# What was your first harvest with a bow?



## Bowhunter57 (Feb 14, 2010)

*I was walking into my treestand and spotted a groundhog, that had spotted me. He ran a short distance and stopped at his den opening. I was coming to full draw as he ran and when he stopped I released the arrow. The arrow passed through both lungs and he rolled over the mound of dirt, where he was standing.*

*He was a biggin' (approx. 14#) that had worn down teeth that were orange in color and most of his hair was worn off his back. As I held my first kill with a bow in my hand, I looked at the bow and back to the groundhog and realized that I could actually kill something with this weapon. I've been addicted ever since that day.*

*What was your first harvest with a bow?*

*Good hunting, Bowhunter57*


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## CGC Mitch (Feb 6, 2010)

My first kill was a woodchuck in my back yard I was proably 8 . I lived on the edge of town and my brother and I were pretty hard on them and rabbits and squirrel . I was 12 when I got my first archery whitetail it was with an bear bow that had bracketts on the limbs that the wheels were mounted to. It is funny to think back at the stuff we used to shoot , like the sights that you could tighten with your fingers then after a few shots they would fall down. The pin gaps were as big back then as the distance across all my pins now, no range finders but it was fun.


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## the_alpha13 (Feb 20, 2010)

My first kill with a bow was a 6 pt buck. I was hunting with a best friend and he promised me that I'd get my first deer here. We were hunting a small 80 acres inside the city limits that he had permission to hunt on. We got out there and around 3:30 that November afternoon the deer started moving. He shot an 8 ptr that crossed the creek in front of him and after watching that, I was extremely trigger happy. I watched a small 6 ptr that was nosin' some dirt about 120 yards away. I turned my doe can call and here he came. He crossed the creek and walked straight in front of me at 20 yards. I drilled him with all my Hoyt Alphamax and he felt it. As I watched him run 10-20-30 yards, I questioned my shot like all first time hunters do and so I looked at my arrow that was in the ground right behind where he was standing when I took the shot. Then I turned back to the buck and he stumbled and tilted over. I knew he was down. My friend called me on my cell phone to ask if I got him and I replied yes, and when it got dark I claimed my kill and drug him out of the woods. My first kill and first friend double.


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## oldgun (Feb 25, 2010)

No first yet but am still hooked on bow hunting and it will happen!


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## Makwa (Feb 28, 2010)

My first bow kill was a fork horn blacktail buck at about 15 yards with a recurve about 35 years ago. Time flies.


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## RELucero (Mar 1, 2010)

My first kills was a prairie dog ...followed by 27 more within a few months ....Compound bow from garage..lol
On opening day 1 muley doe,same day a grouse both at 33 yds SO FUN ! Now shooting recurve too ...preparing for pheasant now


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## catcapper (Feb 11, 2010)

When I was 12 yrs old my pa got me a Bear Cub Bow---heck, that thing was as long as I was tall. Anyway, I shot at 20 yds. and 30 yds.till I could just about split one of those old wooden shaft arrows that stuck out of the target. Long story short-- I shot a little fork horn Whitetail at 14'. Still have that scronnie little rack with the broken wooden arrow shaft hang'in on the wall.


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## curs1 (Mar 3, 2010)

My first animal with a bow was a ground hog. My first big game animal was a Quebec moose


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## Stu3 (Feb 17, 2010)

33 years ago shot a doe in the mountains of West Virginia with a PSE and a gamegetter arrow with a wasp broadhead, while hunting with my father. We were on the ground walking up a logging road when he decided to walk down the hollow around a old beaver pond that was in the bottom. He jumped six or seven deer in the bottom that ran up to me I was shaking so bad that I missed the first one and they took off. After finding my arrow I went back to where I had shot from turned around and here came another one and stood in the same place. Luck was my side that time I hit her perfect she only went about twenty yards. I think my dad was more exited than me at the time.


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## kallinfool (Feb 25, 2010)

My first bow kill was a 4*4 bull elk 3 yrs ago! Practiced all summer that yr doin 3-d shoots and in the back yard. Was shakin like a leaf when he come to the call!! Placed the G-5 broadhead right behind the last rib on a quartering away shot. Been hooked ever since!!!


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## tjc1230 (Mar 3, 2010)

My first was a cotintail. I was young ,12/13 the bows were crude fiberglass , no arrow rest back then. I shot it with a large broad head and ruined it. But now things are different and many a game animals have met my freezer.


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## tkortright (Mar 9, 2010)

my first bow kill was a chipmunk that got stuck on to a log


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## poe (Feb 10, 2010)

my first was when I was probably 9 or 10. I had a little fibreglass recurve and I ended up getting a muskrat.


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## Mr Mike (Feb 5, 2010)

At agr 10 I was given a Bear Bow purchased at Korvettes in Philadelphia, 15lb gret plastic/resin material came with 3 wooden arrows topped with target tips. I was'nt allowed to have a BB gun, all my friends had them. We were on a Safari along the railroad tracks behind NE Philly Airport and spotted a mature bull grazing in the approach field, we did a ground stalk about 20yds on our bellies when he put his head down to eat the grass I came up on one knee aimed and let the arrow fly, the arrow hit the now enraged Bull in the shoulder , it turned and charged me and Bobby. We ran about 20yds than stopped when it started to bark at us. We both turned and I let another arrow fly as Bobby fire his trusty El Dorado .177 pellet rifle(Daisey) both hit there marks and we approached the fallen Bull. Biggest Groundhog in the world and it scared us to death, we both jumped up and down so excited. Bobby is no longer with us but this will live on in our families memories. The year was 1970.


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## fxhtr (Mar 17, 2010)

first kill was a doe, if you dont want to count a beetle that was crawling on my target. lol


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## El Gato Loco (Jan 15, 2010)

Haven't caught the bow bug YET. Maybe some day.


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## chuck richards (Feb 1, 2010)

My first was a cottontail that was inhabiting the archery range. The place was actually overrun with them. This one just happened to come down the trail (field range) and stopped right in front of me. I was in full camo prepping for an upcoming hunt. It stopped and I put one right through. This was my first and only bow kill to date. Just stated shooting again a few month ago after a 25 year absence. Feels good. Now for a hooved animal. Preferably an Elk but a nice BT would be great too.


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## COYOTE JOE (Feb 27, 2010)

I shot anything that moved over 45yrs ago know i am picky


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## COElkFreak (Feb 1, 2010)

My first was a cottontail rabbit.....followed up by a doe antelope.


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## Cliffy (Mar 7, 2010)

My first bow kill was a common carp, and have killed thousands since. Most kills run five to ten pounds each. Often I fill my rowboat with bloody carp. When I get back to shore, I empty the fishes and swamp my boat to clean it out, like a perpetual ritual. Since a roasted wooden board tastes better than roasted carp, I bury the carp in my vegetable garden: makes great fertilizer. Cliffy


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## On a call (Mar 3, 2010)

Cottontail, followed by a Pheasant, followed by squirrel, follow by chipmonk, followed by duck, followed by White tails.......


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## knapper (Feb 5, 2010)

A snowshoe hare pass through which fell over got up and ran off, I found it. After that several turkeys, not wild, someone complained about them to the zoning folks and I had to kill them off. They were so smart that I had to get the bow with blunts and thump them in the head.


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

A cottontail that probably thought he was really safe and he was the first several times I shot at him, that rabbit ate 1/2 the garden before I got lucky. I got a fiberglass recurve when I was 6 and I sucked with it.


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## ebbs (Feb 7, 2010)

Whitetail doe. Shot her right in the butt. Managed to get the femural artery though and she bled out after about 300 yards.


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

Used to shoot gophers when I was young, went back to 22's cause some of them would get down the hole and we couldn't afford to buy more arrows!!!


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## Tommy (Jan 21, 2010)

Congratulations to everyone on their first kills, it sure has a way of sticking in your mind. My first ever bow kill was about a 100 inch 5 by 5 whitetail buck. I was 13, and had been bowhunting for about 2 months, and was getting discouraged enough that I was thinking about giving it up. Now I can't get enough of it, and am most certainly hooked for life.


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## On a call (Mar 3, 2010)

hassell said:


> Used to shoot gophers when I was young, went back to 22's cause some of them would get down the hole and we couldn't afford to buy more arrows!!!


Wow Hassell....you must have some of the largest gophers I have heard of !! If they were taking your arrow with them down the hole.....you might have tried tying string onto them, that...or follow em down the hole. Better yet...the way those things look I would let em have the arrow. I saw my first gopher while up bear hunting in May...the cats had killed a couple...nasty looking things.


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

On a call said:


> Wow Hassell....you must have some of the largest gophers I have heard of !! If they were taking your arrow with them down the hole.....you might have tried tying string onto them, that...or follow em down the hole. Better yet...the way those things look I would let em have the arrow. I saw my first gopher while up bear hunting in May...the cats had killed a couple...nasty looking things.


 Yea they were big, some of the mounds were a good size, you could stick your arm down the hole, some you could see the arrow so could get them, it was cheaper to buy shells than arrows so that was our archery adventure, bought a bear recurve in the 70's but never used it for hunting.


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## lswoody (Jul 16, 2010)

My first kill was a big doe, That was several years ago. Can no longer hunt with a regular bow because of a shoulder injury but can use a crossbow. Still like the regular bow better but the crossbow gets me in the woods earlier.


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## battman1 (May 21, 2010)

Mine was a little scrubby buck.Kind of squirrely lookin really.


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## wvcoyote (Mar 14, 2010)

My first kill was a gray squirrel with a recurve, I was 14 then, man thats along time ago.


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## foxriveroutlaw (May 4, 2010)

My first kill was a rabbit. I was 16 got my first rifle a 22 single shot.


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## Rem22-250 (Feb 26, 2010)

Bird out of the top of a 40 ft. pine tree. 25# pull fiberglass recurve bow broken wooden arrow. I had broken the tip off the arrow but it still shot straight. 12 years old then.


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## autumnrider (Feb 2, 2010)

a black bird was my first----bread on the ground and i was in a tree. I was probably 12 yrs old then.


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## stop'em an drop'em (Sep 21, 2010)

my first was when i was 11 i got a jack rabbit , i froze my but off during white tail season that jack rabbit looked like a monster buck to me at that point !!


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## cwh (Jan 17, 2011)

squirriel at 20 yards


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## ebr270 (Jan 18, 2011)

My first kill with a bow was 3 years ago, my brother got me into bowhunting. I was deer hunting in a tri-pod stand about 15 feet high. Had a coyote walk right under my stand, shot him right between the shoulder blades and pinned him to the ground. Since then shot 4 deer, no more yotes.


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## Ruger (Jan 22, 2011)

My first was a small black bear. I was sitting on a pond hoping for a buck to show up. A small bear showed up first, I had a bear tag and had never killed anything with my bow. I took the shot and was thrilled at a good shot. I snuck out of the stand and went to camp. I couldn't talk anybody into go with me to trail a bear in the dark. So I had to spend a sleepless night anticipating the next morning. We got out early the next morning and had a short tracking job and I had my first bowkill! Been hooked on bowhunting since then.


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## ebbs (Feb 7, 2010)

Sounds pretty exciting Ruger!


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## El Gato Loco (Jan 15, 2010)

Starting to catch the bug myself.... haven't shot a bow since high-school but i'm all for it!


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## On a call (Mar 3, 2010)

It is a challenge for sure.


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## knapper (Feb 5, 2010)

I want to head north and get some artic fox with a bow, had a trip planned and work changed and threw all of our plans out the window. I talked to one fish and game guy that had been up there 22 times and that was a year ago. I am not talking about Fairbanks, I mean the north slope north of the Brooks range. Where it gets cold and blows a lot. I guess it will have to wait until next fall/winter.


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## On a call (Mar 3, 2010)

Hey Barry....what time of year do they do that ?

How do they hunt for them with the bow ?


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## knapper (Feb 5, 2010)

They spot one from the road and then call it in and shoot it with a bow. Time frame would be Oct.-Nov. time frame. There are also caribou there some too.


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## On a call (Mar 3, 2010)

Wow...that does sound soo sweet.


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## knapper (Feb 5, 2010)

It is a bow only area and no crossbows, scopes and laser sights. The area is the area within 5 miles of the pipeline for bows, there is a bow certitifican that is needed and they allow other states certs.


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## foxriveroutlaw (May 4, 2010)

My first kill with a bow was a doe.


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## MrAlberta (Mar 6, 2010)

This may be hard to believe but on my very first hunt, with a bow, I arrowed a bull moose at 18 yards from my tree stand. My brother-in-law had been bow hunting for 3 years and had never a shot anything yet with his bow. Needless to say to this day he still thinks i have a hard time going to the bathroom with all my horseshoes. hahaha


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## Patty (Dec 11, 2011)

my first bow kill was A beautiful 4x4 full velvet whitetail.... followed by A very lengthy dry spell!


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## dp1mat (Jan 28, 2012)

My first bow kill was 3 yrs ago thats all the experience I got in hunting. My boss was wanting a place to hunt so I mentioned my family had some land he could prob lease. He leased it talked me into going so a friend lent me a 70s model wooden Bear compound bow. It had ugly metal sights on it. I went to WallyWorld bought some cheap arrows 3 of them. Practiced a few days with the bow. First day hunting season I stuck the first deer I saw. It was a real young button buck about 25 yds away. I was pumped and then I was bummed and almost gave up hunting. After talking to another friend he explained how deers eat crops, run into cars, yada yada and that turned me around. I think I ended up killing 4 deer my first year including a 9pt. Then next year I got a better bow Buckskin Reflex and I killed 2 9pts including one that dressed out 190#s and doe. This year I bought a PSE DREAM SEASON EVO and passed through 2 does, kind bummed I didnt get a 10pt or bigger.


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## Mick105 (Jan 6, 2012)

An earwig believe it or not! I was in the back yard practicing with my new Darton that dad had just bought me. I missed the bail of hay and hit the shed. When we went to pull the arrow out dad noticed that I hit an earwig that was crawling on the shed. All you could see was the pincher. Not counting insects, the first animal I killed was a rabbitt. My cousin and I had a tree fort at the back of his property. We killed tons of bunnies from it with our bows


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## TexasPredHunter (Jan 4, 2012)

[sup]my first bow kill was nice sized Audad. they used to escape off all the game ranches around our hutning lease. that thing ran 400 yards and we didnt find it till the next day. or, i guess i should say what was left of it. yotes had gotten the hind end after they dragged it another 100 yards.[/sup]


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## 220swift (Mar 2, 2011)

Stonegod said:


> My first bow kill was a chipmunk with a wooden bow that shot wood arrows with suction cups.....I figured out that I could take off the cup and sharpen the arrow in a pencil sharpener I was 8yrs old.........I got grounded for 2 months for that one......and "lost" my prized "hunting bow" also.


I got the same bow and arrow setup from my grandmother( mom's mom) when I was six. Like you I figured out taking off the suction cups(didn't sharpen) I could make them stick in a cardboard box, well one also hit my younger brother at the base of his ear in his neck and according to my mother stuck in his neck. Wasn't my first harvest but was my first live game. Well that ended that bow, but there have many others since then. This was a story my mother told everyone.

The first actual harvest was a nice 8 pt whitetail in southern Iowa in 1969. Killed 14 deer over the next 15 years and several coyotes, two fox, 5 raccoon and more squirels than I remember all from tree stands. One turkey from the ground.


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## 220swift (Mar 2, 2011)

Stonegod said:


> I bet your brother is happy you didn't decide to use the pencil sharpening trick!!LOL


Yes he was..................lol


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## Benbibler (Nov 19, 2011)

220swift said:


> I got the same bow and arrow setup from my grandmother( mom's mom) when I was six. Like you I figured out taking off the suction cups(didn't sharpen) I could make them stick in a cardboard box, well one also hit my younger brother at the base of his ear in his neck and according to my mother stuck in his neck. Wasn't my first harvest but was my first live game. Well that ended that bow, but there have many others since then. This was a story my mother told everyone.
> 
> The first actual harvest was a nice 8 pt whitetail in southern Iowa in 1969. Killed 14 deer over the next 15 years and several coyotes, two fox, 5 raccoon and more squirels than I remember all from tree stands. One turkey from the ground.


You are lucky you didn't catch a delayed ricochet from your brother. I know I would have.


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## 220swift (Mar 2, 2011)

He was a good friend. He's will be gone 28 years on the 29th of Feb. Cars, alcohol and exwives just don't mix.


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## NattyB (Jan 5, 2012)

The first I remember was a drake mallard that I stuck with an arrow from a 35# Yellow Fiberglass recurve. It was a beautiful Spring day...oops! Hey, I was about 10 years old. I'm raising my boy's differently. "Dad, we're not allowed to be poachers", they'll say. However, I take them legally hunting as much as I can. RS, NattyB


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## Scotty D. (Feb 23, 2012)

I started bowhunting anything & everything when I was about 12...I couldn't afford .22 shells all the time & arrows were a great investment (reuseable--as long as I could find 'em after I shot) Those were great times...My first kill (on anything bigger than a chipmunk) was a groundhog.. First archery deer was a doe...


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## prairiewolf (Feb 19, 2012)

My first archery kill was a bear here on the rim in 1973 with a wing recurve, quickly moved up to a Bear compound when they came out but recently went back to traditional archery (2 yrs ago) and believe it or not first kill with longbow was a bear here on the rim. Only 2 bears I have ever shot and both were firsts for a traditional bow.


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## MountainCoyotes (Mar 16, 2012)

I killed a groundhog with my bow haha


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## Scotty D. (Feb 23, 2012)

prairiewolf said:


> My first archery kill was a bear here on the rim in 1973 with a wing recurve, quickly moved up to a Bear compound when they came out but recently went back to traditional archery (2 yrs ago) and believe it or not first kill with longbow was a bear here on the rim. Only 2 bears I have ever shot and both were firsts for a traditional bow.


Those Wing recurves were awesome looking bows....As a kid, I would stare at the picture in Bowhunter magazine & dream about owning one...


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## dwtrees (Mar 5, 2012)

My first was at the archery range where dad was teaching me to shoot my first Bear recurve. We were walking to the next target when off to the side a large mean big red squirrel was about to attack us. I drew and fired my brand new arrow at him







and pinned his but to the tree







. All dad could say was, didn't even see him, good shot. I was 10 at the time. Arrow didn't survive either.


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## glenway (Mar 27, 2011)

"...large big mean red squirrel..."

Geez! Isn't that like huge midgets or jumbo shrimp?


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## NattyB1 (Jan 21, 2012)

Honesty demands the explaination of "Dad, we're not allowed to be poachers." My boy was 4 YOA in the front yard with his 5-8LB fiberglass recurve. I made them blunts with duct tape on the end. I'd let him shoot at birds to practice his skills. He was 4. Don't you know he aims at a goldfinch and whacks it! Down it comes. He's all happy...then my wife walks out. (Just so happens the goldfinch is Iowa's state bird and my wife is from that great state.) Dad...doghouse. I gotta sit my boy down and explain seasons and bag limits to him. He looks up at me with crocodile tears and says, "But Dad, I wanna be just like you and put it on the wall!" ...Didn't mount it, but did save some feathers. Boy made a fine shot. RS, NattyB


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## MountainCoyotes (Mar 16, 2012)

glenway said:


> "...large big mean red squirrel..."
> 
> Geez! Isn't that like huge midgets or jumbo shrimp?


Thats funny haha


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## glenway (Mar 27, 2011)

My first bow kill was a modest six-point buck taken with a PSE and aluminum arrows. I lost the trail and looked for close to two hours with a friend for clues. I decided to go home and get my goofy black Labrador retriever, who never tracked a thing in his life. He found the deer in about a minute, after dragging me through tag alders, hawthorns, multiflora rose. Since this is a family site, I don't want to explain what he did to the arrow hole, though. Just use your imagination.


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## Scotty D. (Feb 23, 2012)

Stonegod said:


> So what is the season/bag limit for goldfinches???LOL Your son will tag his share of trophy bucks...yotes ect. But when he's old and gray he'll still remember his first big kill.....that goldfinch!!!


I don't know what the bag limit is, but I can say that they taste kinda like Bald Eagle or Spotted Owl... LOL


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## fr3db3ar (Aug 6, 2011)

It's been so long ago I don't rightly 'member.

However my most memorable is a chipmunk tail. A buddy and I were just walking and stump shooting with blunts. I was shooting my Black Widow LAG. Chipmunk was about 30 yards. I took the shot, chipmunk disappeared. Went to recover my arrow and there was the arrow, the chipmunk hole and his entire tail. That was a trophy worth keeping.


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## dizdiz200 (May 7, 2012)

my first kill with my bow was my wallet. second was my target. third was the backstrap of a 11 point which i shot 2 days later with my 7mm mag. still waiting on my first clean kill with it. so i guess i would call it an almost.. lol.


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## Rich Cronk (Feb 24, 2010)

My first kill with a bow was back in the late 1960's. I was shooting a 60" Bear Kodiak recurve that was stamped as 50 pound draw at 28". I was shooting cedar arrows with Bear broadheads. The ten point Iowa whitetail was standing broad side to me when I released. Now the terrain was rugged, so I could not get real accurate paces, but the best I could tell, the distance was an amazing 80 yards. The deer spun around when he heard the twang of my string and the arrow made what coyote hunters call a Texas heart shot. With help from a friend we tracked the deer through the darkness with aid of a coleman gas lantern. We found the deer about 1/2 mile from the spot where he took the arrow.


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## Rick Howard (Feb 25, 2012)

Mine was a fish (Carp). With a Bear recurve from the 70's and a home made fishing arrow and spool. I was 10years old and hooked. I shot my first deer (a doe) a few years later with a Darton compound bow.


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## Hortontoter (Apr 27, 2012)

My first archery kill was a 6 point Ohio whitetail I shot in 2004. I was 53 years old and it was my first season to archery hunt. Took him at 7 yards with the Horton SuperMag that I still use today. To say I was hooked was an understatement. Last fall I probably spent 40-50 days archery hunting whitetails. I'm picky though and never took a shot last season.


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

Shooting gophers, got too expensive as a few got back into their tunnels and couldn't retrieve the arrow with out a shovel, back to the old 22.


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