I got my first deer with a bow this year; I am 15. I was hunting over my food plot in Farwell, MI. I left my house to go out to my stand about a mile from my house at about 4:30 P.M. I was walking there after I got out of school, and it looked like it was going to be a really nice night to bow hunt.
There was little wind and it was partly cloudy about 55 dagrees. I got up in my stand at about 5:00 and sprayed a little bit of premos silver scent eliminator with earthblend to make sure i was sent free after i washed my clothes. After about half our I was still waiting and i decided just to try a little bit of calling with my new M.A.D. snort wheze.
As I was sitting up in my tree stand and I was pretty confident in seeing deer because I had already passed a 3 point the first night. Then at around 6:00 I decided to grunt some more, and that's when it happend; i looked over to my left about sixty yards and here came a nice 6 point. He was walking right to my food plot it took five minutes and he was in my food plot eating some Winter Greens in bow range. When his head was down eating i stood up and grabbed my bow. When i was about to pull back he spooked from something and was perfectley broadside at 20 yards.
Then I let the arrow fly with a G5 montec broadhead on the tip and it nailed him. I got down in about five minutes and started tracking him. After following a pretty good blood trail i found him about 60 yards from my stand dead right on a ATV trail; I couldn't believe it. When i gutted I found out the the arrow had got a lung and hit right in the vitals. That was my first deer ever with a bow.

It took eighteen YEARS! I started hunting when I was 12 years old. Over those 18 years I had all of the usual reasons for not getting a deer, couldn't see a buck in buck season, didn't draw a tag in doe season, misses, gun misfires,scope fogged up, and plain bad luck. I was starting to wonder if it would ever happen.
Then in 1985 I got invited to God's County (Potter Co. PA) for a 3 day archery hunt with six other hunters who had been hunting there the first week of archery season for years. I had more fun hunting those 3 days then I had ever had before. We put drives on all day, and hunt from stands in the evening. I saw more deer in those 3 days then I had seen the past 3 years! Unfortunately, none close enough for a shot. The next year, 1986, I knew I wanted to become a regular at Potter Co. archery camp. The second day of the season was terrible weather. Heavy rain most of the morning kept us out of the woods. It finally slowed up to a drizzle and I took my bow for some exploration of our hunting area. After about an hour and a half it started to pour again. About that time I jumped a deer while I was walking up an old logging road, and it ran out into an open field. I sneaked along the edge of the woods till I got to the edge of the field. To my surprise the deer was looking back from where it had just run, and I had a shot opportunity. It was really putting the rain down, and I shot.....underneath the deer! It did not know where it came from and just stood there looking. I thought the deer must be farther away then I thought so I aimed higher and shot again. Just over it's back! Now the deer knows somethings wrong and it turns around and faces back towards the woods. Now I figure I have the range down pat..... I shoot again and the arrow disapears into the deer. It jumps 3 feet straight up in the air and runs to the tree line. I knew in all the rain I had to get to the woods quickly to see blood trail before it washed away. As I entered the trees I found blood imediately. The deer was 20 yards away, double lunged....I don't remember ever feeling that way before in my life, I was ready to BUST...I thanked the Good Lord over and over. It was a doe, not realy very big, but after 18 years it was the best trophy I could have asked for. I enjoyed evey step of the long drag back to camp. When my buddies saw me coming every one came out on the porch. I finaly got to say those three precious words "I Got One"

About my first deer ever with a bow:

Well, first I'll start with the stand location... I chose to put the stand on a logging road-type trail that we made a few years back with a bulldozer. From my preseason scouting (and a tip from my old neighbor who owns and hunts the land next door,) I was able to figure out that the deer (especially bucks) tended to walk along the ridge top that the part of the trail I was hunting was on. The deer mostly used that trail in the morning when they are going out to feed in the fields half a mile away across the road. They would approach my stand sight from the north (upwind) and cross over onto another trail that led westward into the corn fields and the river bottoms about a mile away. When they got there, they would brows and then bed down in the thickets for a midday nap.

October 11, '09:

I woke up at about 4:45 to take a scent-killing bath, eat breakfast, and get dressed. I headed out to the barn in just my long underwear to get my Summit Bushmaster climbing treestand. I noticed the weather was a lot colder than it had been for the past few days (a cold front of about 35 degrees had moved in, ) which made it an even better day to hunt. I then headed out to my stand with my dad as a "decoy." We got to my stand sight at about 5:30-ish. Once I was 20 feet up in a medium-sized hickory tree and settled in, my dad went back to the house to make the deer think that the danger had gone. I noked an arrow tipped with G5 Montec broadheads onto my 2009 Diamond The Rock bow, clipped my Scott “Little Goose” release to the string loop, and was finally fully ready.

As the sun begin to rise, I got out the rangefinder and started ranging different trees, stumps, etc to know how far a deer would be standing next to them. About halfway through this process, I heard the crunch of leaves behind me, but by the speed and pattern I could tell it wasn't a deer. I looked and saw a coyote trotting along behind my stand. I really wanted to shoot it because they had been howling a lot and threatening out livestock a lot lately. I was unable to draw my bow and shoot it, because my release had gotten tangled with the rangefinder and the coyote was just going to fast. Then it went over the hill and was gone.

About an hour later (8:30) I just happened to look up and see a thick, white branch moving side to side. Or at least I thought it was a branch. Then I realized it was a friggin HUGE buck standing in the middle of the trail about 60 yards away! I instantly started breathing heavy and telling myself I was seeing things. As the buck started walking, I knew for sure he was real. He would walk a few steps, lick his privates and lip curle, then walk a few more steps. He did this for about 30 yards and the went behind a brush pile. I couldn't tell for sure, but I think he was making a scrape when he was hidden. Finally, he started walking toward the cross-trail to the field for some still unharvested corn, and I knew now was the time. I stood up and drew my bow when he was on the other side of a huge beach tree. Once he was clear of all obstacles and next to a tree I had ranged at 27 yards away, I settled my 25 pin on him and said "doe-bleated" to get him to stop. My brain almost exploded when he looked right at me. I then did one of the most inhumane things ever, and I shot when I was not ready! I knew the pin was not quite in the right place, but I was so eager to get rid of that arrow that I just let it go! My mind worked in S L O W M O T I O N for the next second or sow as I watched the arrow fly toward him and hit WAY too far forward. “Oh CRAP!” I said to myself as I determined I had just shot him in the shoulder. I then watched as he took a few leaps and jumped halfway down the side of the hill and sprinted full out for the thickets between the corn fields.

It all took about a minute to register and then I snapped into action. I quickly grabbed my walkie-talkie and called my dad. "Dad, I seriously just shot a really huge buck! I think the hit was too far forward, and I need you to get out here and help me follow the blood trail." Then I climbed down the tree and stuffed my gear into my backpack. I ran over to where the buck had been standing, looked for blood, saw none and got back to the stand. When my dad got there, we looked around for the blood trail. I eventually found some blood about 15 yards from where I shot him. For the next 80 or so yards, we kept on finding good-sized drops of blood. He seemed to be going right for the bedding area on the close side of the field, when suddenly the trail just seemed to end and we couldn't find any more blood. That's when I got the idea to go get Luger (she's my 4 month old German Shepherd pup.) I figured she would have no trouble following the buck's tracks. I ran 800 yards to the house, ditched my pack, took my coat off and switched it for a jacket, and got Luger.

We ran back to where we left my dad with the end of the blood trail. I took her to about the middle of the trail and led her in the direction the buck had gone until she seemed to catch on. . She followed it as far as the road, but try as she did, the poor girl just couldn't follow it from there. We crossed the road, but still couldn't find any blood. I reasoned that if I could find just one drop of blood, my dog could follow it from there. Well it took about 100 yards of walking where I THOUGHT the deer had gone before I found any more blood. This time the drops were huge and close together. The spots of blood were getting a lot bigger and I saw huge clotted drops all over the corn stalks and dead grass. Then my dad suddenly yelled "There he is!" and I almost wet myself. He had ran about 250 yards total through lots of rough terrain, but dropped right below a metal power-line tower on an access road to the fields. We approached him from behind, just like your supposed to and I was absolutely amazed by what I saw. He (the buck) was the biggest 8-pointer I had ever seen and his antlers were even bigger than my previous 10-pointer's had been. We realized that I had hit him in the neck, not the chest! I guess I just got really lucky because the arrow severed his trachea and both his jugular veins. I lifted his head and ran my hands up and down the rack. He had 8 gnarly tines with a slightly palmated left main beam. My dad then took Luger back to the house as I stayed with the deer. While I was waiting, I thanked God for the extreme luck and for the bountiful harvest.

When Dad came back in the truck, we took pictures and field-dressed the deer. We loaded him into the back of my dad's truck and drove him back to the house and sprayed him down with cool water from the garden hose to keep him from spoiling. Hours later, I weighed him at 205 pounds field dressed! His rack was 21 inches wide on the outside and 18.5 on the inside. his tallest tine was 10.5" and his main beams were slightly "palmated." When it was all said and done, I learned that I should NEVER take a shot on an animal until I am ABSOLUTELY ready. I got really lucky on this hunt, because the buck just ran and bled out before we could loose him. From now on, I will wait until I am absolutely sure before shooting again.

I shot my first deer with a bow on Halloween 1996 just after getting out of the US Navy after four years of no hunting. It was a windy and cold night but I really did not care. I could hear a dog running off in the distance. That dog must have been chasing that deer because shortly a deer came from that same direction. I was shooting an old PSE that I still have hanging in the garage. The deer came in directly in front of me and was passing on my right. I grunted, turned and drew my bow all at once. The deer stopped straight below me and I let the arrow fly. It ran ten yards and went down. I was hooked. Bow hunting is still my favorite hunting.

Well this takes me back, Thirty plus years. My father was the ultimate mountain man, If it swam,ran,flew he pursued it and started me out at a very young age. Being left-handed meant nothing to him, I learned how to shoot off the shelf left-handed w/a bear right-handed recurve which hangs above my fire place to this day. After proving to him that I could shoot consistently he took me out. After a few days I still didn't get a shot,saw deer but he wouldn't let me try. The next time out after hours and again no shot, we were walking to the truck and of all things,the biggest deer steps out "not really,it was a basket six" But to a young boy,He was huge! My father pulled me to the side of the trail and said "don't move,I don't think he saw us"
Now get ready,if he puts his head down draw and get ready to take the shot.It took for ever to put his head down,but when he did,I heard a whisper,"draw now" I did as I was told. Hold steady and let it go at his ribs behind the leg.I think, I really closed my eyes when i let go, as I felt the string hit my arm guard, a slap on the back and shout you got him boy! Not sure to this day which was louder the slap or him yelling.I never saw the arrow or the deer,after he had his lucky strike "old school" we walked for maybe thirty yards and there he was.I also learned how to field dress a deer that day. I wish that I could go back in time to live that over again,Thanks DAD.

my first deer with a bow was last year. i wint to my grandparents to hunt behind ther house and a big doe was standing in here yard the second i got up there so i went in the house for a second a then steped out and spined her it was terriable i dropped her and she was crying i guess i put another arrow im her and called my dad he helped get her done to the truck he was so proud of me

stories never forgotten

My first deer with a bow was a big doe when I was 15. I was using, just like buckhunter, a Fred Bear Whitetail compound. My dad bought it for me when I was 11 years old and it was probably a year or two older then me at the time. I loved that bow. I practiced with it all the time when I got it, so I could go out with my dad when I turned 12.

The day was October 3rd, 1998, and I was about to turn 13 years old.

My dad was a good ways away from me, and we were both hunting on the ground. It was a new section of woods we were trying out, and we didn't bother to use stands since we didn't know if the woods would even pan out for us. I was just down a hill from an alfalfa field in the woods 20 yards, and he was a good 300 yards away in the other corner of the field sitting 40 yards into the woods.

I heard the does coming from a ways off taking a trail that would put the deer about 25 yards away from me. It seemed like a heavily used trail to get to the alfalfa field. I remember that it was the first year I got to archery hunt, because my dad felt that I was ready to ethically kill a deer at that point. I was hooked from that day, even if I missed the shot on that doe, because it was the first time I actually heard deer calling to each other. It was a doe with her yearling and she was bleating at her every time she strayed away from the trail.

The bigger mature doe stayed in front of her yearling and I was behind a tree watching them. When she go to the hillside she stopped and looked back to make sure her yearling was behind her. Luckily she turned her head away from me, and I came to full draw while her attention was elsewhere. I let that 2117 aluminum arrow loose armed with one of my dads extra 125 grain NAP Thunderheads.

I shot just a touch low, but it worked out since she ducked the string slightly. The arrow hit perfectly behind the shoulder and double lunged her. My dad helped me track her, which was a short one. The best part was, I got my deer that day, shared the experience with my dad, my birthday was just 2 days away, and I still made it to a dance with my first girlfriend. LOL

That girlfriend is long and gone, and birthdays come every year, but the times I get to spend with my dad out in the woods chasing deer, are something I hold very dear to my heart every year. I am fortunate that he is still around and still always has something to try and teach me.

The first deer i ever shot with the bow was on opening day i believe in 1997, i was 15 years old. I had been hunting with the bow for three or four years. I was hunting on family property in north western illinois. It was opening morning and i was hunting from the ground, about 8am when i seen two deer headed my way threw the woods the first deer was a big 10 point probably a 150 class buck and the second was a small basket six. The deer walked up at about 25 yards. The big buck stopped in the open and i drew my bow. I lined up my sight pin and in the excitement used my 15 yard pin and my heart broke as i watched the arrow fly well under the deer. I huried and re-nocked another arrow and drew again as the deer turned to look at the arrow on the other side of it. The two deer started to run off i took a shot at the second deer. After waiting about 15 minutes i went to collect my arrows. I found the first arrow which i watched miss. After searching for the second arrow for about 15 minutes i finally found it stuck in a log covered in blood. I then started to follow the path that the deer had taken and about 20 yards later i was on a rather good blood trail. I nocked another arrow just in case and keep following the blood trail step by step. After another 50 yards or so of trailing the deer i could hear it stand up and as i looked up i could see the deer about 20 yards away trying to get up to run away so I flung my arrow into the deers back side nocking it to the ground. I nocked another arrow and took a few more steps up and the deer tried to get its feet under it again and again i let an arrow fly this time however the arrow hit closer to home but still rather far back. The deer dropped and i walked up with an arrow nocked and placed it in the heart to finish it off as quickly as possible. As the addrenaline tapered off i was standing over the 3rd deer of my life and the first with the bow. I began to inspect the deer to see where i had first hit it, and found that i hit him in the neck. I learned a lot about why you don't shoot at running deer from this experience, as well as tracking deer on your own.
Once i got done field dressing the deer i drug him out the fields edge and i got to have the happiest walk a son can make back to the cabin to tell his father that he had just shot his first deer with the bow. I cant believe that it will have been 13 years ago this year that this happen it seems like it was just yesterday and this is still one of my most memorable deer ever, definitely a top 3 hunting memory. Still kicking myself for not using the right sight pin on the first shot though!

just got my bow for christmas last year going try and get me one this archery season