Arrow3
Senior Member
Opening day of rifle season has always been nostalgic for me as it is for a lot of you. My 1st opening morning came when I was 9 years old. Daddy had surprised me (and mama ?) with a Winchester 243 youth model. I was originally gonna hunt with buckshot out of a 20 gauge.
It took me to my 3rd season before I killed my 1st deer, a spike all by myself. My dad never sat with me. Even at 9 he would put me in my own stand and then come back to get me later.
My 1st opening morning buck came the next year when I was 13 years old. All summer I had aggravated my dad about getting me a climbing stand. He had 2 baker climbers and I wanted to use one too. One of his was a bear hug the tree type and the other had a homemade top piece . He told me to practice with the 2 piece so I wore a pine tree out in our yard learning how to use it. There were no safety harnesses or life lines . Just always had to make sure the two pieces were connected together so the bottom couldn't fall.
The Friday before opening morning we scouted a pine thicket on the edge of some big white oaks . We found Lots of scrapes and rubs and daddy showed me which tree he thought I should climb. We went back to the truck and went ahead and hung the climber and marked me a trail with flagging tape on the way back out so I could find it the next morning.
Opening morning brought COLD temperatures. I remember it being in the 30s. I found my climber with no problem and climbed up the tree.
I remember just feeling more like a deer hunter being up in a climber for the first time. Daylight came and I started getting cold even though I was dressed pretty good. About 8 o'clock my legs and feet were freezing . I was sitting on the bottom platform swinging my legs back and forth trying to get some warmth to my feet. As my legs were going back and forth I glanced down to see a deer standing only about 30 yards from me. I immediately saw it was a buck and I went all to pieces.
I got my scope on him and shot!
The buck just started walking like nothing happened. I was shooting that bolt action like an automatic ???.
I knew I shouldn't climb down because my dad had told me to stay till he came and got me. After about 10 minutes I couldn't take it anymore and I climbed down and went looking for my dad. He was all the way across our 110 acre lease. After walking a ways and hollering for him he answered back.
I wasn't sure if he was gonna be mad at me for ruining his opening morning or happy I had shot a buck. Thankfully he wasn't mad and we went looking for my buck. I showed him where the deer was standing and he found blood immediately. The trail was spotty at best but after about 100 yards there laid my 5 pointer !!
Definitely a morning I'll never forget... Not only do I have a Polaroid of the morning but I've still got the rack some 30 years later.... ❤
It took me to my 3rd season before I killed my 1st deer, a spike all by myself. My dad never sat with me. Even at 9 he would put me in my own stand and then come back to get me later.
My 1st opening morning buck came the next year when I was 13 years old. All summer I had aggravated my dad about getting me a climbing stand. He had 2 baker climbers and I wanted to use one too. One of his was a bear hug the tree type and the other had a homemade top piece . He told me to practice with the 2 piece so I wore a pine tree out in our yard learning how to use it. There were no safety harnesses or life lines . Just always had to make sure the two pieces were connected together so the bottom couldn't fall.
The Friday before opening morning we scouted a pine thicket on the edge of some big white oaks . We found Lots of scrapes and rubs and daddy showed me which tree he thought I should climb. We went back to the truck and went ahead and hung the climber and marked me a trail with flagging tape on the way back out so I could find it the next morning.
Opening morning brought COLD temperatures. I remember it being in the 30s. I found my climber with no problem and climbed up the tree.
I remember just feeling more like a deer hunter being up in a climber for the first time. Daylight came and I started getting cold even though I was dressed pretty good. About 8 o'clock my legs and feet were freezing . I was sitting on the bottom platform swinging my legs back and forth trying to get some warmth to my feet. As my legs were going back and forth I glanced down to see a deer standing only about 30 yards from me. I immediately saw it was a buck and I went all to pieces.
I got my scope on him and shot!
The buck just started walking like nothing happened. I was shooting that bolt action like an automatic ???.
I knew I shouldn't climb down because my dad had told me to stay till he came and got me. After about 10 minutes I couldn't take it anymore and I climbed down and went looking for my dad. He was all the way across our 110 acre lease. After walking a ways and hollering for him he answered back.
I wasn't sure if he was gonna be mad at me for ruining his opening morning or happy I had shot a buck. Thankfully he wasn't mad and we went looking for my buck. I showed him where the deer was standing and he found blood immediately. The trail was spotty at best but after about 100 yards there laid my 5 pointer !!
Definitely a morning I'll never forget... Not only do I have a Polaroid of the morning but I've still got the rack some 30 years later.... ❤
