Killed one in high school but 5 years to first buck after I first actully started deer hunting, 6 for first bow kill. Back in '80

Started going to the woods by myself with my daddys 30 30 when I was eleven or twelve. Stomping through the woods and brush, thinking nothing about wind or scent. The first five years I hinted i saw hundreds of white tails running over the next hill, never got a shot off. When I was eighteen I jumped a buck up on a ridge. He ran straight toward a cutover about a quarter mile away. I slipped down an old road as quiet as I could to the cutover. As soon as I stepped into it he jumped up, took about three steps and stood there broadside, thirty yards or so from me. I dropped him like a sack of taters. I never really had anyone to teach me or help me. My daddy has never been a big deer hunter. No tree stands, no shooting houses. Just a boy and a rifle tromping through the woods. Never the less, I've been hooked on it since I saw that first tail bounce over the hill. My son killed his first when he was six. He killed two that year, one last year, and a six point this year. I work harder to provide him a good opportunity than I would for myself. I get just as jacked up when he kills one as I do when I make a kill. I guess looking back at those five years I spent hunting all the wrong ways, it gives me a great sense of accomplishment when I'm able to get my boy a shot. He missed the buck I've been hunting for three years now during the rut last year. We both cried. His misses hurt me just as bad as mine too.

The first deer I ever killed was a spike. Killed him the first morning I ever hunted. My dad had always taken me squirrel and dove hunting but he didn't deer hunt. My uncle took me with him. I think I was either 12 or 13 years old.

Man it sounds like you were living the good life? Where were you hunting and what time period? Looks like your experience supports my theory concerning the wind.

First year was 2003, dad bought me a 135 dollar muzzleloader. First year, I hunted 10-15 times and the closest I got to a deer was 300 yards.

2004-2005 season, went to a pawn shot and dad got me a compound bow for 85 bucks. Opening day, I shot and missed a 6 pointer at 20 yards (I put the 30 pin on him). Fast forward 3-4 weeks, 6 does walked under my stand, I nailed one. She ran 60 yards.
2 weeks later

The week of TN muzzleloader I went to my tree stand only to find out it was stolen. I sat on the ground for an hour before I became impatient. I still hunted... 100 yards and found my first scrape. It was huge! 2.5 feet wide by 3.5 feet long! As I am standing above it, I could smell how strong it was.

So I continue walking, I came upon a raise in the woods, the rise then descended. I said to myself, "what if a deer popped it's head up," sure enough 35 yards out, one did. I put up the muzzleloader, hit the hammer back, saw a glimpse of antlers.

The deer was facing forward me and staring me down. Due to the rise, I could only see mid chest and up. I thought to myself, "I am going to hit the ground." I said screw it and shot.

Once the smoke cleared I looked around, I could see easily 100 yards in these woods, but nothing was moving. I thought I must had been hallucinating. My heart sank... But I remember the rise was pretty tall, so I found a stump and used it to jump up and saw my buck running in place on the ground.

I called my dad and mom and told them I got one. Dad told me to wait 30 minutes. 7 minutes went by from the shot and I walked over to my dead deer! I could not wait. Small racked 8 pointer, 12.5 inch spread. But he did weigh 148lbs dressed.

My first doe and first buck took me a year.

Six years. Only saw 5 deer in that span. (7 to 13 YO)

I was hunting with my dad and grandpa when I was knee high to a grasshopper. 2nd grade I shot my first deer which was a doe and went from then to sixth grade before I killed my first buck. My first buck was killed new yrs eve of 1999.

Started deer hunting around age 7-8 with dad and granddad. Missed a couple due to buckfever with granddads 30-30. Killed first deer, 8 pt, at age 12 in 1980 with Rem 1100 dad gave me.
Started bowhunting around 1995 and missed everything I shot at for 2 years then 3rd year bowhunting connected on 6 point and never picked up a gun again.

My dad didn't deer hunt so I was pretty much on my own. I started at 14 bow hunting, took five years to kill a deer with my recurve. I started gun hunting at 16 and killed three that first year.

I remember a six point buck I missed when I was 16. He came in slowly, then stayed out of any shooting lanes for 15 minutes at under 20 yards. When he finally hit an opening I think I missed by at least ten feet over his back.

I started hunting many years ago. My father put me in a stand and I was't in it 10 minutes and I shot my first deer, a spike. At that time I remembered thinking that there was not much to this deer hunting thing.

First time i ever killed a deer was the first time i ever went deer hunting and i was 8!! I killed a 6 point at 100 yards free hand with my Weatherby .243 .. I was in Talladega National Forest, Talladega County!!

I bow hunted public land in Fla for 5 seasons without so much as cutting a hair. I hunted a small farm in Walnut hill and killed a young cow horn in velvet on the last day of bow season 1976. This was the only one I had to finish of with a pocket knife. Oddly enough I am rifle hunting that same farm this weekend with my old bow hunting buddy.

Bout 3 hours,core-lokt through the heart baby!(yeah it feels good to relive a happy time.)

About thirty minutes into my first hunt. I was 7yrs old and shot a little spike buck. Been lucky enough to kill a few every year since I started. Granted from the time I began until I was 12 or so I was hunting 18,000 acres in Texas that only my family had access to. Alabama hunting is a LOT different but I still manage to knock a few down every year.

Right at an hour. My uncle had me stomping through a big briar patch and when I took too long he moved on (left me there) Me and the deer came out on the same trail at the same time. 12 gauge at about 20 yards.

First time I hunted deer, about half a day. I was 8 or 9 and shot a doe on one of the only two doe days back then we could hunt. That was on some Kimberly Clarke land on the Coosa River. First time I hunted hogs, about three trips (a few days or so) I was in my early twenties and was visiting my home town of Christiansted on St. Croix. I also got to shoot at but not kill a wild steer on the same trip. I don't get home enough to hunt steer like I want.

I hunt public land almost exclusively and see an average of 1 deer per day hunted. I've seen a lot less hogs this year than I am used to (about 30+/- over 5 full days in the woods) but I just started hunting in Alabama again after a 10 year break.

I was 7yo when I killed my first deer and I am unsure how long it took. I think the fist weekend. Now with my bow it took me 8 years to get one down.

I bow hunt. I started 3 seasons ago. I killed my 1st deer at 4:15pm on the very last day of hunting season. I hunted every weekend and two weeks during the holidays. Left work early put up a blind in a totally new spot and surprise. I was 42 years old. Hooked for life

Three years before I killed my first. A doe. Walking back to camp for lunch and she walked out in front of me. I saw about a dozen deer of various ages but never made a shot.

A year and a half.