Mine was a carp last summer.

My first deer with trad bow was in '73 spike buck 50#super kodiak micro flite arrow bear greenie b-head.17yrs old at the time.out of a baker tree stand. Funny thing was an eight point buck wascloser than the spike but I didn't see him until after I shot. Deer continue to school me! I have used it well over the years!-----------------------------------------------------------
Black Widow64" 68#@31 ma111
Black Widow 62"65#@30psa11
Black Widow62" 66@30 ma11

Awesome shots, guys!  Impressive!

My first traditional kill was a 2009 doe (My 1st all trad season).  I couldn't have been happier, when it happened.  I'd set a couple buddies up in another spot....and they got to go with me on the recovery.  17yd shot.  35yd recovery.

A poor squirrel in 1967.  Don't remember yardage but he popped up on a log and I shot him with a 43# Bear Grizzly and Bear cedar arrows with field point.  Hit the squirrel in the eye and the arrow was stuck halfway through his head like Steve Martin.

I started trad hunting 2 years ago so I vividly remember my first, and only, but hopefully not last harvest.  2 Nov 09  About 10th hunt, second time with deer within range, first time with a shot opportunity.  Made good enough shot. So far, 1 for 1.  I know that succcess rate will not last, but will see how long I can keep the streak alive  :D  

A possum about 54 years ago when I was 8.  My dad sold the bow when I was in my teens.  A few years back I found the bow - a friend (who I met in 1985 had picked it up at a pawn shop years before.  It's the same bow because the 'notch' for the possum is still there.  Sometimes it's really a small world.
Craig

A carp also in 67 or 68 with a 25 lb. fiber glass bow. Shot in the mighty Mullet river near my home in Plymouth,Wi.

Lost treasures.

We've all had them. There was that bow that you traded away; it shot very well but a "better" bow came along or maybe you needed more room in the den. So you sold it, only to regret it years later.

There are those bows that you keep as wall hangers because they have a special meaning, like the first self bow you made or the bow that was given to you by that Old Fart bow hunter you so highly respect. Then there are those that you wanted to keep, but for some awful reason, the bow mysteriously disappeared.

I was 9 years old and we had just moved to the farm. This was South Jersey, 1974, and there was not a significant deer population, but a rather healthy number of rabbits and pheasants. I would shoot my Fred Bear red fiberglass bow at an old chair in the back yard. Life was good. One afternoon, while enjoying a day of chair shooting, my uncle Eddie came over to pay a visit. He sat there watching me and, when I was done, asked to look at my bow. He commented that it was a good bow, for fiberglass. But, if I was in the market for a new bow, he may just have one collecting dust somewhere. Well, when I heard this, I was all smiles.

A short time later he returned with a long lemonwood bow that had recurved limb tips. He explained that his uncle had made this bow for my mother when she was in high school. When my mother saw the bow, she told me how she used to take it to school via the bus and shoot high school archery.

I put a new string on it and ventured down to what use to be McCrory's and bought up a mess of arrows, a snap-on quiver with a cheap plastic hood, and I started shooting. I practiced all summer and fall, just waiting for small game season to start.

First day of small games season, 1975, a bit chilly and I went hunting. Ventured down past the cornfields, crossed the road and hit the woods across from Murphy's farm. I passed a few shotgun hunters and they all but chuckled when they saw my bow. It was longer than I was tall.

I started hitting the thickets. I'd sneak up on them, look into them, and see if I could find a sitting rabbit. After a few hours, my stalking skills started to get relaxed and I was just not as quiet or all that sneaky now. Then, all of a sudden, the whole woods exploded as a big old cottontail jumped up and started to run. He ran right in front of me. I had already drawn, anchored, aimed and released. The arrow flew from the lemonwood bow and the rabbit started tumbling, head over heels. I trailed him for about 20 feet and found my trophy.

I promptly gutted him and started for home. While walking down the dirt road I passed the two shotgun hunters who had chuckled. The older man looked astonished and then congratulated me on my hunting skills.

This bow adorned my bedroom wall when I lived on the farm, when I lived in the city, when I moved to California, when I moved back to Baltimore, and then when I moved to Georgia.

When I ran out of room, I took the bow and a few guns to New Jersey to hang on the wall of my grandfathers den.

The bow has since vanished, but it's still alive in my memories.


FVR published TBG

My first trad kill was in 1972 it was a small spike buck with a 45lb Bear bow with a Bear broadhead

Bout a 70lb. hog back in 1965 with a #48 Cheetah Standard recurve made by American Archery. Snuck up on her feeding in millet field in Ft. Stewart, Ga. Shot it with 125gr. Bear broadhead with the bleeder blade insert.

My first trad kill was my sisters barbie doll,Ken tried to defend her but he became my second(not kidden got a serious a$$ whip-en for it).After that it was frogs till I got older,Then the fun began.  

Mine was a whitetail doe with an original ACS longbow. I had just got it and prior to the trip I'd been shooting a compound. I started shooting my longbow about a week before leaving, and dedicated a huge amount of time to becoming accurate enough with it within 15 yards. I only had two arrows, and had dropped my first out of the stand. I was about to spend my last on a rabbit, as the sun was setting, and just as I was about to draw I saw her coming out of the corner of my eye. I was very excited and when the shot came it seemed like I blacked out for a split second...it wasn't a choice shot but took out the kidneys and she was down within 10 seconds. A great memory for me  :D

Craig

Fox squirrel in the top of an oak tree in 1970. Mike in Ohio

A young doe with a Bear Grizzly or Super Kodiak about 35 or so years ago.

Fox squirrel out of a mulberry tree about 1968

Mine was a carp about 30 years ago. Maybe that is why I still enjoy bow fishing so much.

March of 2009
60" predator
29.5 MFX Classic
WW Broadheads

A rabbit 40 years ago with my 1965 52" Herters Perfection and micro-flite #7 arrow tipped with a Bear razorhead.

This was November 7, 2007 ... I guess I got lucky, this was the first deer I shot at.  Double lung pass through, shot was around 10 yards.  He only went 30 yards. I was using a Greatree Deer Master 55#, 125 snuffers and a Beman classic arrow.