First for me (Non-Valk, not even Goldwing)

[Serk]

Short version - Serk finally bagged his first deer. Then some butthole called the game wardens on him.

Typical long winded with lots of pics Serk story:

I've been a gun guy all my life, always swore off hunting. Nothing against it, just didn't interest me.
Almost 20 years ago I fell into 18 acres of wooded rural land; Still didn't hunt it.
Three years ago started thinking I might give this a try, can't say I don't like it if I don't at least try it once.
Started setting up cameras, feeders (Legal here), tree stand, etc.
Last year spent several days freezing my kiester off sitting up a tree stand and never saw anything larger than an armadillo.

Had my rifle setup PET scanned before packing it up:



This year, spent one day up the tree stand while my buddy was in his blind across my property with his son; they saw a few does but we're holding out for bucks.

Sunday, his son had to catch up on homework so it was just my buddy (Who ironically had a Valkyrie before me, totaled it, sold it, then bought 3Fan's Interstate from me and has it parked in his yard now, so I guess it is tangentially Valkyrie related afterall.) and myself in his blind.

Saw several doe. My family isn't starving. The meat will be eaten, but I don't have to do this, I let the does pass. Especially the big one with 3 fawns still wet nursing on her.

One of the smaller does I had in sight, in my crosshairs for quite some time (Long enough to also get my phone out and get a pic.)




Tried some "Aggressive challenging buck" calls from an app on my phone. Fifteen minutes later this guy comes by:



He trotted within 15 yards of our blind, on the side. I swung my rifle around and had him dead to rights, but my muzzle was too close to my friend's face for me to feel safe about taking the shot.

I did not pull the trigger.

(He chastised me that I should have, but no, firearm safety rules are a non-negotiable for me)

That buck went behind us. There's only a few hundred yards of woods behind or beside us before you get to open fields, so figured he'd circle back around. Twenty or thirty minutes later saw a buck deep in the brush 90 yards out from the blind.

I confirmed there were antlers (Mostly hidden by brush) and 100% a deer, got my crosshairs in the vital organ area, and gently squeezed the trigger.

My .308 does what a .308 does, immediate lights out, dropped where he stood (Which being the softy I am was important to me, I wanted to minimize suffering.)

Got a good look at him. Oh crud. NOT the large (Legal) 8 point we thought it was.

This was a little 4 point guy.

In my county a legal buck must either have at least 1 spike, or have a minimum 13" spread between the outermost part of his antlers.

This little guy had an 8" spread.

Brief panic. Deciding what to do. Admittedly one option was carve him up on site and spread around for the hogs, no one has to know.

But not only would that be wrong, it'd be a waste.

So I called the game warden myself and told him what I'd done.

He said to go ahead and tag him, field dress him, they'd come out and discuss it, but since I called them instead of them finding out some other way, likely not a big deal, thank you for being honest.


(Yeah, it's a tiny buck, but also keep in mind my size next to something tends to distort the size of what I'm next to as well )

Not the sight ya' generally want from your trail cam right after shooting a deer.



My friend field dressed him (Him doing the wet work was his payment to access my land as his deer lease, informally.). Half dozen game wardens showed up, they talked to us both but it's easy to keep your stories straight when you're telling the truth.

They checked out our blind, where I shot him, distance cover, looked at pics of the big buck that we thought he was, that this was my first ever deer, etc. etc.

Possible penalties - Loss of hunting license, loss of entire harvest and $800 fine.

What I got - Written warning and they skull capped him. I got to keep the rest.

They laughed and let me get a pic of me holding his pitiful little rack and my official warning.



Said I wasn't the first hunter to call them on himself, but it wasn't a common occurrence, thanked me for my honesty.

We also told them about an incident Saturday morning, about half hour past sunrise of someone firing 50+ shots right at the property line, then driving around the property revving a loud engine and blaring Tejano music.

That they were VERY interested in. Intentionally ruining a hunt is a jail time crime here. We think we know where he lives, but can't prove it yet. They parked 3 Game Warden cruisers in front of his house and just sat there for a few hours to make him sweat a bit.

So I can check off shooting a deer from my todo list. And for the first time in my life I'll be able to (Once the processors are done, I opted to let the professionals do that) eat something I killed by my own hand.

I'm done for the year (You only get one buck tag, so I'd be limited to does or spikes, neither of which interest me enough to set a 3AM alarm on a weekend).

I will likely be back and try again next year, a little more patient though. Now I know what "buck fever" is all about!

One final insult (I don't think they meant it as an insult) from the game wardens: On my official warning (Same as a ticket, just no action required) "Hair Color - Grey"

Harumph!

[DIGGER]

2 yrs ago on my deer lease an experienced older hunter shot a tall decent looking 8 pt that was 12 3/4".  Game warden came in for routine check and wrote him a $450 fine.   Then later...in the mail he got a fine in the mail from the state of Texas for $800 for "Restitution" for killing an illegal deer.  That same yr later in the year I had my grandson in the stand and a decent 8 pt came out and I used binoculars for I know 15 minutes and the game book shows a picture that the field measurement is if his horns are outside the ears he should be legal and they were so I let him shoot the deer. 
12 3/4".   To do the right thing I called the same game warden and he came out and I told him th look at this and I held the ears out and it was close but definately the horns were outside the ears just barely and then ai showed the warden the picture in the book and he agreed and left.

[hubcapsc]

They're still running around in my field at 6:00 or 7:00am... I guess you have
to get up at 3:00 am to drive there.

-Mike "Bentley ran two off this morning..."

[0leman]

I enjoyed you discussion on your first and probably last hunt.

For me my first was here in Oregon.  We have mostly Mule deer and the legal size for a buck was a fork antler.  Being a forester and working in the hunting area I knew where some of the big eared critters were.  I left home at a decent hour and drove to the area.  Armed with my newly acquired 7mm rifle equipped with a four power scoped set out.  Walked for about an hour when the beasty appeared.  Bought the rife up and fired.  One dead deer.  I then discovered what most hunters discovered, the work has just begun.  i had never field dressed a critter before.  Sure, I had done the deed on rabbits in Oklahoma as a kid   but a deer.  So, started the process. Soon discovered that I had better acquire a better knife.  So, after a period of discovery, I got the deer field dress.  Then started on the mile pull back to the truck.

The deer was a 3 point.  Mule deer are described as points on one side.  Very few hunters in the area used tree stands.  Most just eased through the area on foot.

A year after this hunt moved to Wyoming.  Did do a lot better hunting there.  Lots more deer, antelope, and elk were to be had.

[Jersey mike]

I'm not a hunter, I've never hunted in my life.

That being said I have nothing against real hunters or for that matter our Second Amendment. God Bless our Founding Fathers.

You made a mistake and owned up to it.  And it seems you're a person who learns from their mistakes. Great call on not firing past your friend's face.

Even with the mistake of getting the wrong deer, your decision to inform game wardens and gun safety were terrific. 

I hope they find whoever was firing off random shots. That's another good call on your part.

[carolinarider09]

Excellent story (or tale depending on the way you want to use the word) and also very informative.  Lots of facts I did not know or were never in place here in SC when I hunted. 

And yes, back in my youth (16-21) I did "hunt" with a friend.  Bill Nesmith was a classmate at Myrtle Beach High School and lived just a few blocks away in "Pine Lakes Estates" where our family lived.  Dad was a bird hunter (in the past).  I just got interested and Bill and I would go out try our hand out hunting squirrels and deer. This was back in the 60's so I cannot remember the "long gun" weapon I used.  Heck it might have been a shotgun.

Again, an excellent story Serk and very informative.

[Serk]

2 yrs ago on my deer lease an experienced older hunter shot a tall decent looking 8 pt that was 12 3/4".  Game warden came in for routine check and wrote him a $450 fine.   Then later...in the mail he got a fine in the mail from the state of Texas for $800 for "Restitution" for killing an illegal deer.  That same yr later in the year I had my grandson in the stand and a decent 8 pt came out and I used binoculars for I know 15 minutes and the game book shows a picture that the field measurement is if his horns are outside the ears he should be legal and they were so I let him shoot the deer. 
12 3/4".   To do the right thing I called the same game warden and he came out and I told him th look at this and I held the ears out and it was close but definately the horns were outside the ears just barely and then ai showed the warden the picture in the book and he agreed and left.

Yeowch! I really did roll a natural 20 on getting a relaxed and cool with understanding Game Warden! Could have gone SO much worse! My buddy was... gently.... trying to lean me towards the "This never happened" route, I can see why some might choose that but still just wouldn't be right on my conscious.

They're still running around in my field at 6:00 or 7:00am... I guess you have
to get up at 3:00 am to drive there.

-Mike "Bentley ran two off this morning..."

Yup. Living in the suburbs of the 4th largest metro area in the USA I've got to drive a bit, get into my stand or blind and prefer to be in there and settled down an hour before sunup to let the scent and disturbance of my passing fade from the forest...

3AM wakeup, 330AM departure, 4-430 arrival, get everything unpacked, lugged into position and cozy in the stand or blind by 5ish and just be still and quiet until civil dawn around 630AM when the forest starts waking up.

I enjoyed you discussion on your first and probably last hunt.

Juries still out on if I go again. I'd like to. I still want a proper trophy buck. Although seeing prices of getting one taxidermized ($1100+) I think I'd go with a European style trophy (Skull and horns bleached and put on a plaque ($200ish).

But yeah, many variables between now and next November, but I've already got such a large investment in the land (Don't tell the spousal unit, but several hundred $$$ in a solar powered computer controlled feeder, around a dozen solar powered cellular reporting trail cams, etc) it'd be a shame to not take advantage of it again.

[Willow]

I can't believe that you would end the life of an innocent young beast when you can go to the grocery store and buy meat without doing any damage to any living thing.   

 

[Serk]

I can't believe that you would end the life of an innocent young beast when you can go to the grocery store and buy meat without doing any damage to any living thing. 

 

(Sad thing is there are people who really think that, and their vote counts just as much as yours or mine.)






Being my first I contacted the processor to see if they could hang on to the bullet for me but alas, seems there was an entrance hole and an exit hole, no bullet to be found.

BTW did I mention, I don't think I've ever had venison before, so this will be another new experience for me.

(I've had it in "Exotic meat snacks" that are 90% beef, but not the real thing.)