How long did you bowhunt before you harvested your first deer?

Killed my first deer with a bow back in 2004 which was my first year bowhunting. I was 14 and killed a deer my second hunt with a bow. Its been all up hill since then, luckily I had a granddaddy and a daddy that are experts when it comes to deer hunting and have taught me very well.

 

Shot my 1st archery deer in the middle of the afternoon, on the way to my stand. I actually just walked through a gate that went down to a valley. I set my bow down, took a leak, and was getting ready to start walking again. I just happened to look down the fence line and a buck was walking right to me. I stood against the tree and the buck walked right to me less than 10 yards away. I put a great shot on him and hustled back to the station wagon where my dad was taking a nap. He didn't believe me at first, because I had only left 20 minutes before. Talk about beginners luck!! It was my first year with a bow I was 14. 18 years later I still remember that deer like it was yesterday!!

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Within first hour of hunting of opening day. 3 years ago. My dad and I went out. I knew my dad had got a deer because I heard it crash. I was content with not shooting unless a buck came by. A friend of mine had told me to shoot a doe if you get a chance just to get the experience before waiting for a buck. A doe and fawn came by me. I wasn't planning on shooting them either way. She stopped broadside with her front leg forward 10 yards in front of me. I hadn't even drawn back. I didn't know if I could get away with drawing back so I tried and I got to full draw with my pin on her. I couldn't give her more chances to get away. I shot the doe.

Not 5 minutes later, my dad came over and asked if I heard his deer fall. I said yes....I asked if he had heard mine fall. He was shocked that I had shot one. We both had does down the first hour of opening day. Probably one of the coolest bowhunting experiences I've had. Very lucky for both of us. We had two does boned out and in the fridge before football games even started. 11:00 here in Iowa.

I've hoped to duplicate that, but haven't yet. I realize more and more how lucky that truly was.

 

I was lucky 7min on my first sit ever I shot a 6point buck

Dan

 

It took me 8 years. It was only 5 seasons, though. I didn't bowhunt for 3 years while I was away at college.

 

Third season and still working on it.

 

It took me a very long 2 years. Harvested a 104" 8 point as my first buck. Waiting for the 120's to walk by. I hunt mostly public land, but have 3 pieces of property. Trying to encourage QDM, but not a lot people like the idea.

 

Three seasons. Season one consisted of a big missed 8 pointer within my first 30 minutes of bowhunting (my luck that I didn't even look at my sights and freaked out) and a doe, both within 20 yards. Season two I had one duck the string. Finally in season three I connected on a yearling doe on the last day of archery season. Still don't think I have a kill that came tougher than that one since I could not figure out how to not freak out before the shot. Only reason I managed to kill the doe is I had about 15 seconds to pick up my bow, draw, and shoot so I had no time to think about it.

 

Third season,1998.

 

Got mine my first season. 1978 12 years old. Had a nice doe come through feeding on acorns. Super cold in morning and had been in tree for a couple hours already. She must have been both blind and deaf. LOL So cold and excited that I couldn't draw my bow back. Tried and tried and she just kept looking for acorns. Finally got bow drawn back, she's looking behind her over her back, shot so high that I hit her in the back of the head and killed her instantly. SO lucky but so proud as well. I still get so excited when I know I'm gonna get a crack at something. That's the thrill of it.

 

3. First season I never drew a bow back. Shot 2 with rifles that year. Second hunting season went all bow. Missed one fascinating buck. Wasn't huge but, had an awesome looking tall blade on one side and a nice looking 4 point rack on the other side. Then I hit a doe high and forward and lost her. After that I started practicing hard. Third season I hit my mark and haven't missed since. I've been busted drawing though. That's always fun.

 

Couple weeks...been stacking them up ever since

 

I actually harvested a doe antelope the first season. I didn't even have it one year. I tried for turkey, but no juju that week.

 

It took me 3 seasons to get it done.

 

I started in 1987, got my first shot in 1989 and missed. Finally connected on my first with a bow in 1997. It was a long 10 years!

 

Year one. 12 years old. October 2nd 1993. Wow, I am getting old!

 

Amen to that. Not sure but was at least 3 seasons before I killed my first deer with a bow. That was about 40 years ago. Treebark was new back then, and the bow of choice Bear Whitetail ll. lol We would camp all weekend and feel great if we just saw a deer. How times have improved equipment and deer numbers. Now you can almost get a shot at a deer every other hunt. P and Y or better is the challenge today.

 

I started hunting in 2009 and killed my first whitetail the second week of the season.

 

Got my hunting licence aug/12 and got my first doe sept/12 with a bow. I then shot my first med 8pt buck oct/12 with a bow. I've been very blessed.


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This is a hard to answer question for me. I started and stopped bowhunting several different times before I ever harvested an animal. I sporadically bowhunted in the late 80s with an old recurve bow I bought at a flea market. I was young and wasn't even consistently killing deer with a gun yet so I struck out with the bow. Didn't even get a shot. Stopped bowhunting for a couple of years in the early 90s while I was in the army. Last year I was in, I bought a used compound bow and started bowhunting again. From 1993 to about 2003 I sporadically bowhunted with that old compound. Never got a shot. I was mostly hunting public ground and wasn't really putting in a lot of time. It was just something to do when I wasn't hunting something with a gun. I killed several deer during that time with a rifle and muzzleloader but not with the bow. I got rid of my bow in 2005 since I hadn't used it in a couple of years and it was an old 80s model anyway. When my wife started hunting in 2007, we talked about ways to hunt more and she was curious about bowhunting. We finally broke down and each got a bow in the summer of 2012. That fall, I harvested my first deer with a bow. A small 8 point buck on her Dad's land. Last fall I harvested 2 does with the bow. I hope my luck continues this year. So if we say I started bowhunting in 1986 and didn't get my first one until 2012 then it was 26 years before I got my first bow deer. But not really since I didn't even hunt some of those years. Years actually hunted would be more like 14 and some of those years I maybe hunted 2 or 3 times the entire year.