First buck!!

[StevieP]

slept in until 6:20. got up & dressed & hit the woods by 6:40. I was v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y walking to my blind, basically still hunting on the way in when I heard his footsteps off to my left. I hid behind a small pine tree & waited. I peeked around it and he was staring right at me, so ducked behind again... I could hear him take a couple more steps, and I peeked again. He was standing broadside, thirty yards away. I took the shot, and dropped him where he stood with a Remington Premier Accutip bonded sabot slug. I am so stoked. Off to Mass Wildlife to get him checked in.

 

[Liberty60]

Congrats on your first deer!

 

[dixidawg]

YEEEHA!

Outstanding!!!!!

You gonna call the taxidermist????

 

[StevieP]

I'll save the antlers, but don't have the cash to put into getting him mounted. I have a friend who's a bow hunter, who has all the butchering tools & will help me with that part. Field dressing was quite an experience, seeing as I'd never even seen it done, nevermind done it myself. Only seen an on-line video once, and another in the hunter ed. class. I actually think I did a real clean job!

 

[StevieP]

& thanks everyone for your tips and help here on the board. If it wasn't for y'all, I might have had buckshot loaded in my shotgun instead of the slug.

 

[dixidawg]

I can smell the jerky already

 

[kiver]

Nice buck

 

[boxerjake77]

Congrats on the nice buck!!

 

[pupchow]

Nice!

 

[Kicker96FS]

Way cool man! Enjoy the meat!

 

[Finalygotabeltfed]

Nice job!!!

The first one is always exciting.

 

[Mike-Mike]

Nice work...

 

[arlow]

Nice job Steve, thats a great buck, especially for your first!!

 

[edin508]

Nice !!

 

[Mr Weebles]

Congrats!!

 

[6hold]

Nice buck, congratulations on your first ever.​

 

[RadiCS]

Congrats on your first buck!

 

[SLIM SHOT]

Congrats on your first Buck.

I woulda plugged one this year but I was a little beat.

 

[StevieP]

I should say, it's not just my first buck. It's my first DEER, ever. First anything, actually, except for a few sea ducks.

 

[Woodsloafer]

Congratulations!

 

[md2020]

Congrats on your first deer!

My first deer was a big doe - she was mighty tasty! My first buck had dropped his antlers, LOL: controlled hunt on Bluff Point in CT in mid of Jan (that was a VERY cold and windy day!)

 

[RB101]

Congrats! Hopefully the bug has bitten and you'll be back next year? I feel like were a dying breed (unless I'm on NES). I walked into a gas station in orange and camo today and you'd think I just dropped a stink bomb!

 

[Fixxah]

Congrats. Nice buck. What did he weigh?

Wow, I didn't even realize it's shotgun season. Howie Carr is slipping.

 

[Tim L]

Good on ya brother.Up here it's about $450.00 to get a head mounted, how does that compare in your area ?

 

[deadhead133]

Nicely done. Congratulations and enjoy the feast this winter.

 

[kiver]

so tell me..... did you field dress it??

 

[StevieP]

Yes I did field dress it. I'd watched an on-line video from (I think) Kentucky Outdoors (i.e. Mass Wildlife), and also one during hunter ed. class. I had the field dressing gloves, and a really SHARP Browning folding hunting knife. Someone who knows what he's doing could probably do it in ten minutes, but I took my time, and did it in like, a half hour. Pretty clean job if I say so myself and considering I'd never done it before or even seen it done in person.

He weighed 142 lbs dressed at Mass Wildlife HQ in Westboro, so I figure +/- 170 lbs "before." They said he's three and a half years old. I've cut out the tenderloins, and the rest is "dry aging" hanging in the garage.

Thanks for all the encouragement, everyone. I'm sure it won't be my last.

 

[kiver]

Yes I did field dress it. I'd watched an on-line video from (I think) Kentucky Outdoors (i.e. Mass Wildlife), and also one during hunter ed. class. I had the field dressing gloves, and a really SHARP Browning folding hunting knife. Someone who knows what he's doing could probably do it in ten minutes, but I took my time, and did it in like, a half hour. Pretty clean job if I say so myself and considering I'd never done it before or even seen it done in person.

He weighed 142 lbs dressed at Mass Wildlife HQ in Westboro, so I figure +/- 170 lbs "before." They said he's three and a half years old. I've cut out the tenderloins, and the rest is "dry aging" hanging in the garage.

Thanks for all the encouragement, everyone. I'm sure it won't be my last.

well done

 

[Silver74]

Nice first deer!!
Enjoy

 

[mogarbage]

Congrats! Hopefully the bug has bitten and you'll be back next year? I feel like were a dying breed (unless I'm on NES). I walked into a gas station in orange and camo today and you'd think I just dropped a stink bomb!

I grew up in the tristates of Iowa/Wisconsin/Illinois. It was a given that soon as whitetail and turkey season rolled around, all the boys would be out of class. You could tell how the whitetail season was going by how many of my neighbors had them hanging in the front yard. Will never see anything like that up here.

Congrats on the deer Stevie. Always makes for a great memory and a story you can share amongst fellow hunters. And field dressing by yourself is something to be proud of. I never could do it right so friends would always have to help out.