Posted 12:56 pm Thursday, November 26, 2009
Once In A Lifetime: Excitement Of First Deer Something To Be Thankful For
It is difficult to pinpoint why, but there is something special about taking a first deer.
Jennifer Stanley, Arp, took her first deer hunting behind her house. It was an 11-point.
It is no longer a rite of passage just for young boys. Today the hunter is as likely to be a girl, a teenager, a mom or anyone else. And today the deer is as likely to be a doe as it is a buck as more beginners are taught about management from the beginning.
The result, however, is always the same. Thrill. Satisfaction. Pride.
Hunters taking their first deer always have a smile. Caden Clark, 8, New Chapel Hill, took his first buck this season hunting with his dad, Eddie, near Troup.
Actually, I can't describe it exactly. It isn't the same feeling as knocking a home run, scoring a perfect grade on a test or even getting your driver's license. It is different than a first kiss.
Alexis Rumbo, 7, Chandler, took her first buck this season in Henderson County hunting with her father, Brad.
I recently talked to some friends about it. They are experienced hunters who have hunted around the world and probably have 80 years of deer hunting experience between them. They both have walls full of big deer. Neither could clearly explain what makes that first so special, but they both admitted it was.
The best they could offer was talk of the excitement and adrenaline rush that comes with that one pull of the trigger or release of the bow.
Jacob Sublette, 7, Arp,the son of Steve and Danette Sublette, took his first deer hunting this fall near Jasper.
Another friend replied, "We all remember where we were when it happened."
Mine was near Sonora. I was sitting on a rock on the side of a ridge. It was early morning and I was facing the east. It was a crisp morning in western Texas. The sun, although making it difficult to see the draw below me, was keeping me warm in an era before Thinsulate and all the other wonder materials helping keep hunters comfortable today.
Braden Hathorn, 11, Red Springs, was hunting with his dad, Marty, when he took this 10-pointer in Cherokee County.
The buck, a 3-pointer, came walking up the ridge to the south of me and I shot it with a .30-06. The year was 1974.
I remember my heart beating 90-to-nothing before taking the shot. I remember the fear of ridicule that would be coming from my friends if I missed the shot. I remember thinking it was quite a trophy. I held on to those tiny antlers for years.
Another friend suggests that for kids, it is not as much the shot, but knowing that you are doing something that makes your mother or father proud.
My oldest son, Tristan, started with a doe he shot from the front seat of a Suburban on a lease near San Angelo. He finished the hunt with two more does and a turkey and a very big smile.
His first buck came in 1996 on the same ranch in Sonora where I killed mine. It was a great shot.
Only the front quarter of the deer was showing behind the cedar tree, and he dropped it in its tracks.
His little brother, Thomas, took his first deer in 1999 on a ranch near Llano. Like his brother, he started with a doe. It was a good comeback for an 11-year-old whose nerves caused him to miss a shot earlier in the day.
I wrote about that hunt. The first four words out of his mouth were, "I hit it daddy."
His first buck came two years later on a deer lease in Nacogdoches County. In 2002 he took a buck scoring 167 and change at the BigWoods in Anderson County. A deer like that is a whole different story.
I was proud, but I was also happy for them. I knew the feeling they felt at that moment.
It isn't a macho man-over-animal thing, although I suspect the hunter/gatherer role has something to do with it.
Maybe a first deer is like deer hunting itself. It is hard to explain to someone who doesn't do it, but within the hunting fraternity it garners a nod of understanding, and spawns a similar tale in recognition.
