My first big game animal was a 10 point buck taken with a 45# Ben Pearson Gamester recurve back in 1970, if my memory is correct. Even though I am a longbow aficionado, I still have that little bow, and it will always be special to me. I used a 50-55# wooden arrow from Bear archery tipped with a green Razor Head.

Still working on something bigger than a coyote.

It took me 8 yrs with Trad equipment to get my first.It was a doe,took her to the local DNR check point and they told me she was a 4 1/2 year old doe.

first deer i shot was with my woodland,riverbend longbow, by rick ingraham, all bamboo 62 at 27.at that time i was using a back quiver full of custom king cedar arrows with 125 grain grizzly broadheads. i just happen to be hunting with rick in ny. we where walking up a hillside and seeing good sign, rick said he would go up the hill one way and i should go up the other way and we would meet at the top. After parting ways i started seeing fresh droppings, i slowed down to a crawl. What happened next i can still see in my head. A deer suddenly appeared coming down the hill towards me, i froze. With the wind in my face,  a arrow on my sting and me quarry in front of me i promptly shot the tree in back of the deer. The deer jumped 5 yards and stood there not knowing what had happened. My mind was racing, how far was the deer, i was thinking, as i drew another arrow from my back quiver, at the same time thinking you shoot instinctively,pick a spot and shoot. The next thing i remember is the deer running away with a red spot on its side right where i was looking. After i was able to get the shaking under control i went in found my arrrow, that had passed through the deer. the first arrow was buried in the tree and i broke it off after the head, What to do next. Wait was not what i wanted to do, but i made myself wait the required half hour before taking up the blood trail, that went up over the ridge. As i crested the rise i just about tripped on my first traditional big game kill,a fat button buck. As rick walked toward me back at the truck i was all smiles that was 35 years ago.

A doe with a hand me down Bear longbow in 1980 (thanks Uncle Ben), bear metric magnum arrow and koplin head, hit her in the liver and watched her fall 60yds away. Hooked for life.

My first deer was a six point in New Jersey 1958 his dressed weight was #162 with an eighteen in spread.Shot him out of a home made tree stand as he walked right under me, between the shoulders broke his spine,Bear Polar #45 home made cedar arrow with a Bear broadhead,when I close my eyes I relive the whole thing again,my junior year in high school.

A bear that died within sight of my treestand

DDave

A spike that fell to my recurve and Bear Metric Magnums and a Bear Razorhead for me.  First deer I ever shot at.  That was 1984.

I remember going back to college and my friends asking me if I had a good weekend.  I was a freshman.  I told them it was the best ever.  "Did u get laid?", they asked.

I said, "No.  Better than that.  I killed a buck with my recurve."  I never heard the end of that.

Mine was a Ca Antelope 2009 it the one in my Avatar.

I lost my first..a doe I hit high in the back from about 10 yards when I was 15. Lost the blood trail  after about a mile. First I found was the opposite..a huge doe when I was 17, a walking shot at 35 yards hit her in the neck, direct hit on the spinal column and down she went. I had to finish off with my Buck knife.

My first longbow downed game animal was a really nice merrium turkey in 2014.  I used a Martin Savannah Stealth that drew close to 58#@28" with a 200 grain Zwickey Eskimo atop a GT Trad 5575 for a 520 grain arrow.  That set up proved to be more than adequate for a 30 yard neck shot on a tom.  My first deer was 12/3/14; a really nice doe. I shot her from 39-40 yards, after a lengthy stalk through tall sage.  I used my Yellowstone Half-Breed, 56@28" with a 200 grain Zwickey Eskimo on a 29.5" Easton 2117, 600+ grain arrow.  Full pass through plus 8 inches in the the dirt behind her.

I got lucky on my 1st time hunting with a trad bow. I was about 1/2 hour into my maiden voyage when this "big woods" gal came strolling in to stop broadside at 10 yards and give me the stink eye. Double lunged her and she ran about 100 yards through a major multi flora rose patch and conveniently died within 20 yards of my car. I remember it in vivid detail, as I do with most of my critters.

Thanks for sharing everybody, that's awesome. Lots of great memories. I'm looking forward to hearing more. Coyotes, turkeys, hogs, IMO they're big game too. Thanks.

Bob

Spot and stalk black bear that was running by me at 18 yards.  I was shooting my Heritage, Bridger Mountain longbow built by Rocky Miller, Custom King cedars tipped with a Snuffer. The arrow hit in the crease behind the shoulder but only penetrated one lung.  He went down in twenty yards but it took a while before the death moan came; haven't used a Snuffer since.

Izzy, we call multi flora rose cat briars down here. Do not know how anything other than a rabbit goes through that stuff! Hope you didn't have to drag her through much of it

WT Doe here for me, don't wanna say how many yrs it took me but worth it, all of it. Just hunting Croatan can be akin to hunting a wasteland. Just got to put miles on the boot leather or in the boat and find that land that holds em.

My first was a cinnamon colored black bear in Saskatchewan. It was my third bow bear but first with trad equip.
Probably as good of a shot as I have ever made and was able to watch it go down within sight.

I had already sold all my other archery equipment but this solidified my move to trad.

BigJim

A 5 point whitetail buck. I'm still learning something new every year and loving the journey.

Mine was a Mule deer doe in 1988. No photo but it will always be in my memories

Whitetail Doe