sears/Mossberg pump gun. As I was watching her to make sure she didn't get up, another one ran by almost under my legs. I swung on her, but changed my mind thinking "Get the one you got first." That deer went down to the next stand where my cousins husband killed her.

I think the club killed a dozen or so that day.

[jhog1]

18 Rem. Mohawk 48 12ga bought it new a Kmart for $129 wish I saved longer and got the 1100 like my brother for $189

[kd7sgm]

13, 4 point 243 mod 70 still have the rifle today, in fact my daughter will be using the same rifle this year for her first deer hunt.

[Major Dave (retired)]

Where I was raised in Texas, there was no deer season.

After 5 years on active duty, the Army sent me to Ft Sill, OK, for a 6 week school - during deer season.

During my lunch hour for the first 4 weeks of school, I studied deer hunting tactics by reading back copies of hunting magazines in the library.

Then I went hunting.

Using a SxS double barrel 12 gauge, at 40 yards, with rifled slugs, I downed a 17 point, 175 gross B&C trophy.

I call him my "By the book" buck!

[pac.coastie]

13 years old, remington model 600 carbine in .243, with a leupold VariX-1 2.5-7 scope. was a four day trip in central Oregon, i get him on the third day.

[bamaranger]

I can't remember my PIN, bamawife's birthday, and who knows what else.....
but I can see that doe coming up the hollow, feel grandad's M88/.308 in my shoulder, see the crosshairs and hear the shot. She went down in a pile, 86
excited teenage steps away. Dad was just over the hill w/ one of his own. Only time we dragged two out together. Pardon me while I dab a tear.

BAmaboy shot his on a greenfield ROW, not 1/4 mile from the house. A mini-mauser, 6x leupold, .223 w/ 62 gr bonded bullet, off shooting sticks, me at his shoulder, coaching. Perfect lung shot at 75 yds or so, thru & thru. She went 75 yds or so, and a blind man could have followed her. His first words after the shot, ....."I was right on her, perfect. Now I see why you love it.."

Pardon me while I dab another tear.

[Win73]

I was 60 when I killed my first deer. Am 64 now and have killed seven, one buck each of the previous three seasons and four does last season.

There is an interesting story behind the first one. A friend and I were set up in his two man portable blind in the middle of his field. We set up about 3:00 in the afternoon. I was using his Savage 7 mm magnum. About 5:00 a spike buck walks out of the woods and starts eating corn that was left after the harvest. It was a 240 yard shot. I put the scope on the deer and pulled the trigger. CLICK! My immediate thought was that it would run off. I opened the bolt. For some reason a round had not gone into the chamber when I closed the bolt. Since the deer was still standing there eating corn, I closed the bolt again making sure a round went into the chamber this time. I aimed at the deer and pulled the trigger again. BOOM! Deer still stands there eating corn! I can't believe it didn't run off after the shot. My buddy then hands me his Remington 7 mm magnum and says, "Take this one, I know where it is hitting." I draw another bead on the deer and pull the trigger. BOOM! This time the deer does move, straight down. He dropped in his tracks. Afterward we checked the Savage and discovered that one of the crosshairs in the scope on the Savage was broken. When you looked close you could see a gap in it.

[Gbro]

21 or 22,
B-Day Nov 8th, so its hard to remember.
But it was the 1st deer I ever saw hunting. I had bought a 1894 30WCF for $200 and still carry it occasionaly.
What I long for the most is the buck fever of those days long ago

[markj]

10, was in 4th grade. Lived in the country on a farm, was 1.5 miles to the elkhorn river. We were in the woods with my 22 rifle. Saw a buck, shot him, he ran a bit and died. We went home told Dad, got whipped real good with his belt and he took the gun away. He later explained to us about hunting seasons and fines, jail too. Have respected the hunting laws since.

[latch]

34 and used a win 94 in 30-30. I have gone every year since. I have used several different rifles & calibers. I still take the 30-300out each year.

[Legionnaire]

Killed my first deer when I was 20 ... with a Yamaha 750!

Grew up in the city, and my dad wasn't a hunter. I did a bit of hunting with a friend in my late teens, but didn't really know what I was doing. It wasn't until after I got married and my father-in-law took me under his wing that I really got into hunting. He is a great outdoorsman, and together we have hunted and fished for 20+ years.

So I was pushing 30 when I took my first deer on a hunt. Used my FIL's .30-06 Remington 760, which he has since given to me to pass on to one of my kids when the time is right.

[jcjr3020]

I was 10, it was with my grandfathers marlin 336 in 30-30 with a old 4x tasco scope. i have since moved on to a savage 10 in .308, but once a year i take the old 30-30 out. Cant tell you how many deer that gun has taken between my grandfather and i, it is still his only deer rifle.

[EMN89]

I was 16, I was using my friends marlin 336 30-30. The deer was a 65 pound button buck, and the shot was only about 45 yards. Somehow with all the excitement I managed to hit the deer in the guts, luckily we tracked it down and my friend finished it off. My first clean kill wasnt until i was 19, I shot a 6 point buck that weighed about 180 pounds.

[NightSleeper]

mid 30's. I didn't start deer hunting until much later in life!

[James R. Burke]

The big 14. I was ready sooner but not legal age at that time.

[Lewiston]

22. Came from a family of non-hunters. They thought it was pretty funny that I had a book with me in woods when dressing it out - it was one clean animal.

Twenty years later I now schedule work around my hunting schedule.

[mtnkid85]

14 for me. A little 4x5 white tail out in the heyfields with my brothers 7x57.

[UniversalFrost]

12 years old and used a stevens bolt action 20 ga with slugs

got a nice 3x4 white tail at 40ish yards. I was actually walking to my stand when i spooked him from his bed. he jumped up, ran a few yards, stopped and turned around and stomped and snorted and i pulled the trigger. he dropped right there. not bad considering I was shaking so bad from the sheer excitement of it all.

my dad came running thru the woods from his stand because he thought I might have shot myself climbing into the stand. he was suprised when he came upon me just standing there shaking with excitement and standing over the buck.

not bad for a 12 yr old with an old shotgun to fill my tag with maybe 20 minutes into the opening day of the season.

I think i spoiled it for myself, because ever since then I have had to work my rear off (with the exception of 08 when the buck came to me) to bag a deer before the end of the season.

[Oneholewonder]

Twenty years old. Got a late start. The first one was a big doe that I stalked on my hands and knees. She and a skipper popped out of the woods into a field I was hunting. The grass/hay in the field was just tall enough to hide me as I slowly crawled toward them. I put the wind in my favor and crawled about 150 yards on my hands and knees. Seemed like it took forever. Finally had the big doe broadside at 30 yards which was as close as I dared crawl. I had a leather sling around my neck with about a half dozen Fred Bear razor heads and cedar shaft arrows. Was hunting with a 1950s or 1960s Fred Bear recurve.

Knocked a cedar arrow and rose to my knees and made an instinctive shot that double lunged the big doe. She ran through the field and back into the woods and fell dead right at the feet of another hunting party but I didn't know it at the time.

I got my brother and another buddy and we went to the area of the hit and followed the blood trail to the edge of the woods where the other group called to us and told me where my deer was laying dead. That first one was a great thrill and even though I've shot some huge bucks since then and 28 years later that first doe still ranks right up there among my best deer kills.

[huntinaz]

I was 12 years old, in sixth grade. It was my first big game hunt, we hunted 7 days before I got a chance. We were hunting along, and I was thinking there was no way I'd ever kill a deer when my dad spotted two bucks walking our way thru the thick stuff. Finally I located one and got on it with my Winchester 94 in 30-30. My dad kept saying "hold on, let them come, we'll get them both." Well I waited what seemed like an eternity (probably all of fifteen seconds) and when he stepped out from behind a tree at maybe 30 yards I let him have it. My dad was mid-sentence "let them come"...BANG! That deer crumpled and I heard my dad say "Damn, Jake, you hit it!" I never saw the other buck and my dad was a little sore I think since he ended up not getting one that hunt, but mostly he was glad I put one down. I think he was waiting to make sure HE got one, and was not counting on me hitting one Man that was a great hunt and one of my fondest memories with my old man.

[HoraceHogsnort]

When/if I kill my first deer it'll be near my 70th birthday!

[Doodlebugger45]

I was 9 years old. None of us carried guns, but my dad and uncles had showed me how they could rope a buck and flick the rope just right to break their necks. We were ranchers, not hunters. Or at least they were. We roped all day long doing various chores. In the evenings if we were around the home place we roped all night because we liked it and we rodeo'd if we had time. So I took it to heart and practiced the exact timing and placement. Between the practice, a good horse, and a little luck, I was ready when the buck came busting out of the brush. Piece of cake.

It wasn't until I was 14 I convinced my dad to let me shoot a deer with a 30-30. Been at it ever since then.