My First Deer (s)

My brother-in-law and I hunted his dad's old farm. We tried quail hunting, but when walking around the property we jumped deer. The quail hunting was tough; soon we were walking around looking for deer. I'd hunted all my life, but mostly for quail and small game.

The scrub-brush and canyons made walking difficult. We didn't know what we were doing, but we started looking for deer tracks, droppings, scrapes, rubs... We were learning and "patterning" the deer without even realizing it.

Some deer bedded in the canyons, so we would get on opposite sides of a canyon and try to drive them out of their bedding areas.
All we got was tired feet, and white flags in the distance.

After a few seasons we realized some deer move from the canyons to the wheat fields in the evening and back in the morning. We soon knew some areas they moved through. Knowledge is power!

We began to sit and still-hunt more. I named one area the "staging area". It's an old tree/fence row near the middle of the property, deer like to "hang-out" there before moving on to the bedding areas or the wheat fields.

One glorious morning, I had a plan; my first successful plan.
I'd seen a few deer and lots of sign in the staging area. I found a clump of scrub-brush (pictured) which I could get in without much disturbance. The wind was in my face, and I could watch the staging area about 150 yards away.

(It was a much better plan than I realized at that time.
We still take deer each rifle season, with about the same plan.)

Before sunup I moved quietly into this natural hiding area. Just after sunrise a doe almost slipped by me. She came out of the staging area, crossed the road, and was almost across the open area. I didn't have a shot where I was sitting, and had to quickly go around behind the brush about 10 steps. My only choice was a standing shot over the brush.

She stopped and looked back. When the bullet hit she was knocked off her feet without a flinch. I watched, and when she didn't move I sat down again. My first deer, my heart was pounding, and my hands were shaking. I realized what a long "off-hand" shot it was later. I walked 182 steps to her.

I was trying to calm down when two bucks walked out to the edge of the staging area at less than 100 yards. (I didn't have enough deer knowledge back then to expect bucks following her.)

I-could-of-had-a-buck was my first thought! Then I realized I could have both! I was so pumped! I missed the fairly easy shot!

Both bucks ran; one stopped, or a third buck (not sure) stepped out at 120 steps. He ran about 30 yards after the shot and crashed.

Field-dressed the doe weighed almost 100 lbs., and he 130. An average 6 pt. buck for our area. After years of nothing, in five minutes, I had my first doe 'and' my first buck.

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