1st Deer in 25 years.

[GarandTd]

Just like the title says, I bagged my 1st deer in 25 years. Using the same rifle and ammunition that I had used 25 years ago, Pap's/Dad's 141 Gamemaster with some Remington Corelokts. The last deer was my 1st. If my math is correct, I was 16 for the first one. Field dressing was....interesting. Some key details stuck with me from my youth. I felt guilty afterward that I didn't let it pass by to my son 150yds away in another stand, but it presented itself to me. I had to do it.

How have you fared this deer season?

 

[std7mag]

Congratulations!

Yesterday i got my first buck in 35 years of hunting.
LOTS of does!!! Lol
Decent body, but tiny rack. Had to squint twice in the bino's to make sure it was legal.
But it allowed me to tear off & fill out the buck section on my tag.

 

[GarandTd]

Congratulations to you too!
That was the 1st and only deer I saw. 7:05am. I didn't hear much shooting. Mine was the 1st shot in the area.

 

[GarandTd]

Here's yesterday's rack with my 1995 rack.

 

[bgdv1]

Congratulations

 

[sako2]

Congrats to both of you. It was a quiet day in my area to for the first day of rifle. Grandtd don't feel bad about not letting go. It may have never made it to your boy. Someone else may have shot it.

 

[std7mag]

Mine, seeing as to how it didn't happen without pics!

 

[Logs]

Fun 2020 Deer Season

I was able to get this buck with my Armalite 7.62x39 rifle. I got it a few days after my daughter shot her first buck.

 

[GarandTd]

Logs, congrats to you and your daughter. Both are nice looking deer. Is that a Ruger she used?

 

[Logs]

Thompson Center Compass in .243 for $200 after rebate a few years ago from KY Gun Co. It has a 3x9x50 Leupold VX2 on it. My daughter asked why I put a $300 scope on a $200 gun. When I showed her my groups while sighting it in she understood. Great little rifles for the money and very little recoil.

I used her rifle to take this doe that I donated to Hunters for the Hungry. It dropped her right on the road where she was standing. I have used a Remington 7mm Remington magnum for 20 years and I'm done with it after using my AR and her TC .243 this year.

 

[tango1niner]

Congratulations to those whom have recently taken their first buck or first in a long time.

Good Job.

I'm still looking...

 

[603Country]

I’d show you pics of a monster 8 point from yesterday, but I let him pass. I’ve let all the bucks pass this year, which include a 9 and 3 8 points. Fun to watch. Maybe if I see than 9 again...

It’s good to be in the woods....

I should explain that I have a barn full of antlers. I’m waiting for a 12 point, and I keep letting big breeding bucks pass in the hopes they’ll plant the seed for that 12.

 

[kilotanker22]

Shot this guy Sunday with my 6.5 Creedmoor and some 147 grain ELDM bullets I loaded up. My first busk in 12 years. Quartering away at 120 yards. Bullet entered behind first rib, passed through the liver, destroyed one lung and found the bullet under the Hyde on the off side shoulder. He ran about 25 yards and died in the river.

 

[bamaranger]

roots

Congratulations on breaking up your dry spell.

I've got links PA and still have family up there. My Dad was one of those guys who went YEARS between kills. In those days, you could see 40-50 deer on the opener, but no antlers. If you did see antlers, dead or alive, they weren't much. Spikes and forkies abounded.

So did Remington pumps! Lots of the old "candy cane" pumps were still in the woods, my first deer rifle was a Model 14 in .30 Rem. If you were an enthusiast, you had a Rem 760 carbine, usually in 30'06. Winchester and Marlin .30-30 were still common, and not everybody hunted with a scope.
Imagine!!!!!!!!

The last hunt I made with my Dad in PA, I borrowed a rifle (bought a non-resident license) and went opening day. Passed up a shot on a forkie in hopes it would go past my Dad.... it did, he missed,.... 3 times.

 

[GarandTd]

My dad wasn't a huge hunter, but he did go when we needed the meat and I have everlasting memories of hunting with him. He passed when I was in my early 20's.

My dry spell is mostly for lack of effort. Like my dad, I'm not a big time hunter. I don't like to kill things. I like hunting for it's heritage, tradition, necessity, and life lessons. I didn't hunt for all of my 20's and most of my 30's. I have kids and they are are coming of age and showing interest. I'm happy to join them on the journey and we can learn together.

 

[Blindstitch]

Good job. This is the first year of hunting since 2014 that I haven't shot a buck but I did shoot a doe with a bow which is the first in 20 years.

 

[baddarryl]

Sounds like me!

 

[shurshot]

Congratulations! Nice buck. And with a classic rifle too!!!
Nice to see kids on here hunting as well!

 

[smee78]

Congrats to everyone who made it into the woods this year. I have had to miss out for the last 6 or so years with surgery's and then the rising cost of a place to hunt, I haven't been out in years to hunt.

 

[GarandTd]

Smee78, I feel for you. I am fortunate in that my in-laws have an 80+/- acre tract of land 15 miles from my house. That is where I've been taking my eldest son. In my youth, I primarily hunted state game lands and those are close to home as well.