First Bow Buck.

Brush Creek

5 year old buck +
Saturday October 18th, 2014 Hugo, MN.


Saturday night my son (12) and I headed out to my dad's place in Hugo. We were going to hunt another property we have permission to hunt closer to Stillwater. So this is pretty much city hunting on a nice day which can be an issue.

Left my dads and went to the first spot and when I got there, there were 3 15 year olds playing in the driveway. I turned right around and headed back to my dads knowing those kids have probably trampled through the whole property.

We only had one stand we could hunt and it was close to the house so we headed there. A small permanent stand with just enough room for both of us.

It was a noisy night with pheasant hunters at the game farm, dogs barking, trucks on roads, etc. It was a slow night, but enjoyable for me.

I ask him several times a week if anything cool happened in school as this is his first year of middle school and every time he says no. So about an hour in he says "I'm bored". So I quick ask him if anyone is getting in trouble and he says no. What about Logan? Oh, yeah, he always talks to much in class. Any fights? And this is where he perked up and went on a 15 minute talk about 3 fights.

If we heard something I thought was a deer, he would turn his phone to video, hand it to me and pick up his bow. When it did not come out he would say grunt at it. Of course he sees the videos where the buck is 1.64 miles out, the guy grunts and shoots him at 10 yards 30 seconds later. But I doe and fawn grunt a few times during the night.

He watched a mouse scrounge for dinner. One squirrel, a couple horses next door.

Then just at last light, he says there's a deer. Where? Right there, can't you see it. No. It's a doe, no it's a buck.

The buck was at 3 o'clock to us and only 30 yards away. Our effective range is about 15 yards. But the buck keeps the 30 yard buffer. So I grunt at him a couple times as he is working his way counter clockwise. Now he is at 9 o'clock and still circling us at about 30 yards. Now he is at 6 o'clock, one more grunt and he turns and comes at us. He stops at 12 yards still angling toward us. I can hear my son's excited breathing. I tell my son to point his bow at him and when he starts walking again to draw. The buck starts walking, he draws, the buck stops perfect at 10 yards and I said go ahead aim right behind the shoulder.

Whack. The nockturnal lights up and deer takes off. Looks good but hard to tell. The arrow busts off at about 50 yards. We both shake for 15 minutes, then sneak back to the house.

Came out with Grampa an hour later and 40 yards past the glowing nock is the buck. 1.5 year old bucks are the best.

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that is awesome! the time stamp on the pic is my b-day! congrats to the young lad on a fine buck!
 
Congrats to your son! Great story and even better memories.
 
Congrats an great shot! Looks like my fist bow buck:)!!!
 
Great story! Congrats to you and your son. Memories that will last a lifetime.
 
Awesome!!!
 
What shot placement!
 
GREAT thing there.
 
CONGRATULATIONS to all of you. As stated before memories for a lifetime.
 
That is awesome... great picture to go along with a great story!
 
Congrats to all. Great story.
 
Thanks guys. He wants to do more bow hunting now. This is the only time I am glad for cross tagging. I still have my tag and I am going to try to get him a buck that is 2.5 or more.

Oh and the shot placement....well he does have good genes on his father's side.
 
Good for all of you.
 
C
Thanks guys. He wants to do more bow hunting now. This is the only time I am glad for cross tagging. I still have my tag and I am going to try to get him a buck that is 2.5 or more.

Oh and the shot placement....well he does have good genes on his father's side.

Congrats to your son. Killing any deer with a bow is an accomplishment he will remember forever. The shot placement looks perfect.

Why cross tag? Isn't one buck enough for the season? In Ohio it is and I am happy about it. On my land a kid can shoot any deer they want. But once they kill their one and only buck allowed by law they can become a buck observer while doe hunting. That becomes a great opportunity to observe and learn about deer. They don't always have to kill something. I don't mean to rain on your son's accomplishment. But there is a lot of talk on this site about low deer numbers and it seems everyone is ok with killing more deer when it is just their own personal situation.

Of course you may live in an area with a lot of deer an I could be out of line. I'm just an out of state observer who spends a lot of time reading on this fine site and I don't know your particular situation or area.
 
Congrats to your son. Where's the video??
 
It was dark enough that the video wouldn't work and when we finally saw a deer, he forgot about the phone.

I live in a metro area and while I can only shoot one buck, I can shoot as many does as I want. Everyone has 5 to 10 acres where I live and at least the does are incredibly smart. There is no population problem where I live. I shoot a buck in MN about once every 3 or 4 years so if my son wants to hunt more and we get an older buck to come in, I will let him fill my tag. Plus he can take a doe if he wants. He will still get to watch as he will not be able to shoot another 1.5 year old deer.
 
Sounds good. I had some regret on my post after thinking about it. I should not discuss deer politics and policy on a kids first deer thread.
 
Great hunt, congrats!
 
Sweet!

He's hooked now....
 
Congrats. Good job.
 
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