Wife's first deer! So proud. (LONG and Pic heavy)

[anethema]

I posted earlier about my doe.

Well now it was time to get the wife her first deer.

We have had a couple cameras around the property (1/4 section) for a while now. Haven't done any baiting, mostly calling and rattling through the rut. Tried to put the cameras where we found good deer thoroughfares.

We saw a few does and bucks on all of the cameras but nothing crazy. Then we start to see some bigger bucks. Finally see a real decent one. This gets her fired up.

http://i.imgur.com/yh8REl7.png

Now, for her first deer she wants the bigger buck! I try to manage her expectations. Shoot anything legal if meat is the goal (for both of us meat is very much the #1 primary goal). She knows, and will shoot anything, but just hopes it will be that buck.

On our land there are a few good places to shoot, but one is from the roof of our pole barn. There is a large cut in the middle of our land and you can see out to 600+ yards. Most of the tracks are at the narrow point within about 300 yards. Many at 2. So good place for her. She's punched her paper and fairly confident if prone out to those ranges. So this is where she sits.

http://i.imgur.com/uJMEaii.jpg

One evening within about 10-20 mins before too-dark-to-shoot time, we see him. The big guy. Comes out of the forest with his doe. He's at about 200 yards out. The wife looks through her scope, but can't see properly. It is set at its lowest 2.5x zoom. She doesn't feel she can hit the vitals, too dark, too small. She tries to zoom but not comfortable, can't find the proper eye relief. We missed our chance, and shes devastated. I had my scope on it the whole time but really wanted this one to be for her. After about 30 seconds it walks calmly back into the woods.

She's super devastated. And really it is my **** up. Done some bench paper shooting, but no real mental practice or familiarization with the gun. So from that day on, when we're waiting together, I have her bring her gun up, focus on something apple-sized, and breath calmly, and hold it steady on that. Try different zooms. See at what ranges she feels comfortable at what zooms. She starts to feel very comfortable with the gun now.

I start baiting along their common trails now. Saw quite a few doe parties!

http://i.imgur.com/d1eR0zo.jpg

Somehow she manages to sit outside in anything up to -20 or thereabouts at one of two spots. One is a small cutline for our fence that they seem to cross constantly. I am at work(she's off for a few winter months) and shes out there from first light till noon, in for some lunch and tea for warmth, then waiting again until last light. Very motivated.

So, today, last day of whitetail for us. She calls me before first light pretty discouraged. Stuff on cam but just not seeing stuff walk out of the bush during light hours. Not even does. She hasn't seen a deer in the flesh in probably two weeks.

We know he is around though, he pops up on the cams from time to time (like last night)

http://i.imgur.com/BypOtxG.png


She texted wondering if she should bother, maybe just take the morning to sleep in. I tell her no need to go so nuts, go out there on the last day for an hour or two at most in the morning, then same in the evening. Still stay fairly warm, and hit the best times. She says ok.

Throws on her stuff, I am headed to work at this point, and goes out.

Continued next post.

[anethema]

I start arriving at work, and she sends me a text.

"****, I missed. OMG"

I call her right away. It walked out of the woods, but it was facing her and she didn't want to risk ruining meat or missing to the side. It walked towards her from around 200 yards to about 150(maybe over 30 seconds), then turned broadside towards the woods. She said she relaxed, let out her breath, held behind the shoulder, and squeezed. She felt certain she didn't jerk the trigger since she basically squeezed until the gun surprised her like I showed her. But once she found where it was, there was a little bit of hair. No blood. It didn't kick or hump over, just ran away.

I told her, if there is hair you hit something! Could be a graze, but shes a great shot. I'm confident she hit it somehow. I tell her wait 5 minutes, then follow those tracks.

She texts about 10 mins later saying she lost them. I have her walk in a widening spiral until she finds them again. He jumped like 20 feet away! Anyways, She says she thinks she found the tracks.

Then I get a text about 2-3 mins later with nothing but this picture:

http://i.imgur.com/FxJ7t0b.jpg

I call her and she's crying again, but this time in happiness!

I'm super ****in proud of her. She shot it, tracked it down, and found it.

Turns out she hit a bit high. Since it was from above and a bit of an angle, it went down from behind the shoulder (but bit high) through one lung, hit a big artery, through stomach (pew that stank ) and then no exit hole. I searched through thick piles of gore and stomach gunk for that bullet but I couldn't find it. It was a barnes TTSX(.243 80gr) so it is whole somewhere. Maybe gut pile or in the snow, who knows.

Anyways,

I find a replacement for work since she needs help now, and boot it home.

Not only am I proud of her but she's so damn proud of herself.

http://i.imgur.com/VBbO1Tn.jpg

We get it gutted, back into the open, drug home with quad, skinned, and hung.

Enjoyed some "skinning fluid" (Rum and coke) while getting it prepped for its long hang.

http://i.imgur.com/t7OOy83.jpg

In 2 weeks we'll be enjoying some stupidly tender deer. So proud of her.

[Jeff77]

Awesome .
.. nice deer ....

[IronNoggin]

EXCELLENT Read & Pictures!
Your Lady certainly is a Keeper!
Showed great perseverance and it paid off most handsomely!!

Congratulations on a job Well Done! http://bigshotsbc.ca/images/smilies/Pozitive.gif

Cheers,
Nog

[.308SLAYER]

Very cool beutiful deer and congratulations to your wife on a awesome effort you get out of it what you put in thanks for posting I'll b showing this to my wife later for sure

[panhead]

Beauty all around ... congrats ...
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‘Government is the Entertainment Division of the Military Industrial Complex’ : Frank Zappa

[guest]

Great looking Buck, how cool is that! I bet your proud. My lady got her first WT this year too.

congrats! Nice Rack ....... :wink: Great to see the women putting down some game.

CT

[kodeman]

That is awesome...huge Congrats

[BimmerBob]

Awesome! Congrats on an excellent pictorial story and on having a great hunting partner! Oh, congrats to the successful hunter too, nicely done, great patience and great shot!

[srupp]

Amazing lady, tremendous adventure..stick to a plan in the cold, shoot, track...impressive..
Congrads

You now have

One Dear
One deer

Steven

[Timbow]

Awesome! I really enjoyed Reading your story with pictures. Keep up the good work.

[Ddog]

Sweet buck,,,,love WT..that sure is a dandy first buck ..first of lots to come i bet! Good job

[Squamch]

Awesome!! Pretty cool the number of wive's and daughter's game I've seen posted this year.

[jacksondog]

Way to stick it out, love the mass!!!! Great Buck!!!!

[kennyj]

Great story and photos!! That is an AWESOME first buck. Way to persevere! You guys live in paradise.
Thanks for sharing you adventure.
kenny

[Rattler]

Well that is just awesome...huge congrats to your wife. A strong display of percerverance and determination.

[Glenny]

Fantastic. Beautiful deer for a first. hard to top that one.

[quadrakid]

One exciting day! Congrats on a stud of a buck.

[Budman]

Great story and pics. You should be proud of her , for getting a sweet looking buck like that . All by herself , perseverance paid off.

[mcmullmar]

very nice!

[Dash]

Oh my, that story almost gave ME tears of joy! LOVE it! Congratulations to her on the beautiful buck and tremendous perseverence!

[LYKTOHUNT]

You do have a lot to be proud of, that gal needs a high five

[nature girl]

Way to go for your wife and to shoot it all by herself while you were at work. Good you could come home and help her out. Very nice deer and thanks for posting all the pictures and the great story of your wife's 1st deer.

[kgs]

Buddy your are one lucky guy and nice deer young lady.

[HarryToolips]

One hell of a first deer, congrats young lady and good shooting!

[Blainer]

Nice Heavy Buck, great share

[LuckyIfYouGetOne]

Great story and congrats l!!!

[Mully]

Way to go "T"... amazing first deer, great mass and character. Pictures do not do it justice after holding him in my hands. Long and hard season hunting but rewarded with an amazing animal Congratulations!!!!!

[anethema]

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

She worked really hard for that thing and I'm glad she got it!

I even caught her on the trailcams looking for that stinker!

http://i.imgur.com/xV8WOta.jpg

[Omenator]

Great story and nice buck to boot!

[Alfonz]

Good read! Great buck! Congrats to the hunter!

[Bear Chaser]

That's terrific. Congratulations to your wife on a job well done.

[todbartell]

this is awesome stuff, she did great. And she's tough! for wearing that doe pee scent wafer on her coat :mrgreen:

[wideopenthrottle]

wow...well done..nice wood on that buck...she definitely earned it

[davidov]

beautiful deer congrats

[Billy52]

Nice pics and story!!! Thanks for sharing!

[chadr]

Really nice buck!! Good for her for putting all the time and not giving up, it paid off!!

[Knute]

That's awesome, she really persevered and the patience paid off big time.

Beauty of a buck. As said above you're a lucky man.

[SaintSix]

Great story and nice buck to go with it. Everyone likes happy endings!

[paulgug]

Awesome to see someone get rewarded for putting in the time. Great story and pics, thanks for sharing.

["No Choke"Lord Walsingham]

Excellent thread, thank you for sharing this story. Congratulations!

[hunter1947]

A hunt to remember for sure its all about doing your homework and then putting up with cold conditions like this ,,one real nice WT buck you got..

Congrats getting your dream buck..

[kaptin]

Congrats to you and your wife awesome pictures and story. A really nice deer and awesome memories for a lifetime.

[Glslickshooter]

Great story and pics! Congrats!

[anethema]

Thanks everyone she's glowing from all the kind comments!

Here is another pic that shows off just how damn fat those antlers are!

http://i.imgur.com/tyOMoam.jpg

[Camp Cook]

WOW I've never shot a whitetail with antlers that nice.

Yes I am impressed...

Wish my wife would go hunting with me.

[Vanislehiker]

Great job on the mount! Man those are thick antlers. Congrats

[Tifferly]

And here's my after, after shot. I did my first Euro Mount by myself at home. I'm about 3 days deep into the process, and still need to find the perfect piece of wood from our property to mount him to. This guy has been so much work, but well worth it. Butchering night tonight, so moment of truth!

https://i.imgur.com/jNqVXvI.jpg

[Tifferly]

Aaaand all the spoils of my first deer!

Home euro mount, and lots of delicious meat! Thank you everyone for your kind words, this has definitely been a life-changer for me (us!). I'm already planning our program for our property next year. We are lucky enough to have 160 acres to call home, so I am setting up hiding/feeding plots of corn, peas, and crabapple. We will also continue to provide salt and any extra hay we may have during the tough winter months. Most of our pasture is naturally covered in clover, so the deer already feel at home. I'm excited to encourage them to rear their young here, and stick around. I'll maybe start a different thread in the spring to share what we've done, and open chat about ideas for improvement.

Checking the TC today at a nice spot we've left salt, molasses block, and a good bale of hay about a week ago.

https://i.imgur.com/dSIToqt.jpg

[Grumpa Joe]

Great job! Congratulations on an awesome deer.

[Ltbullken]

Nice WT! Well done.

[Fosey]

nice buck. Great to see people like you guys makes me feel good there is still some of us left. Thanks

[The Hermit]

Hell I'm excited for her!! Well done!!

[Grumpa Joe]

Aaaand all the spoils of my first deer!

Home euro mount, and lots of delicious meat! Thank you everyone for your kind words, this has definitely been a life-changer for me (us!). I'm already planning our program for our property next year. We are lucky enough to have 160 acres to call home, so I am setting up hiding/feeding plots of corn, peas, and crabapple. We will also continue to provide salt and any extra hay we may have during the tough winter months. Most of our pasture is naturally covered in clover, so the deer already feel at home. I'm excited to encourage them to rear their young here, and stick around. I'll maybe start a different thread in the spring to share what we've done, and open chat about ideas for improvement.

Checking the TC today at a nice spot we've left salt, molasses block, and a good bale of hay about a week ago.

https://i.imgur.com/dSIToqt.jpg

Soup bones or for the pup? My 8 month old Elkhound is going to town on the bones i kept from my Mulie doe.

[Tifferly]

Those are the best soup bones I could salvage, nice and marrow-y. Our 5-year-old lab has plenty of legs in the freezer. The packs marked 'Oll-Bear' in the front are his, too. He's pretty spoiled... as are we clearly :)

[anethema]

Ya if anyone doubts how damn cold it was getting here is a picture of our hanging room door. BRR.

http://i.imgur.com/x3mepTa.png

And she posted the euro mount etc but what she didn't say was I did not touch it. Literally 100% on her own. She peeled the thing, cleaned it (took like 1.5 days! Yeesh), bleached it, and she'll be mounting it. We're going to cut a disc out of a fallen tree near where it was harvested and sand/varnish it to mount the skull.

And she doesn't shy away from the work after the shot gets fired!

http://i.imgur.com/R62zMOl.jpg

Did a huge chunk of the butchering too! You can see the 'butchering fluid' on the table (Tequila and soda :D)

She is definitely a keeper and I couldn't be prouder.

[Nimrod]

And here's my after, after shot. I did my first Euro Mount by myself at home. I'm about 3 days deep into the process, and still need to find the perfect piece of wood from our property to mount him to. This guy has been so much work, but well worth it. Butchering night tonight, so moment of truth!

https://i.imgur.com/jNqVXvI.jpg
Nice solid Buck
Cool rack
congrats

[hawk-i]

congrats to you and your wife. :)

[Fixit]

lol, dog in the background... "can i eat that"?

[wideopenthrottle]

wow great job getting the freezer bulked up

[Tifferly]

lol, dog in the background... "can i eat that"?


Ooooh, you have NO idea :lol:

http://i.imgur.com/x6QUEj6.jpg

[deer nut]

That is a beautiful buck. Nice mass!

[Backwoods]

great job guys!!!!!!

[john-brennan]

Great job, wished my wife would hunt.

[Tifferly]

Great job, wished my wife would hunt.

Maybe ask her to go out with you, even just to watch and not shoot. That's how I got hooked when I was young, and didn't shoot this first deer until my mid-thirties.