its a simple question...
October 1, 1970 about 5:30PM -- 1 Cedar arrow from a 45# Ben Pearson Cougar--5pt buck in Brown County, Indiana. The first live deer I saw in my life. I was 16.
Now really, it took thousands of shots in practice for me to make this shot.
Well, to kill the deer it only took 1.
But i probably shot thousands of shots, just like the other guy said above, getting ready for the 1 that mattered.
i killed the first deer i shot at almost 40 years ago. She was 35 yards away. She did a 180 before the arrow got there, but i got lucky.
i wish i could say the same for every arrow i've loosed since then at an animal! :)
Took me three attempts on three different occasions before I scored. My first attempt on a whistle pig was at five yards, My second was at ten yards and the 3rd attempt was at 20 yards. The big snuffer and fletching hit its marked and just vanished. I was ecstatic.
Shot over and under a bunch before I finally connected only to lose that one to Coyotes.
Yep the first year i hunted trad was 03.I had more oppurtunity's and missed more deer than i can remember.I center punched a ground hog at a steped off 13 yds.An hour later a six point was standing there smelling the ground hog.At the same 13 yds and completley missed him.LOL.About the third week of November that year i killed a button buck.When i was shooting compound i would of been out of tags by then.LOL.But i love it and it has got easier.Just not to easy.
I missed two deer before closing it on the third, and it was over a couple of years. It wasn't a panic thing I just didn't know how to aim from a stand.
8
First attempt - Yes, lots of luck (where patience, preparation and maybe some unknowns collide) involved. Good post - i've missed since then and it does good to know others have as well. Not that i expected to never shank a shot or that 'misery loves company' - just nice to stay grounded and motivated to improve.
good question/thread.
mgreen
First shot at an animal was a morning dove, I was five years old and I shot a bokin broadhead straight through it half of the arrow length. I still feel bad about it when I think about it, I am 59 now. I don't feel that way about the tasty rabbits, geese, pheasants, deer and turkeys, not even the wood cock I shot on the fly that I shot with a 90 pound Big and had mounted and ate the meat. Wasted game killing is a waste, no matter what age it is done at for me.
my first deer a doe i missed her 3 times opening day and harvested her the next morning with my 4th shot!
In my compond days i got one my first year,,, when i took up the recurve i missed the first 20 deer clean misses, altho i won many 3d shoots for recurve class, i just couldn't pull it togther on deer. Then the very last day of my second year with the curve, even after missing many shots that year also, i double lunged one the last day Dec 31st 1994... I have had many great and succesful hunts since then but If I don't concentrate I will shoot right over them. Left and right are always good.... cheers
one.....a carp
my first archery season I used a compound and missed an two elk and three deer. The next year I had a Big Horn recurve and killed a mule deer with the first arrow I shot at a live animal... totally surprised me how deadly a broad head is. Oh it took three more years before I got another animal..!
I've got 4 deer with 5 arrows with my longbow but I let them get very very very close (feet not yards)!
Well 1st animal was a Black Bear in NY.....1st time I ever hunted with a recurve and killed it with the 1st shot.....now later that season I missed the same buck 5 times at less then 25 yards in an hour....I grunted and he kept coming back.....if I only had another 5 arrows LMAO
the first year I bow hunted was 1970. Used a lemon wood longbow and had 17 shots at deer and never touched a hair. I was hunting in northern michigan when there was a ton of deer. It was not unusual to see 60 or 70 deer in a weekend.
I shot my first dear, a small buck, my first day of hunting at age 14. It took me about 30 minutes, picked my own blind, had a group of 5 does and the buck come up and stand broadside at about 15 yards. the next one however took longer. I shot a big doe the next morning during a slow drive hunt with freinds, that took about an hour. Things went downhill from there.
The first 3 deer I shot at ducked, the fourth one didn't. I've been working on training them not to duck ever since.
4 it was a frog the first night i had my bow.
I missed 9 and wounding one(he survived)before taking a nice fat doe at 8' from my tree. Don't know if I'd take that shot again.
First arrow at big game...my first year trad hunting and one homemade cedar arrow with zwickey eskimo shot out of a 52 pound Dwyer Defiant at 17 yards...watched the spike bull elk pile up 30 yards after the hit. Without a doubt the greatest feeling in my 20 plus years of big game hunting. That was in 2004. Not every arrow since then was that perfect, but I'll never forget that feeling of the first...I hope!
Travis
first time trad. hunting this year.first day first aarrow at game.spine shot droped her at 15yds.dont believe in luck but GOD did smile on me that day.
I had played around with a compound a few years with no results. I was tired of all the gadgetry and knew a stickbow was my destiny. My friends thought I was nuts, but were really impressed with my new Leon Stewart recurve.
So there I was one evening in October, and a nice doe comes out of a clearcut I had put a stand next to. She walked to 10 yds., I drew and shot right over her. She ran a few yards uphill. Now eye level at about 18 yds. Picked my spot and released another arrow. Knew I hit her but not sure where so I left her till morning. A short track the next morning into the clearcut and there she lay. What a feeling! Perfect shot behind the shoulder right into the heart. The cedar arrow and zwickey delta did it's job...........So two shots for my 1st tradkill.
It took me two shots to make my first kill.
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so far im 4 for 4 for shots at game. hope to maintain a ratio like that
Took me 3 to bag my first,wow what a rush!! :bigsmyl:
Two. I missed a big doe on a cold morning in October 1978.
That same evening, I redeemed myself, and did the "impossible".
Lets see... Started flinging arrows at critters two years ago.Killed the first hog I shot at. Not where I was aiming but managed to pick up the artery along the spine just in front of the back legs. Killed a few more hogs over the summer. Missed a few more. Had a BIG boar come in one night and picked a spot low behind the shoulder while, at the same time looking at his tusks. Like 3 yards away. I remember telling myself that I can't screw this one up. I did.... The arrow hit exactly in the middle of where I was looking and stuck him thru the top of his neck. No blood, No trail. He is still around.
Deer? Shot at the same 3 does 5 times over a months time.Some were close. A couple of shots where so far off that the damn deer went over and smelled my arrow!
I finally hit a big doe one evening still picking a spot behind the shoulder. BUT looking at the head at the same time. I felt so sick watching that deer run off with an arrow stuck in her neck just below her jawbone.
Big blood trail straight into a deep swamp. I backed out for an hour then went back in and tracked her with clotted blood in the water. She never laid down till she dropped. Didn't figure she would with a damn arrow slinging around her head as she ran. That was my first trad deer but I wasn't happy about it.
December 2nd, 2009 I had a little 6 pt come in right at dark. Heart shot at 17 yards and ran a little over a hundred yards before dropping. THAT was my first trad kill, done the right way!
(http://cdn-2-service.phanfare.com/images/external/2655273_4139643_88093824_Web_3/0_0_0c9db6846544ffd43ea2b4c127c04fab_1)
So, Prolly went 50/50 on hogs that first year. 2 for 7 on deer.
This year I'm 2 for 5. But the 2 were perfect. Less than 50 yard runs and heard them both crash. Then managed to miss 3 more this season.
I was fortunate enough to kill the first deer I shot at,was able to shoot him twice actually.Since then I've had nothing but character builders but I think I learn a little something from each miss.
One.
Technically it took three arrows...All three shot from a treestand...First arrow was at a large red fox at about 17 yds...blade just slid under his belly and arrow shaft thumped him in the side...actually had some hair on the shaft from it, but nothing else...Second was a fox squirrel at about 15 yards...Thumped him w/a blunt, he flipped, squirmed off about 5', and stopped...he must have crawled off when I wasn't looking, cause when I got down I couldn't find him anywhere...Third arrow released at an animal was my money shot...it was at a doe at 15-17 yds...Smoked her and she only ran about 20 yds...
I just started shooting a recurve at the beginning of last year, so all these where during my first hunting season w/a recurve...
Thousands....
3rd shot 2 on Drummond Island Mi were misses and the 3rd shot in WV connected on a doe year 1963...
Started with a recurve in 1968, Had a shot in 1971, haven't had a shot opportunity since. Came close this year 3 times on turkeys but it never came together. Next week I go on a pig hunt and I hope my luck changes.
I killed the first deer I ever shot at. Spined him on the first shot.
First deer taken with trad Bow, Was in 2005 Sept, Opening Day.. I even have it on Video (somewhere). I started shooting My trad bow full time Starting around Dec 2004. I must have shot 50 - 70 arrows a day. You can do that Math...
I missed many until i got enough experiance to get the deer close,under 15 yards before i shoot.My first was a big doe that i shot at under 10 yards,i was 20 years old.In the 17 years since that day i have learned to pick my shots and one arrow is all it takes.
I want to re-post....thousands of shots, 1 at the deer. Makes it all very rewarding
fall of 1973,missed 2 does,shot a spike buck right under me,maybe 10 feet from arrow to deer standing on a limb in a pine tree,nelt down on the limb I was on to get even closer,using 68 bear kodiak
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two shoots on the ground still hunting button buck ran in front of me about 18 yards frist shoot was into the tree in back of him, deer moved 5 yards to my right, was using a back quiver at the time, drew another arrow and started to guess the yardge, then just said to myself your shooting instintively picked a spot and made a perfect shot found the deer about 60 yards away after a 30 min. wait, longest 30 mins. of my life.
I feel much beter about my results so far after reading this thread.
2008 saw no deer and had no shots
2009 saw three deer and three shots (all misses)
2010 saw deer on every outing. Saw my first buck! He was a ten pointer. Missed...
2011 I need to get in the woods before the late season is closed...
Here we go!
Martin