Do You Remember Your First Time?

I have had the privilege of being raised in a family that shares a passion for the outdoors. My father is one of the best deer hunters I have ever met and he raised me to respect firearms and value outdoor recreation. As I became more experienced, I wanted to share my passion with folks within my social circle. I chose to attend SUNY Oswego in North Central New York, because it was an excellent location for outdoor activities and the education wasn’t too bad either!  I met my best buddies up there and recruited them to join me in the woods or on the river. Many of them never really hunted before or cast out a line. Almost ten years later (since my freshman year) a few of my recruits are now avid outdoorsmen and continue to strengthen their skills afield.

One of the most special and memorable hunts I have ever been on was one that I was a spectator to my good buddy Dave taking his first deer. We were hunting the difficult Adirondack Mountain State Forests, where you may not see anything for years, but when you do it would most likely be a buck. It was late October/early November and the Chronicles Crew (with other affiliates) were on our annual “dack” hunting trip. This was always a fun time together, since many of us were coming from different parts of the country and got to reunite while hunting. The year before, I hunted with Dave on a mountain ridge that overlooked a nice gully pinch point. We planned on hunting the same spot the following year. Dave and I split up for the first few hours, hunting about 500 yards from each other and planned on meeting up somewhere in the middle to eat breakfast. Coincidentally, we hooked up on the exact ridge where we hunted the year before. At that time, we did not have GPS so it was ironic we found the exact same spot as the last year. We discussed our morning hunt and schemed for the remainder of the day. As we were choking down some cliff granola bars, Dave get’s quiet and tell me to “shut up, shut up.” I had my back turned from the downside of the hill, facing Dave. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a deer walking parallel to us on a string to his Tinks Scent Bomb hanging in a tree about 50 yards down. I kept asking, “what do you see, what is it?” I was locked still, watching the whole thing happen from Dave’s perspective. Then he slowly raised his rifle (shaking profusely), takes a deep breath and BANG. Keep in mind, I never saw this deer and had to wait, for what felt like hours, to see what would happen. We both get up and look down hill to a 7pt laying dead.   SUCCESS! Dave had just taken his first whitetail ever and I was there to experience the whole thing. Dave was one of my original outdoor recruits from college and now was a proven deer hunter.

This hunt still remains in my top five best memories afield. The video above is Dave recalling the hunt. I posted it years ago on my former blog, so please disregard the URL at the end.

I would love to hear about your stories about the first animal you took in your hunting career. Please feel free to post a picture and a short summary on our Facebook  visitors page. Looking forward to reading about your first time!

Michael