Love seeing old photos and hearing the stories behind them. Here's mine. 1981 I'm 23yrs old. Invited to hunt with some friends for deer in Missouri. 1st ever deer with any weapon. It was a button buck, but I was proud as can be. I've never been the same since. Also been fortunate and have never missed a season since. Started a whole new way of life for me. Let's hear your story.

My first big game animal with a bow was a doe shot in 1971 with a 45# Bear Green Fox all fiberglass bow with a cedar arrow and a Bear razorhead. Sadly, no picture. My second big game animal with a bow was a 9-point buck (pictured) shot in 1973 with a 45# Black Hawk Warrior recurve with cedar arrow and a Bear razorhead. I've been shooting and bowhunting with tradbows for 55 years. I did miss a few years of bowhunting when I was in the U.S. Army.

Love the pics and stories!

Here's mine,

I killed my first big game animal,a whitetail buck, with a bow (compound) in 1986. I was 14 years old. I shot him on the ground at 4 yards. I can still remember the events of the moment in great detail.

My dad was not a picture take but luckily he took this picture and I'm glad I have it.

It was a small spike with Damon Howatt Hunter. Couldn't find the picture. Probably back in the early 70's.

Since this is a traditional site here’s my first with a recurve.

Here's my first with a traditional bow.

12 yard shot from a tree and I can still remember the events of the moment in great detail.

Do turkey count as a Big Game animal ?

Rick

Rick, they're as difficult to hunt as any big game animal, that's for sure.

Here's my second stickbow kill. It was the last day of a rainy deer camp on public land.

Can’t tell you the date, but it was 1996 — really my first season making a serious attempt with a bow, which was the #55 Howatt Hunter which I don’t shoot nearly often enough these days. I had been logging a lot of 14 and 16 hour, 2 1/2 to 3 thousand vertical foot days chasing Elk around the drainage above the house and one Sunday morning I woke up at 4:00 and decided that I probably oughtta take the morning off….

So I killed the alarm, got some rest and a good breakfast, caught the first half of the Broncos game, and went up the hill for a look around. Ended up looping right instead of left, and found myself sifting down through a bedding area where I had seen a few deer from time to time… After a bit, I glanced up and noticed that a few mulies had up for better look to see what it was that was coming their way… One of them was a little fork. It wasn’t a chip-shot by any stretch, but I’d been sending shot after shot right down the line all summer, shooting Judos at tennis balls and Coors cans every day in the back yard, and there was a dead twig coming off of a lodgepole with the bare end of it pointing at EXACTLY the perfect spot to sink an arrow, so I focused on the deer with the tip of the twig floating right over that Perfect Spot, settled into my anchor, and let fly, with the arrow homing straight in — right where I was focused…..

So I guess it was a good thing I was focused right on the tip of that twig, because I have a hazy recollection of seeing the arrow porpoise just a little bit — hazy because those arrows were fletched deep green and black— and I tracked it right into his ribs; a little high and a little bit farther back than planned, so basically a 2:00 hit on the edge of the pie-plate…

He ran hard to his left, crashing into a lodgepole and snapping off the arrow, then almost reversed course, bee-lining almost due south. There was decent blood between his bed and the tree he’d plowed into, and a big, red splash both on the tree and on the ground, along with both halves of my arrow, and a heavy trail leading away for the first 30 yards or so, so I figured he was done for and I began following the blood trail, laying down pieces of deadfall in line with whatever blood or tracks I could find; it wasn’t easy though, because apart from where he had passed an aspen tree at just the right part of his full-gallop stride, the blood was coming out in a pretty fine mist, getting lighter on each blast.

But by then I was able to look back at all of the markers I had laid out and I could see that the trail was as straight as it had seemed as he had torn off toward the sage, so I placed a final marker in case I needed to come back for a hands-and-knees search, and looped around so as not to disturb any sign that I might need later on. On the edge of the tree-line, I found a little knoll overlooking the sage and scanned for any sign of him, as I was beginning to be a little concerned that he might still be on his feet, watching his back trail, as Mulies often do.

Turns out that whether by accident or design, his death-run had taken the fall-line into a small bowl, and he had blacked out mid-stride about half-way down into it; the shot had been at 28 big paces, and clipped the descending aorta a few inches ahead of the diaphragm, so the lightening of the blood trail was largely due to him being pumped dry.

That was when I discovered that the only knife in my pack was the Victorinox Spartan I had been carrying since I was about 13. LOL. Seemed fitting, though.

Unfortunately my first trad big game kill was before camera phones and the picture is lost to memory.. I shot a cinnamon bear in Saskatchewan. BigJim

It was April of 1984 during our spring gobbler season.

For many years I had been an avid turkey hunter with a shotgun, and was a fair hand at calling. I got tired of the hunting part, but never tired of the calling, and playing with them part. Back in those days I mostly used my throat and mouth to make the calls, and could do many different turkey vocabularies that way.

Had a feller working for me who had never hunted them. He asked me if I could call them, and if I would take him out for one. I told him I could put one in his lap if he showed up early enough for us to get positioned, and the plan was made for the coming Saturday to try to getter done for him. I already knew where they roosted, so it was just a matter of getting in there undetected.

Jim showed up early (4 a.m.), but that was ok as I was ready and waiting. We had some coffee, then headed out to his vehicle to get his gear, and head out to the woods. He popped the back hatch, pulled out a recurve bow (Browning Fire Drake), and his quiver of arrows. I was a little surprised (skeptical actually), and asked him if he was sure he wanted to go with the bow. If not I could let him use one of my shotguns. He said "sure I'm sure", so off we went.

As I said earlier, I knew where they roosted, and we headed in to where I knew a large flock had roosted that night. We found decent cover, and settled in for the hunt about 80 yards from them.

I started calling at the first peek of morning light, and the gobblers started answering almost immediately. I'd only been calling for around 30 minutes (maybe less) before two gobblers flew straight from their roost, hit the ground, and started their strut not more than 10 yards from us.

Jim calmed his trembling (excitement), drew his bow on the largest of the two birds, let the arrow fly, and lopped the head off that gobbler slicker'n snot on a doorknob. If memory serves, the broadheads were Zwicky Black Diamonds. One of the "COOLEST" things I had ever witnessed.

Now, to my part of the story:

I was already pretty familiar with archery, but my bow hunting had been limited to small stuff, and that was all done in my childhood with homemade gear, and little success. BUT, I was now hooked on giving it a go again. Jim and I spent most of the rest of that morning walking around stump shooting, and him giving me pointers as we went along.

I didn't own any archery gear at this time, but my dad had a Shakespeare Kaibab Wonder Bow, and some broadhead tipped arrows he had bought at the same time many years earlier from a TG&Y sporting goods store. Yeah, dad had tried bow hunting one time, for one day, and never tried it again. Anyway, I called him up, and asked if I could use the bow. He said yes, and when I showed up to get it he said keep it, and the arrows.

When I got back home there was just enough daylight left for me to go out, and practice by shooting into a sand bank. I was satisfied with my accuracy, so the next morning I went right back to the same spot where Jim had shot his gobbler the morning before.

Rinse & Repeat. This morning was almost a replay of the morning before. Except, I was alone, I did not want to try a neck shot as Jim had done, and I really didn't have any idea where to shoot a turkey with an arrow. I learned. Boy O Boy Did I learn. LOL

I shot that gobbler dead center body (right where I wanted), but to my surprise he took off like a top fuel rail job race car with the arrow sticking half way through him. He could only hop, and fly a few feet at a time, because the arrow was in the way of his wing action. BUT, boy could he run !

He'd run a ways, stop, and I would try to close the distance for another shot. This went on for hours with him scooting off right before I was close enough to take another shot.

It was late afternoon by the time I caught up to, and finished the bird. He was several properties to the south of mine, I don't remember how many barb wire fences & briar patches I had gone over & through, but he had squirmed into a large dozed up brush pile, and I guess he thought he was hidden.

I slowly snuck up to the brush pile, but instead of using the bow & arrow (to tired by that time) I reached in, grabbed the old feller by the neck, and through all the flopping and wing beating I finally got him pulled out, and crack - it was over. Well, over except for the long walk back home.

Did I mention something about a learning? :-D

I got my bird though. :-)

Rick

My first buck with a bow...9-30-64...taken in Jackson Co., WI,...45 # Bear Kodiak Magnum bow...PO Cedar arrow with 4-bld. Bear Razorhead bhd...it was my 7th. year bowhunting and I was 19 years old. A (for me) great day in my life and I can still recall many of the details of the hunt...yes, it meant that much (and still does) to me...

Great picture and story Bill.

Nice pictures.

Feral hog >>>----> Ken

Good story, Rick! So who sold you on the heavy poundage?

That’s my forkie on the left, with some of the rest of my taxidermy collection out in the barn ;)

My first with a bow was in the late 70's with a compound. Old pics are in an album somewhere. It was a doe

First was a Button Buck in the late 90s, DH TD 62"65#@28" recurve ball bearing type. Cedar arrow and zwickey head. Had pics of many game animals and fish. But after 3 marriages they seem to have disappeared lol.

First? Squirrel= small critter but Big Game! Since then deer and squirrels only, but a bunch of turkey feathers, and couple failed to recover.

Racoon then Wild boar. MA 11 recurve

I grew up in the Orlando area and started shooting bows and deer hunting with my two older brothers and dad in 1968 at 14. Saw a few does, no bucks but never a shot presented itself. After a couple years in the Army at Ft. Stewart Ga. I was able to move off base and immediately got my bow from home and started shooting out back.

Nov. 1976 I got pegged for charge of quarters one Friday night while my buds went partying. We had planned to go hunting next morning and I let them use my car...which "Cotton" decided to side swipe a salping with it.

Yeah I was pissed but told Cotton and Victor we were still going hunting as planned. Well Victor got his 56 Willies stuck crossing a field towards some woods we were headed to. I told them to dig it out while I was going hunting. I mean they did wreck my car that night.

Off I went. Found lots of buck sign in the woods around the edge of the field and finally working my back to the truck acroos the field that had rows of scraggly lumber piles left over from lumbering a buck comes up out of a scruffy little bush about 10yds to my left and heading out fast. All I saw was horns as I was pulling an arrow out of my bow quiver, nocking and shooting as he was speeding away.

Initally I thought I had missed (as he was out a ways when I shot) till I went looking for my arrow and found his tracks where he crossed the low lumber brush line. Looke like someone had dumped catchup all over where he crossed. COTTON caried him out for me after blood trailing. Appropriate I thought. He was a big boy. Cotton that is and the buck was 7 pointer, also pretty healthy.

Well the next weekend a few guys in my infantry unit were NOW deer hunting after coming over and having fresh venison at my place.

Forgot to mention...all those guys now deer hunting were using rifles. I was the only archer.

I was 19 yrs old , I was mad because I had hunted hard and had no luck for weeks, had only seen 1 deer…. Squirrels on the other hand were everywhere where so one morning I grabbed a bunch of old arrows, including my “deer arrows” just in case! I didn’t even get in my stand, I sat on a 5 gallon bucket. About daylight I hear footsteps…. That’s not a squirrel,,, then I saw 4 doe headed directly towards me, the lead deer stopped at like 15 yards and began looking right at me, then she stomped a few times, I was shaking, then she darted down the holler, luckily the back doe had no clue. The first 3 deer went down the holler but the back deer went up the holler and made a circle, she was standing there and boom I shot, it all happened so fast, I saw her kick up her back feet and I thought I got her. I waited for maybe 30 minutes. This was the first deer I had ever shot at and it was with my first custom bow that I had bought a black widow MA greybark. I had been working since I was 15 so when I got into shooting bows I saved my money for my hunting stuff. Anyway I had never seen a dead deer, this was way before the internet so I had read about how to field dress a deer, so this would be my first. The doe ran about 80-100 yards and died, the zwicky left a good blood trail.. easy enough a newby followed it. Great memories.

November 11, 1969 Veterans Day. Still my most favorite day to hunt.

November 11, 1969 Veterans Day. Still my most favorite day to hunt.

Keep'em coming. Love hearing the stories. My original post is my first deer but not actually my first big game animal. A month before I shot the deer I went with a group to Colorado to bowhunt elk. I was the only one packing a stickbow. Being a newby and shooting a recurve the other guys didn't give me much hope. On the 3rd day I managed to get a shot at a cow elk. Not a great shot but it did the job. She only went 75-80 yards. Myself and one other guy was the only ones who took one on that trip. I was super excited. I had never hunted big game before. Beginners luck I guess. Better lucky than good, so they say.

a doe with a compound. about an 8-yard shot from a tree stand in a wooded lot on the edge of a field behind my buddy's place.

as i waited to get down and follow-up on her, a buck came in and i missed low. :). i had two tags so it was legal to shoot. still frustrating today to think about it, decades later.

i think the following year was when i killed a buck with the stickbow. it was a small spike, again from a tree stand and maybe 10-15 yard shot.

i killed a few others afterward but nothing to write home about. i rifle hunted too.

the elk bug bit and i gave up hunting deer for the most part and spent a decade or more with elk on the brain. live, eat, sleep, repeat everything and anything elk. i called in and killed my first bull elk at 8 yards.

when i was into it and had a good area, there was not much more fun and fulfilling in life that chasing bugling bulls in september. i used to say i hunted 12 months out of the year, i just carried a bow for 1 of those months. it really consumed me.

Small doe in about 1998. Killed it by stalking up on it and got it with a wood arrow I made.

A big doe. I killed it with a bow that I had won in a raffle. I don't remember the year.

My 1st was A yearling Doe at 35 yds with a 45# 64" Eddings Cadet. The arrow was wood that I fletched with straight pins, 4, 4" yellow barred feathers & tipped with a MA3. It was my 2nd season. I was walking along a dry creek bed looking for a place to sit for the afternoon. I was with 5 Adults from our Archery Club that had taken me along(A kid). I look up & here comes this Doe along a trail, not knowing I was there. When she stopped broadside & looked the other way, I drew, let go & watched the arrow pass through her. She spun, dropped to the ground & made a couple jumps dropping about 30 yds away. It was my 1st shot, 1st Day bowunting Oct. 4th 1958. B/4 the camera days in the field. This is the one & only photo. Since, Still bowhunting 6 decades later I have been blessed with a wide variety of biggame with recurves & compounds. I missed 4 shots in 1957, Illinois FIRST EVER DEER SEASON. Casekiska-I lived about 4 hours from Jackson County, Wis. when I lived in Ill. I have no idea how many Deer I have arrowed up there. I always camped at Pidgion Creek (Jackson State Forest) & bowhunted all that area. 15 States bowhunting & wis. is still my favorite for Whitetails.

1969, 43# Bear Grizzly, Bear Microflight arrows with Bear Razorheads. This little 5 pointer committed suicide and jumped into the flight of the arrow. Poor thing.

Browning Nomad Stalker 49 ibs aluminum arrow arrow and a Bear Razorhead. 23-yard shot. I remember it like it happened yesterday she ran about 90 yards with a heart shot.

Whitetail doe. No pic. I didn’t own a camera 35 years ago.

Big ol’ doe there, Manybows! What part of the state?

I gave my Mathews to my best friend... booked a bear hunt in Alberta and ordered a Centaur longbow - all in the same week!! Fast forward... I got my bear. I figured bear would be a good starter animal with a trad bow.

I had just moved to Indiana in 1988 and was very lucky to receive permission to hunt this farm the following year. In the '89 season I was skunked. I came close several times but it just wasn't to be. The next year was much the same. I was seeing deer but just couldn't get the right opportunity to fall into place. Finally, it was the last week of the '90 season and I was hunting after work every day. Time was short due to daylight savings time having ended. On Tuesday, I moved my stand closer to where I parked to allow more time on the stand. On Wednesday (7 Nov.) I wasn't feeling well. When I got to where I parked I promptly got sick. I decided I would try to make it through the evening, take Thursday off, then pick up my stand on Friday. About an hour before dark a 9 point buck came in, offering me a 12 yard shot. Luck was with me as I made a good shot. The deer went about 50-60 yards before expiring. Like many on here, I can recall every little detail of that evening. The bow I was using was a 1985 custom Bighorn TD, a cedar arrow that I had made tipped with a Zwickey Eskimo. Even though I always didn't get a deer, the hours I spent in the treestand were some of the best times and most memorable times of my life.

Wish I could find the photo and then maybe I could figure out how to post a pic . My first bow kill was also my very first deer, it was 1978 . A large bodied 7 point with a Darton compound , 2018 aluminum with a bear razorhead . I was standing on a large branch 14 ft high when I shot that buck .

I hunted with a compound for years. I switched to Traditional gear in 2019 and took this 11 pt in 2020 with my Bob Lee Hunter in Elizabeth PA. It was my first kill with traditional bow. The next day I sold all my compound gear, arrows, pack, and all the gadgets so I could buy more trad stuff. Now I go out with just my bow, a knife, a piece of rope, and a water bottle. My hunting mindset has been totally rejuvenated!!!! I’ve killed a few doe and 2 more bucks since then, but this hunt totally changed my hunting mindset forever.

Geno,

Nice buck. As you and I know some nice bucks can be found in Allegheny Country. :)

My first buck (1973) and my last buck (2023). 2024 is pending. :)

1973 buck was shot with a 1964/1965 Black Hawk Warrior recurve and cedar arrow. 2023 buck was shot with a 1980s Bear Kodiak Takedown recurve and aluminum arrow. Both with a Bear Razorhead.

I don't consider a compound to be a bow. My first big game with a real bow was a whitetail doe in '87. I was in a climber and shot the deer at 10yd with a Howatt Hunter, alum arrow, and Bear SS Razorhead.

Hey Nemo I think the antler restrictions are working

Geno, I agree with you.

Very nice. The 1973 rack compared to the 2023 rack. I think the first six or seven bucks I shot in my life were all spikes up in McKean Co.

My 1st stikbow kill was in 1966 w/ my new Red Wing Hunter, 59#@29". A nice little 8 pt, at 4:30 pm. Shot over his back that morning, but he came back, to my complete surprise, complete pass-thru the lungs! No pics in those days, not sure I even owned a camera!

my first arrow that killed my first deer. 30 yd. shot behind the shoulder dropped in about 5 seconds.

Don’t know where the picture got to but it was a coyote from the ground at 12 yards with a borrowed 50# Hummingbird longbow.

My first big game was a whitetail doe.

October 2006. Shot a 30-40 pig w Owen Jeffery watching me. He just pulled up to get me when the pigs came out.

Thought I replied to this but I guess not. 1972, three weeks before basic training. 40# Shakespeare Wonderbow.

Way to go Gary. Hunted North Dakota a few years ago. South west corner of the state. Had a great time hunting there. We seen both mule deer and whitetails.

Iowacedarshooter (Gary) pretty cool you still have the arrow you used to take your first deer. Those Bear heads have and continue to take a lot of game. I have a few friends still using them.

Couple of young bucks :) . Black Widow PTF and cedar arrows. Wensel woodsman. Hard to see rack in the predator camo

First big game with any weapon was a whitetail doe. Shakespeare Necedah, 45# with an aluminum arrow tipped with a Magnus Nugent Blade, early 90s. I'm sure there's an undeveloped 35mm film roll around somewhere with pics on it, but we celebrated like heathens that evening and into the wee hours ; )

Great Buck, Nemophilist!

Great Buck, Nemophilist!

See "What Broad head?" thread :^)

A whitetail doe with a Browning Nomad Stalker 49 lbs a little over 20 yards shot through the top of the heart maybe lower young, she went about 90 yards, it was a complete pass the year was 1994. I was standing behind a blown-over tree and the roots were over 6 ft tall so it was within shooting distance of the trail leading out to an alfalfa field, a perfect setup.

One antlered spike around 1972. Still have the DNR tag from his ear. Can't remember if I used a Bear or Shakespeare. I have an old pic somewhere.

My first shot ever at a deer was a doe. I used a Jeffery's 52 lb bow and heart shot at 16 yds. She went about 40 yds,

First kill was with my moms old lemonwood longbow that she had used in high school pe. Lower tip had been broken off but dad let me use his pocketknife to carve a new tip. had about a half dozen arrows, some of which you could shoot around corners with. Being 8 and small of stature, I had to put some serious cant on the bow to get it off of the ground. Hounded the neighborhood cottontails all winter long and finally managed to bag one that just happened to be sitting in the wrong place. You would have thought I had just stopped a charging kodiak. Big game to an 8 year old. This was in about 1956.

Whitetail doe 1976

My first big game bow kill was this pronghorn. He nearly gave me a shot at first light, but the strong winds were shaking my pop-up blind too much and it scared him off when he got to about 60 yards. A couple hours later, a group of a dozen or so does and fawns came into drink and he couldn't resist the temptation to investigate.. Used my grandpa's 42# Browning wasp with ash arrows and a zwickey Eskimo.

White tail doe with a Bear Grizzly back around 1968 or so. Not sure of the exact year anymore.

Dec 2, 1967 Necedah, Wi, Bear Kodiak 47 # Microflight # 8 arrow Black Panther Broadhead.

If you have already registered, please

sign in now

For new registrations

Click Here