My First Deer

[Minihuntur]

I shot my first deer yesterday! I sat about 20 feet up on a river bank overlooking a bunch of tiny bushes with small clearings. My dad volunteered to go further downstream ,to where we had seen a bunch of deer go down to the river, and try to push the deer towards me.His pushing did nothing, but 5 minutes later a small buck crept in at 40 yards. I thought he was a 2x2. I grunted at him and he stopped and looked the opposite way presenting a slight quartering away shot. I raised my .243 to my shoulder and, because of the 30+ degree angle, held 3 inches above the back of the lungs. I squeezed the trigger and he jumped, kicked his legs out behind him, and ran. My only thought was " Oh no! Your not going anywhere!". I reloaded and shot twice more. 30 yards later he stumbled and fell. I stayed there for a minute to try to comprehend what I had just done. I climbed down a sharp, sandy 3 foot drop, then tripped over a log, the slid down another 50 degree 20 foot long slope, walked through 10 yards of thick cover, and I was at my deer. He was a 3x4 with quite a wide rack on him. Now comes the crappy part, literally, I discovered that the first shot had killed him and the second and third had hit the guts . What a mess! 15 minutes later my dad arrived in his truck. During the dressing we found that the first Winchester Power Point had turned the lungs to jelly. You can imagine what happened to the guts. Later I found out that my dad had nearly rearranged th innards of a wolf with his 12 gauge but his gun jammed. I gotta leave now cause I got meat to cut.
Minihuntur

[Dan Morris]

Gut shot huh................yeech! Congrats on your first buck!
Hope you have a lifetime of hunting!
Dan

[toxic111]

Congrats on your first buck.. you do know that you have to provide photos to everyone here right???!!

Too bad about the gut shot, but I think nearly everyone has had at least one.

[Dom]

Waidmannsheil minihunter. As I read your post the reaction from the deer after your first shot was all you needed. As you gain experience you'll hold off on those 'gut' shots

[gd357]

The first one is always the toughest. Congrats on getting yours! Tough break on the follow-up shots.

gd

[petey]

Good job there kiddo, and quick reacting on follow ups is always better than letting them run off wounded. Even if they were gut shots, they would have done the trick. Btw, a 40-50 yard run is always typical of a well lung shot deer with a .243, even at those close distances; for future reference.

Glad you got to experience the lovely aroma of gut shot deer and the feel of that grit like go-jo hand cleaner texture as you gutted it out. I'm sure you'll always remember that one! The rest as they say is history.

I can't even count or even come close to tell you how many deer I've shot, even with a bow, let alone a rifle or even muzzleloader...but I remember my first deer like it was yesterday.

[Swift]

Congratulations!

[muledeer]

Congrats on your 1st deer. Like Petey said, you will never forget it. I've got to admit, I've hit the guts a few times over the years and it's no fun. Breath through your mouth
muledeer

[Minihuntur]

Thanks guys, Dom, I knew that when deer kick their legs and jump they'll die soon after. I just didn't want him to run any further into the bush. And I was on adrenaline. BTW what does Waidmannsheil mean?
Minihuntur

[Brother Rockeye]

congrats on yer first buck young fella...you cut it pretty close,only 4 days til season end if I'm not mistaken.
but hey why rush it...if you wait til the end you get to hunt all season






oh and that smell is nothin,compared to bear baitin smells-lol

[toxic111]

Originally posted by Brother Rockeye
oh and that smell is nothin,compared to bear baitin smells-lol

Amen to that!

I am just hoping that the big boys will come out to play sat... if not tag soup for the wt tag...

[Brithunter]

Hi There,

Yes congratulations indeed.

Oh Waidmannsheil is a Germanic Hunters greeting and means something close to Good Hunting. A friend who has been a gamekeeper for most of his life and is now in his late 60's hunts with German/Austrian friends. Once whilst hunting in Germany they had got back to his friends house with a Roe buck in the vehicle and a lady and your lad walked by. The little boy greeted them with Waidmannsheil Jaeger. Jaeger is hunter... sort of. I am not good with german a marked differnt attitude than he would have got in the UK today. Screams and beign called murderer is more likely .

[Duffy]

Congratulations on your first deer, Minihunter! I hope you're hooked for life now!

[LoneWolf]

Great job Mimi!
Now lets see some pictures

[Jack]

Congratulations, Minihunter!