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MBP78

New Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2024
Messages
3
Location
Murfreesboro
Thanks for accepting me to the group, I appreciate it. A little about me (long story short); I'm 45, family originally from NJ, moved to south GA when I was 7, pretty much grew up there, my wife, son and I moved to Murfreesboro in January of this year. My father was an avid outdoorsman, I remember him talking about his favorites; deer hunting, pheasant hunting, fly fishing, etc. I went with him a few times as a kid in GA, nothing serious (walk down the dirt road to the creek with the shotguns and shoot what we could, squirrels mostly is all I got). I always have wanted to seriously get into hunting, but never did. I don't have any hobbies, and would like something I can teach and share with my soon to be 5 year old son. My dad fell at home in late June of this year and died in the middle of August, it was very unexpected. So I am giving this a shot because one thing he always told me is "it's never too late, do it now, don't procrastinate, try something new, but do it now". I have all the gear I need (I think), I've taken classes with the TWF, researched the internet, watched tons of YouTube videos, been out to Pea Ridge WMA and Cedars of Lebanon a few times scouting and have some spots marked for the start of gun season this Saturday. I still have a million questions and hope to gain some tips, knowledge, what to and not to dos, etc. from the members of this group.
 
Been out every weekend since gun season started, got a couple of shots off but missed. Finally got what I thought was a smaller doe last weekend at Headwaters WMA, turns out it was what the processor called a "button buck". If I'd of known I wouldn't have shot, I know that's frowned upon. He was right in front of me broadside at maybe 30 yds, from his shoulders back was clear but his front was covered by some limbs, so I didn't get a good look at the head. First time field dressing was no problem, the guy at the processor said it was a great job thankfully.
 

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Congrats on your first deer and welcome. I'm not a great hunter by anyone's standards, but that doesn't stop me from pointing out a couple of things that concern me about your post. I'm less concerned with the button buck and more concerned with the "couple of shots that missed." Always check for blood, or any sign of hitting the deer. If you find any sign, you owe it to the animal to thoroughly search for more sign and be reasonably sure it was a miss and not an agonizingly slow death to the deer. We all miss our targets at times, but make sure you only take shots that you feel certain that you can make. Maybe you did all of this, so just disregard this as an old man rambling, if so.
 
Congrats on the deer and don't worry, every single person on this forum has killed a button buck thinking it was a doe if they've hunted long enough.

I did it last year with my bow. As I walked up to it I thought, "wow that deer is smaller than I thought" then saw the knobs on his head. Oops!

And I'll echo what CrappieAddict says. Sometimes, even with a rifle, you get no blood. It's not common, but it does happen.

My Dad killed one last night that he said he was about to give up on thinking he missed. Then he found one single drop, another, then just an outpouring of blood that led to a dead deer. He didn't find that first drop until quite a ways from where he shot it.

I myself can think of a few deer I killed that had absolutely no blood trail. Only way I found them is by paying close attention to what I saw and heard after the shot, went that direction and found them laying there.

Hey that button buck is going to be very tender! Enjoy the meat and congrats!
 
The others gave you good advice on bloodtrailing. Don't give up if you don't find blood at first. So many of my deer don't have great bloodtrails since I hunt with a smaller caliber (I'm a lady who loves to hunt with a good ole 243.) but they never go far and normally you can hear them fall. Make sure to get down on ground level if you can't find blood and look for brush disturbances like leaves pushed out of the way or twigs snapped.

Also, Welcome to the forum ! There are lots of friendly folks here with lots of knowledge to share.
 
No shame in shooting a small deer. As others have said we (or most of us) have done the same thing. Just don't expect a lot back from the processor. Because once the hide is off, and the bones removed, your yield will be maybe 20lbs. of meat. Next one will be bigger. A big thing to remember is if the deers face/ nose is short it's a fawn. If the nose is longer looking it's at least 1.5 years old. Look at some pictures online and take notice of the differences.
 
Sorry I didn't give more detail on the missed shots. The first one I fired at, I saw her jump and saw dirt fly up, there was another doe about 10-15 yards from her that just looked up and kept walking. It was in a wide open field and afterwards I spent a couple of hours walking that whole area and didn't see anything. The second one I shot at was a complete miss, I fired, she ran a few steps and stopped, then trotted off down the hill. Thanks for all the advice and tips, I'll use them next time.
 

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