I am officially a first-generation hunter. Harvested my first two deer Tuesday morning within 15 minutes of each other.
Was not raised a hunter. My dad did not hunt. One of my grandpas did, and a few uncles. But I was never really interested as a child. My brother hunted a bit in his early 20s (supposedly once shot a deer out a bathroom window while sitting on the porcelain throne
), but I still never got the itch to try it.
But this year, for some reason, I decided I wanted to try it ... may be my age (I'm 36 and don't want to be "too old to learn" to hunt); may be my son being born (he's a year old in two weeks). A friend of my dad's from church invited me to his lease near Bulverde to "try it out". One of my best friends loaned me his Ruger .270 bolt-action rifle with 6x Leupold scope (a hand-me-down from his dad, I believe). I picked up the gun Sunday, sighted it in at indoor range that night (found out it dislikes $35/box Federal Premium ballistic tips, but LOVES $18/box Remington Core-Lokt lead soft tips ... see photo of 3-shot group at 100 yards with the Core-Lokts; Federals were 1.5 - 2-inch groups @ 100)
- 3-shot group @ 100 yards Ruger M77 .270 with Leupold 6x scope shooting Remington Core-Lokt lead tips
So my dad's friend told me since it was my first time and we only had that morning to hunt, he'd put me in his box blind (well-hidden in a clump of trees 75 yards from feeder in a clearing) while he hunted a tripod stand in back of property. He'd seen two does from this box blind previous morning, but didn't shoot (waiting for a buck). Feeder was set to drop corn at 7:15 am. About 7:05 am, this little buck walks up, looks at me in blind, looks at feeder, looks around, at me again, then trots off. I wasn't "ready" yet - rifle was still leaning on wall of blind and thought I'd missed my chance. But I got the rifle ready hoping for another chance. Five minutes later, 3 does and this one little buck walk up and start feeding. So I take aim at the buck and squeeze off a round. Everyone scatters, including the buck and I thought I'd missed him somehow. Was wearing gloves that weren't intended for shooting and felt the gun slip just a bit when I squeezed the trigger. Was mad at myself, but decided to wait 15 minutes like my dad's friend had told me. Sure enough, corn drops from the feeder at 7:15 and 10 minutes later a doe wanders back over. Determined not to miss again, I carefully aimed and squeezed the trigger. Doe bolted behind a juniper bush. Couldn't believe I could miss again on a target that big at only 75 yards after putting that dime-size cloverleaf pattern on the range target. Waited 15 minutes. Nobody else was showing up, so I ventured out of the stand.
Sure enough, found the doe dead just around the corner 20 yards from feeder. Clean kill just behind the shoulder. Walked passed the feeder around juniper bushes on other side, and found the buck lying under a limb 30 yards from feeder. Clean kill too; just behind the shoulder, exactly where I'd been aiming.
So after fretting for 20+ minutes about possibly missing (or worse, wounding) two deer on my first hunt, I found myself with the bounty of two kills. Loaded them up in the truck and headed back to cabin. My dad's friend returned from his stand. He got skunked because 3 hogs - first he'd ever seen on this lease - scared off the one deer he saw all morning. He didn't shoot the hogs - though I know he wishes he had - because he was hoping a deer would return when they left the feeder area. I felt bad about my bounty while he was empty handed, but he was really gracious in showing me how to field dress my two deer etc.
Was a rewarding first hunt. Supposed to get the meat from the processor hopefully by end of next week (might have venison burgers for my son's first birthday
)
The buck seems small, but my dad's friend told me "it's your first hunt, if you see a deer, shoot it" basically don't sweat the details. Not sure about counting points (I think it has 7) and certainly don't care about "grading system" and whatnot. Anyway, here's a photo (no blood) ...
- My first deer - 7 point?
I know this hunt would not have happened without some very gracious hunters offering to help me learn to hunt. The state doesn't help; took the state-mandated safety course and it's not much more than an expansion of the 4 Rules and some generic talk about ethics and conservation - not much "here's how you hunt" information. And without much help from family, getting started as a hunter is difficult without other hunters passing along their knowledge. I can't emphasize this enough: Without other hunters inviting new hunters into the fold, so to speak, hunting could become a thing of the past within a few generations.
I'm eager to try it again. May have some more opportunities this year. Definitely have some possibilities of varmint hunting on some farm land near Hutto.
Hope to take my daughter and son when they're old enough, see if they like it.
