Your first unsupervised deer hunts - lessons learned?

HogCommander · Sep 18, 2017

Checking to see who's willing to share memories/lessons learned from their early hunts in the hope the lessons benefit others. This thread was inspired by a few "war stories" by other MDS members...I'll offer one multi-lesson story for the crowd:

Got my first deer in 2012 while being supervised by an experienced hunter. In 2013 I went out on my own (public land in Maryland). First sit I shot a mature doe at 20 yards with Xbow. Good broadside shot about 20 minutes from last light. Sat patiently for 30 min and got down from the climber in the dark. Took longer than expected to find blood...long enough I started to feel a little panic & started walking in concentric circles around last sighting. First lesson...bring a good flashlight.

The deer had run through some pretty thick stuff so I was hot & sweaty from the early September heat and pretty scratched up by the time I finally found it. I had previously field dressed one deer prior to this and that was with help from an experienced hunter...now I was on my own and and almost a year had passed. I decide to recover the deer without field dressing and try the gutless quartering method at home. The drag damn near killed me even though in retrospect it was only about 200 yards. Second lesson...if you're hunting solo, get a game cart and/or don't be afraid of field dressing or even skinning/quartering in the field!

On the 40 min drive home I call my wife and ask her to go get a tarp, some ice, and some beer before I get there. Deer unloaded, I drag it in the garage, put the tarp down, and proceed to hang the deer by its neck for skinning. We lived in a developed neighborhood and my wife was terrified neighbors would freak out so she took down our shower curtains and hung them on the edge of the open garage door so people walking by couldn't see into the garage

Third lesson...think about where you're going to gut/skin/process your deer in advance. Gonna have somebody else do it? Know which processors have 24/7 cold storage.

Skinning seems to take forever but I get it done, then quarter the deer and recover the backstraps and neck meat. The thought of gutting a leg-less corpse to get the tenderloins was too much so I let those go. Put the quarters/meat on ice and took to a processor the next day.

By doing what I thought was the hard work, somehow I thought the processing would be cheaper. It wasn't; had to pay full price. Fourth lesson learned...if you plan to harvest multiple deer every year, it's worth learning to process yourself. Aside from the cost, you get to control the quality of the processing and can spend the time you need to get the results you want. Nowadays I take it from field to fork and wouldn't have it any other way.

Hope others choose to share some stories either for laughs or learning or both!

lazarus · Sep 18, 2017

My first hunt was also my first unsupervised hunt. Early muzzleloader of 2015. My neighbor had taken me to a couple of spots scouting, but he had a lease he was hunting and had struck out the year before. I get it, sometimes you gotta take care of you first.

Anyway, an hour or so after dawn sitting in a spot I liked in patuxent I still hunted along going super slow and a doe walked up hill and stopped broadside on at 30 yards. It looks away munching on something so I carefully pull an ear plug out and stick it in my ear. It glances up and I freeze. It looks away and I grab the other ear plug and stick it in my other ear. It looks right at me. Then away. I slowly start to raise my muzzleloader and begin to cock it and it takes off before I can finish shouldering it, it is gone in two bounds.

Over the next 3 days I must have seen or bumped a dozen does (or bucks, some were out of sight), but no luck other than seeing a lot of deer ass.

Then on the last day of early muzzleloader I find a likely spot on the backside of a hill near some thick shit. I setup about 4pm and right at sunset a huge (well, biggest I'd ever seen in real life) walks out at 125 yards or so right from the thick stuff! I carefully and slowly coif and raise my ML. I wait till it pauses and at around 75yds take the shot. It turns a 180 and bolts. I thought I had missed it when on the 2nd bound it stumbled, went about half a step and fell over. Tossed its head slowly a couple of times and was dead. Perfect double lung shot.

Field dressing sucked. Never had anyone to show it to me. Just YouTube and a good idea of General deer anatomy. Except in my fatigue and adrenaline (that was now wearing off), I couldn't get the damn guts out! I got the anus out, everything seemed to be cut around, but nothing! I tugged as hard as I dared, but they were stuck in there. I carefully pealed a glove off and pulled out my phone. Yup, cell reception. I tried calling my neighbor. Nothing. So, to YouTube I went!

Oh, you've gotta cut the diaphragm and then the wind pipe and pull it all out. 2 minutes later I had completed gutting my first deer (only took like 45+ minutes, maybe an hour).

I got out the deer drag I had bout being all proud of myself and tied it to the front legs. That was stupid. As it turns out, an 8 point deer will absolutely get its head and antlers stuck on EVERYTHING (did I mention my first deer was a an 8-point?). I also wasn't in as good a shape as I am now. I got it most of the way back to my car (300 odd yards, maybe a little less). But it was full dark and the drag took me about 30 minutes at that point.

So I left it there and took mystuff back to my car and left the dome light on so I could see it as I was pulling across the woods instead of on the path. Because it was a "shortcut" (no it wasn't). Walking back I took another "short cut" across a fallen tree as there was a ditch that was a bit wet between the road and the woods. Right in to a wall of thorns. So instead of backtracking straight back, I hop on to the other fallen tree to move closer to the path. Except I missed and feel between the two root balls. Ass first. In to a space about 3 feet wide with my legs up on the air, basically folded in half.

It took me about 3 minutes of laughing hysterically at my situation to pull myself out (I might have gotten the deer, but the deer got me back! Was all that was going through my head). All the roots kept breaking off trying to pull myself out and there was no room to move to get my legs down. I finally managed it.

Got the deer the rest of the way to my car and took it to the processor. Pulled it out and had a few guys give me some back slaps. I filled out the cut sheet and was going to leave when the butcher asked if I was going to cut the antlers off. I told him, uh, I mean I guess. I mean, should I? Is it worth keeping the antlers on a 6 point?

"Son, what the hell are you talking about, that is an 8 point and a decent one too!"

"Sorry, it was my first deer"

"Like ever? Holy shit, you HAVE TO! No, you need to get that mounted, come with me".

Yeah, I didn't know how to count antlers properly even.

I've learned a lot since then. A yearling doe and then a button buck last year. This year I got a stand and a crossbow finally and got a spike opening Saturday when I only went out at 3pm and arrowed it about 6:40.

I will probably go out Columbus Day. Definitely hunting all of early muzzle loader. Does or only larger bucks now though (obv no more bucks in archery unless I get 2 more does).

lazarus · Sep 19, 2017

Lessons I learned. I am more capable then I think I am (I wasn't rattled at all waiting about a minute or so to take the shot. Not till afterwards). I enjoy the hell out of hunting. One hell of a first deer and in a lot of ways, an awesome way to do it. Just a lot of little lessons over time about deer habits. Better at identifying trails, likely spots, better areas on public land. How to still hunt better. And never give up until shooting light ends.

PS my neighbor called me while I was driving back from the processor, so I told him. We ended up at his place drinking beers so I could tell him the whole story.

HogCommander · Sep 19, 2017

Great story Lazarus! I won't make it to the deer woods for another month but the wait is killing me already!

1time · Sep 19, 2017

A click on an empty chamber is louder than the shot I expected to hear. The deer thought so also.

44man · Sep 19, 2017

my first unsupervised deer hunt I was less than ten years old. we built an easy to get into wooded stand down behind the hog pens, then the first day of the season my uncle handed me a pump 20 gauge sears shotgun with a birdshot barrel on it and said go get em. several hours later a button buck came trotting up the trail and I shot and shot and shot until I was empty. on the last shot I spined him. when I got down to look at him he was still so I got real close, and then the sumbitch kicked the shyte outta me eight or ten times before I could get the hell back. so I shot him in the head from about four feet.

it was a glorious day, that's for damn sure. first deer season first day kill. and I had a doe permit that covered the button buck. I was like a hero to the other kids. and I felt good too.

Doctor_M · Sep 19, 2017

When I started hunting (probably around age 12) I remember that my dad gave me a little bottle of Anisette liqueur to put in my hunting coat (in his words "in case I got cold")... I probably wound't do the same for an unsupervised child with a firearm these days :-) I miss Dad.

MikeTF · Sep 19, 2017

My humorous story (and lesson): never trust wooden tree stands built by others. This was a very long time ago (before hunter safety classes). There were metal spikes driven into the tree. I climbed them and grabbed onto one of the 2X4 bracings for the wooden permanent stand. It gave way and I fell landing on my back. Imagine laying on your back, resisting the urge to breath (for fear of the pain from a severe injury) and looking up at those metal spikes and thinking, 'Are those camo cloth pieces from my gloves?'. They were. As luck would have it, I was not injured at all (except for the scrape marks on my hands where I guess I was attempting to grab those spikes on the way down).

Fast forward several decades: I use my own climbing stand and wear a safety harness at all times.

outrider58 · Sep 19, 2017

I honestly don't remember, but I'm sure I saw no deer. Things were different back then, especially on public land.

Uncle Duke · Sep 19, 2017

Trust your eyes. Trust your eyes.

If you THINK you may have seen movement, you almost certainly have. The question then becomes, just what exactly did I see? Now obviously, positive identification becomes paramount in any firearms related endeavor. But your eyes will detect movement, long before your brain will properly process what created the movement you think you may have seen. With regard to deer, you'll typically see an ear twitch, a tail flip, a front leg step forward, a head raise. Only later will any of these movements be accompanied by the recognition of a full bodied deer. They'll come to appear in full form, almost like what you might think of with a ghost. The best way I know to describe deer hunting in woodlands? Train your mind to be looking for horizontal movement in a vertical world.

Slow down in the woods. Clocks and hectic paces are a human reality. If you're looking at vast areas of woods in short order, you're not seeing what you're looking at, and you'll be guaranteed to see a whole lot less of what you're looking for. You're no longer in your everyday settings when you're in the woods. The rules are different in the woods.

If you can do it, hang in the woods during "lunchtime". I've seen and killed as many deer between the hours of 11am and 2pm as I have early and late. Why? Because people look at clocks, they see times, they have routines, they get hungry, and they bail out of and back into the woods. And in doing so, they push deer.

Uncle Duke · Sep 19, 2017

lazarus said:
My first hunt was also my first unsupervised hunt. Early muzzleloader of 2015. My neighbor had taken me to a couple of spots scouting, but he had a lease he was hunting and had struck out the year before. I get it, sometimes you gotta take care of you first.

Anyway, an hour or so after dawn sitting in a spot I liked in patuxent I still hunted along going super slow and a doe walked up hill and stopped broadside on at 30 yards. It looks away munching on something so I carefully pull an ear plug out and stick it in my ear. It glances up and I freeze. It looks away and I grab the other ear plug and stick it in my other ear. It looks right at me. Then away. I slowly start to raise my muzzleloader and begin to cock it and it takes off before I can finish shouldering it, it is gone in two bounds.

Over the next 3 days I must have seen or bumped a dozen does (or bucks, some were out of sight), but no luck other than seeing a lot of deer ass.

Then on the last day of early muzzleloader I find a likely spot on the backside of a hill near some thick shit. I setup about 4pm and right at sunset a huge (well, biggest I'd ever seen in real life) walks out at 125 yards or so right from the thick stuff! I carefully and slowly coif and raise my ML. I wait till it pauses and at around 75yds take the shot. It turns a 180 and bolts. I thought I had missed it when on the 2nd bound it stumbled, went about half a step and fell over. Tossed its head slowly a couple of times and was dead. Perfect double lung shot.

Field dressing sucked. Never had anyone to show it to me. Just YouTube and a good idea of General deer anatomy. Except in my fatigue and adrenaline (that was now wearing off), I couldn't get the damn guts out! I got the anus out, everything seemed to be cut around, but nothing! I tugged as hard as I dared, but they were stuck in there. I carefully pealed a glove off and pulled out my phone. Yup, cell reception. I tried calling my neighbor. Nothing. So, to YouTube I went!

Oh, you've gotta cut the diaphragm and then the wind pipe and pull it all out. 2 minutes later I had completed gutting my first deer (only took like 45+ minutes, maybe an hour).

I got out the deer drag I had bout being all proud of myself and tied it to the front legs. That was stupid. As it turns out, an 8 point deer will absolutely get its head and antlers stuck on EVERYTHING (did I mention my first deer was a an 8-point?). I also wasn't in as good a shape as I am now. I got it most of the way back to my car (300 odd yards, maybe a little less). But it was full dark and the drag took me about 30 minutes at that point.

So I left it there and took mystuff back to my car and left the dome light on so I could see it as I was pulling across the woods instead of on the path. Because it was a "shortcut" (no it wasn't). Walking back I took another "short cut" across a fallen tree as there was a ditch that was a bit wet between the road and the woods. Right in to a wall of thorns. So instead of backtracking straight back, I hop on to the other fallen tree to move closer to the path. Except I missed and feel between the two root balls. Ass first. In to a space about 3 feet wide with my legs up on the air, basically folded in half.

It took me about 3 minutes of laughing hysterically at my situation to pull myself out (I might have gotten the deer, but the deer got me back! Was all that was going through my head). All the roots kept breaking off trying to pull myself out and there was no room to move to get my legs down. I finally managed it.

Got the deer the rest of the way to my car and took it to the processor. Pulled it out and had a few guys give me some back slaps. I filled out the cut sheet and was going to leave when the butcher asked if I was going to cut the antlers off. I told him, uh, I mean I guess. I mean, should I? Is it worth keeping the antlers on a 6 point?

"Son, what the hell are you talking about, that is an 8 point and a decent one too!"

"Sorry, it was my first deer"

"Like ever? Holy shit, you HAVE TO! No, you need to get that mounted, come with me".

Yeah, I didn't know how to count antlers properly even.

I've learned a lot since then. A yearling doe and then a button buck last year. This year I got a stand and a crossbow finally and got a spike opening Saturday when I only went out at 3pm and arrowed it about 6:40.

I will probably go out Columbus Day. Definitely hunting all of early muzzle loader. Does or only larger bucks now though (obv no more bucks in archery unless I get 2 more does).

That's one damned nice first buck! :thumbsup:

Melnic · Sep 19, 2017

Learning a lesson while bagging an 8 point. sounds like you are teaching a lesson

First hunt
Lesson 1: Take the dam mesh off the ground blind in the woods. Just before sunset I "heard" the feet of what sounded like a big deer. I could not see through the mesh. It sat there grunting at me for about a minute as I tried to see through the mesh and a hole I had cut. I could not get my gun through it. It took off and I saw its tail. Lesson 2A was I did not recognize the deer trail and the trail crossed me right after a fallen tree on a berm. Thus I had only 10' to it so I never saw it coming.

Lesson2: I took the mesh down and a doe ran up and stopped about 20 feet from me. I pulled the hammer of my inline back but forgot to put my finger on the trigger and hold it back to make the cocking of the hammer silent. That little click of the hammer so close made that doe do a 180 so fast I never saw its legs move.

BTW, I keep a cheap thin 3 person plastic snow sled in the car or up the trail hidden for dragging a deer. plop it onto the sled and I can drag it pretty far.

Nearly every hunt I was skunked, I learned something. Its what kept me going till I got my first deer.

lazarus · Sep 19, 2017

HogCommander said:
Great story Lazarus! I won't make it to the deer woods for another month but the wait is killing me already!

I think I said in my post, this was my first year archery hunting and I got a spike opening Saturday being in the field since only 3pm.

It was fun and exhilarating and also felt kind of anticlamatic. I learned a lot about stands.

This year I've been super busy and probably will be through the fall and early winter, so it feels good to have one in the freezer so the pressure is off the few days I can hunt. Though it'll probably turn out I end up being able to spend more time hunting than I think I will and I'll also probably have a huge buck walk by me during archery season and I won't be able to shoot it now (which I know, means get out there and start dropping does).

pbharvey · Sep 20, 2017

The first one still haunts me

outrider58 · Sep 21, 2017

Come to think of it, I never had a supervised deer hunt.

Neot · Sep 21, 2017

Honestly I think the biggest thing you can learn by yourself is patience and confidence. Patience in that you have to slow down sometimes. I'm very Type A personality and a good shot so I want to take the shot immediately even though almost always there's a better shot to be taken. I have to tell myself to slow down and let the deer come to me and then it's easy peasy.

The confidence is probably the hardest part your first time out. You will stumble (like most everyone does with their first time) but you'll get through it and learn something from it. For me the hardest part was the field dressing. It was almost dark when I found the doe I shot...the only benefit was that it was winter instead of summer so I could take my time. If you're going to go solo, winter (or at least cooler weather) is a more forgiving time since you can take your time with field dressing rather than early season when it can be hot and you have to make it a priority to get done.

44man · Sep 21, 2017

outrider58 said:
Come to think of it, I never had a supervised deer hunt.

I got 1 supervised hunt. it went like this, sit here, shut the f up, see that? that is a deer, shoot it, bang, how the hell did you miss that? ok, tomorrow your by yourself , don't shoot the goats, pigs, cows, horse or any other thing you aint supposed to shoot.

then I was officially a deer hunter, lol.

outrider58 · Sep 21, 2017

44man said:
I got 1 supervised hunt. it went like this, sit here, shut the f up, see that? that is a deer, shoot it, bang, how the hell did you miss that? ok, tomorrow your by yourself , don't shoot the goats, pigs, cows, horse or any other thing you aint supposed to shoot.

then I was officially a deer hunter, lol.

Lol

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

fscwi · Sep 21, 2017

I was 15 I think in a shogun only, buck only area. Sitting on a stump off a deer trail about 20 yards up from the base of a ravine at the bottom of a bluff. From a long distance I see a deer come trotting up the valley, could see it had small horns as it got closer. I was pretty nervous, but decided when it got parallel at the closest point to me I was going to shoot. I was just about to pull the trigger when it was about 50 yards out, and it turned and started running right at me. I had the gun aimed on it as it came across the ditch below me and started up the trail right at me. It came up the side of the ditch I was on and finally stopped and noticed me. Its nose was maybe 5 feet from the end of the barrel on my 12 gauge. I aimed for the white patch on the neck and fired. BOOM its head went back over the body and it flipped and landed with a few twitches on the ravine below. I went down and saw I had hit it with the slug just below between the eyes.

K31 · Sep 21, 2017

Make sure you really know the identity of the leaves you are wiping with.

Your first unsupervised deer hunts - lessons learned?

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