First Buck
Despite my love for hunting the Alleghenies and my draw to the big woods near camp, my first buck came about 6 hours from there in Southern Ohio.
In November 2011, Dad and I headed down to Dan’s house in Southern Ohio for a weekend archery hunt. While he and Rob had been down to Dan’s many times over the years, this would be my first hunting trip there.
Additionally, this was my first out of state (non-PA) hunt ever.
To add to my excitement, I was going to be using our new 10-Point Wicked Ridge crossbow, and I was hoping to be the first hunter to take a deer with it.
Dan always got pictures of big bucks on the property near his house, and he had taken his fair share of them that now hung on his wall. I spent Friday night admiring them and had dreams of getting my own “wall hanger” on Saturday.
We woke early Saturday morning and headed out back on the property behind their house to a recently hung buddy stand. The stand would later be dubbed the “meat stand” for all the deer taken thereafter.
We sat only about an hour before hearing some movement in the thick brush to our left. A young buck proceeded to step out and work his way to just 15 yards. Impatiently, I waited as he maneuvered his way through the trees and branches between us. I had already decided I would be happy to take any buck as it would be my first, and this one was looking like he may provide an opportunity.
It seemed like an eternity for him to work through the brush, when in reality it happened fairly quickly. Finally, he managed to step out into an opening where he stopped broadside at 20 yards. My dad whispered that I could take the shot, and I didn’t waste any time.
Unfortunately, the shot hit a little high and dropped the buck right away. I had to fire a second bolt to ensure the deer expired quickly. This was my first lesson in the importance of shot placement to make an ethical kill, and one that I remember to this day.
The 5-point was my first buck ever – and was one that I was extremely proud of. Of course, that didn’t stop my cousins Teagan and Robert from keeping me humble as when they got to where we were taking pictures with the deer Teagan commented, “Oh…he’s small.”
I spent the afternoon hanging out with my cousins as the rest of the guys went back out into the woods. I can vividly remember continuousy going out to check out my buck hanging from their meat stand.
Part way through the afternoon hunt, I got word that Rob had shot a nice 8-point. The funny part was, he had decided to take our new crossbow that I had shot my buck with just a few short hours earlier. One day in the field and the crossbow already had a 5-point and 8-point down, and I was beginning to think there may be some serious luck in it.
When everyone came back we shared the stories of our bucks over some BLT pizza from a favorite local pizza shop in town, which was something that became somewhat of a tradition in subsequent trips to Dan’s. We continued to head down to Dan’s for rut hunts for years after my first buck, and I look forward to making those trips in years to come.