# First Buck!



## gohabs1985 (Mar 20, 2010)

Got my first buck on Tuesday and boy was it an epic tale!!

Got in the stand about 11:30 for a full day sit since the temps were so nice (daughter has been sick so I slept in to catch up on some Z's). Sat with 0 activity at our setup until this ghost appears off my right shoulder at about 4:45. Didnt make a sound, I just happened to look over that way and saw his white-ish antlers stand out against the leaves. He walked right into our setup from right to left at a slow pace, stopping every now and then. My heart was racing about 1 million beats a minute but I managed to get the gun up, scope adjusted, and shooting rest up without making a sound and took advantage of him being behind some trees while he walked. He was headed toward a feeder when he stopped, turned around and started walking back the same way he came. I was worried he winded me so decided to not let him stop again and was gonna shoot the next time his shoulder came around this grouping of trees. He was about 20 yards when I shot and it was right around 5pm. 

Thought i hit him pretty good, but to my surprise (and worry), he ran off 100 miles an hour straight over a ridge and out of sight! I heard a crash so I thought he fell dead right over the ridge line. I got out of the stand and walked to the area I thought he was and found nothing, no dead deer, no blood, no sign at all. Decided to go back to the shot sight and find the blood and get to trailing him before it got too dark. To my surprise and panic, there was 0 blood evident anywhere in the area I hit him. Now I started to get a little worried that maybe I pulled the shot or yanked up or something. My cousin was on his way down to help find him/drag him out and he was about an hour away. I spent the next hour looking EVERYWHERE for blood/sign and found absolutely nothing.

The ridgeline is right near property line so I decided to wait until my cousin got down with more light and another set of eyes to continue the search. I went back to my truck to gather myself and head to the neighbors house to get permission to look for the deer if he did run over property line. Guy (named Blake) was super nice and said sure go ahead and even gave me permission to use his gravel service road to get the deer out if he was on his side (saving a probably 1000 yard drag to my truck). My cousin showed up and we started retracing the events, the shot, where he ran, angles, etc. We had a huge battery powered work light and two black light flashlights but still found 0 blood anywhere near the shot sight and/or where he ran. 

At this point I am sick to my stomach because I either hit him with a shitty shot and blew my chance, hit him with a decent shot but he ran off enough that we wouldnt find him (again, saw 0 blood), or missed him altogether and my cousin made a 2hr round trip drive to waste hours in the woods. Being pretty dejected, my cousin finally told me "dude, we will stay in these woods until midnight if it takes that long to find something. If you are confident in the shot, then you hit it good and he is somewhere".

We decided to grid search sweeping every 10 yards or so back and forth and back and forth near the ridge. FINALLY my cousin yells "DUDE! Blood! A **** load of blood!!" We found a really good patch of blood on the ground and followed the trail for only about 15 minutes before we saw it lying in a low ditch dead as a doornail. Needless to say, the hooting and hollering began!!

Found it right at 8:45 and took our time gutting. Finished around 9:30 and dragged the deer to the neighbors service road which was only about 40 yards away. Drove my truck about halfway up the service road (couldnt get all the way up, tires were slipping) and dragged the deer to the truck. Started to back out and realized "oh ****, its hard to back up, in the dark, with no lights, on a narrow gravel road, on a hill". Made it about 3/4 of the way down before I accidentally cranked it too hard to miss a downed tree and DAMN if I didnt slide my truck right into a culvert ditch!!!! At this point its about 10 or 10:15. That truck was at a 45 degree angle sideways with 0% chance of getting out! Decided to make a smart decision and call a tow truck to come get me out. Cousin stayed with me saying he didnt want to assume tow truck would come and get me out and strand me. Remember too, I am not on the land we have permission to hunt, i am on the neighbors land/road! He heard the commotion and came out around 11:30 and again was super cool! I apologized about 100 times saying I was sorry to be ruining his night (especially on a "school night") but he said it was fine (oh and also it started thunderstorming at about 11!!). we showed him the deer and chatted until the tow truck came. He got me out no problem and I backed (slowly!) out to the road. 

Shot the deer at 5pm and got home at 1:30am! What a saga! 😂 

For all the bad variables, everything turned out ok and i am super happy, relieved, excited, etc. that I was able to get this first buck and the story that came with it!!


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## Moo Juice (Jan 20, 2021)

That's one you'll always remember. Nice buck!


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

That first one is always 'the special one'.
Congrats on an excellent buck!


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## Lewis (Apr 5, 2004)

Your perseverance paid off! Many would have given up resulting in a lost, wasted deer. Good job!


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## bare naked (May 1, 2015)

Kudos for believing in your shot & sticking it out. Many times if the shot is a little high & angled to cut the diaphram this lack of blood occurs. Because the diaphram was cut the blood now has the whole body to pool in rather than just the lung area. I have seen it many times in my 54 years of hunting. Again well done for sticking with it. It would have been lost by a lot of people. Also NICE BUCK.


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## ranger487 (Apr 5, 2005)

Good story and congrats


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

Congrats, I'm glad you found him!


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## Junebug2320 (Apr 23, 2010)

Great story. Maybe I missed it? Wondering what caliber and ammo?? 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## M R DUCKS (Feb 20, 2010)

I see 20 yard shot, but I was curious too! Caliber? Ammo? Shot placement?
curious minds want to know!
thanks


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## gohabs1985 (Mar 20, 2010)

Sorry, forgot to mention those details. I shoot a .44 mag and have been shooting the Hornady ammo from cabelas. Shot was just behind his right shoulder and he was slightly walking left to right when I shot. Ended up hitting his lung and exited out below his left shoulder and a little further back. lesson learned was to shoot a little higher and maybe a touch further forward. That would have gotten either double lung or heart.


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

Great story! Many extraordinary factors! I’ve hit a couple thru both shoulders where slug passes thru the muscles, pretty much seal back up after bullet exit. Little to no blood! One knocked off feet so I knew a good hit. Luckily, neigher went too far and was able to follow(both had huge blood clot in chest cavity.) The other tracked on new snow. These can be hard to retrieve! Kudos to you and cousin for sticking with it!


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## EnonEye (Apr 13, 2011)

amazing story and one great cousin you got there


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