I shot no whitetails until I retired into Texas close to 20 years ago. Before that it was just mule deer and blacktails in other states.....along with lots of antelope. When I retired here a friend took me down to Ozona with him to his lease, and I nailed a couple on that trip.

8yo...A 4pt in 1958....I was sitting in a tree fork with grandpa’s 300 Savage. The recoil almost knocked me out of the tree. That was on land my uncle owned in Comal co that Canyon Lake covered up

I was 12 years old on my first deer hunt by myself on opening day in 1972. We were hunting my Uncles 400 acre farm. My uncle and pop told me to sit by the wall of the old cemetery looking over a small ravine. I really couldn't see well so I sat on top of the wall with back to old tombstone. My instructions were simple, shoot the biggest deer I saw. What I didn't realize I was the last person in the line of the deer drive. About an hour or so after sun up, I could hear the deer the coming. There were about a dozen or so does. I had my brand new Win model 94 30-30 in my lap I got a few weeks earlier for my birthday. The deer were trotting so I whistled like pop told me to do and raised my gun. The all stopped. I did as I was told and found the biggest deer. At 30 yards I made an OK shot, well it was in the mid section of the doe. She ran about 150 yards and laid down. I was beyond excited. A short time later my pop, uncle, brother and cousins showed up. I yelled "I got one"! When they got up to me they asked how many points, I said I have know idea, I pointed to where she fell.

When we got to the doe, my uncle was pissed as it wasn't doe season. He started yelling at me! Behind my tears I said you told me to shoot the biggest deer I saw and that's what I did. My pop calm my uncle down. Shortly after lunch the deer was in butcher paper and in the cooler for the ride home. On the drive home my pop said nice shot and congratulated me on my first deer. He said next year shoot something with horns! Pop and I used to laugh at the moment in history as I grew older! Despite being yelled at by my uncle, I was on cloud nine and proud of my first deer!

1983- 5 point , 22-250 I bought with my first pay check when I was 15. Went to east Texas paper mill land and didn’t kill anything so on the way home we went to Athens and got to skip school that Monday .

Deadgum, I was reading these at breakfast at Cracker Barrel and had me crying like fool at the table by myself thinking about how excited my Grampa was at my first deer......Van,TX, 1990, 11 yo, 6pt with a rem. 700 .243. I can still see my grandads hat bouncing over the tank dam as he ran to my stand at 80 years old. When we got to the deer, he sent me to walk back and get the truck. At 11 years old, still shaking, and barely able to reach the gas pedal, I still don't know how I didn't wreck. Remember it like it was yesterday.

I was 17 in in 1965 in western New Jersey. 56 years ago on my grand Pa's farm. Hunting with a couple other guys my age. They still hunted a wood lot and I sat on the opposing side as a blocker. Heard 5 different shots from their direction. About 10 minutes went by and this little button buck crossed an opening in front of me He was wounded and although it wasn't the trophy I wanted I put him out of his misery with my Dad's JC Higgins double barrel 12 gauge. with double O Buck. I also remember in detail this incredible moment in my Life!!!!!

Just read all of these, great memories. I'll add mine - I was 17ish, my friend took me to his deer lease near Brownwood, even though he wasn't that interested in deer hunting??? He put me in a stand and said "watch that feeder", it was in a really open area. After sitting there a bit, I decided that no deer was going to walk out in the open, so I turned the chair around and watched back into the mesquite flat. Sure enough, I saw deer and shot an 8 pointer. Neither one of us had ever cleaned a deer, but I figured it out (my family didn't hunt). Still remember it very well all these years and deer later.......