Got my first bow kill last season with a recurve....It was a Whitetail doe but I still think it was a trophy to me. Yes I love bow hunting.....

Four decades ago my first big game ANYTHING fell to the homemade arrows and plains indian style bow that "George", an Arapahoe Indian, helped me build. They don't have to be "trophies". Each one is a triumph of spirit WITH the game you collect. Bone collectors and table hunters both eat the meat and so engage in the binding of their circle of life with the game they chase. Good on ya, Josh- you too, stomper123.

I just turned 54 2 days ago and I'm still waiting for my first kill; however, due to disability, it will be with a crossbow. Does that still count? Have only been able to go deer hunting 1 time so far, but am looking forward to this next season!

Thanks Josh and your right they are all trophys---drbob80,I was 46 when I killed my first last and yes a crossbow counts.If it throws an arrow,it counts buddy...Good luck this coming season....

last year

Last year opening day of bow season here in IL. 8 ptr. walked by my stand about half hour before end of shooting time. When I first grunted to stop him, he stopped behind a tree. Had to wait for him to start moving again. Stopped him with another grunt, and put an arrow through both lungs at 25 yrds. He ran about 50 yrds, up over some railroad tracks and fell over.

I am 42 and I got my first bow kill in October 2007. It was a 8pt buck, my first.buck ever and my first time to hunt with a bow.

kbest
I got my first bow kill back in 1996, the Monday before Thanksgiving at Ft. Campbell, KY. It was my first antlered whitetail, 8 pts, taken at 7 yards on the ground. I was using an old PSE bow that had belonged to my best friend who had died 2 years before. Haven't missed an opening bow season since then, unless I was deployed to another country.

My first was in 1981 shortly after I got out of the Air Force. I took up archery on a whim with my childhood hunting buddy and we were serious !! I was putting 12 in a coffee cup @ 30 yds.,ruining arrows and as an instinct shooter. We were in Mayville, Mi. pouring rain,evening hunt. I jumped an overgrown farm drainage ditch and continued out into an old field. I had spooked the deer unknown to me back up the ditch to my buddy who was sitting with his back to it. It came pogo-sticking out of the ditch snorting with every bounce and when I heard it I turned around and came to full draw. The movement stopped it in it's tracks giving my instincts time to assess the pitch and I let loose from about 35 yds.. Straight through the front between the shoulders off the last rib and out the side.That nice young 5 point ran about 30 yds. and piled up under a bush with a mouthful of dirt from his last ditch slide.Unbelieveable joy ! and I can re-live it today as if it were last month !!Not the smartest shot but it went PERFECT! Two rotator cuff surgeries and years later I handed my bow down to my son who is looking forward to getting home from Afghanistan in Sept. just in time for a new season !! Good Hunting Everyone !!!!

My first bow kill was a gopher in 1974 when I was 13. After that, with bowhunting throughout the U.S. and Canada, it's all a blur, but I do remember that gopher. I wish I would have at least kept the tail. That would have made for a conversation piece in the trophy room.

My first bow kill was at 9 years old with a home built orange wood bow. I was bitten by the bug then. my deer was a small one, but so was I at that time.

Like others I too am waiting for my first bow kill. I started hunting with a bow last year and have had some close calls. I had a cow elk stop 30 yards from me but she was behind some brush. I called in a coyote that walked no more than 10 feet from me but to close to draw without spooking him. I tried anyway.
My hope is that his year will be the year of firsts. My wife will be bow hunting for the first time and we are both hoping to fill our elk tags.

My first Bow kill came the first year i hunted with my bow. I have had much enjoyment chasing animals with my bow considering the skill it takes to get close enough for the shot!

The year 1976, Pearson Puma 45# recurve, shot a feral goat at about 30 yards near Tarpley TX. The animal expired so fast I was amazed at the lethality and have been at it ever since from TX to AK.

My first bow kill was a white tail doe that we jumped out of a cane thicket. She stopped to look back and gave me enough time for a shot. It took several hours to recover her due to the area being swampy. We lost the blood at the edge of a slough, but I thought she might be trying to make it to a little island. So into that cold water I went and found her just inside the jungle on the island. So back into the water I went with a bow, and my first deer with it. I was 14, my friend and I drove their farm truck all over hunting, shooting fish, what ever we could find to do when it wasn't farming season.

My first archery deer was taken in November 2012 after 13 seasons of archery hunting and over 40 years as a hunter. It was what I called the "spoon buck". It should have been a forkhorn, but somehow it broke both of it's antlers at the base of the forks causing them to flatten out and give the appearance of spoons. I thank the monster I created (my girlfriend who is addicted to ALL kinds of big game hunting since I asked her to hunt with me because we moved and had no one else to hunt with) for insisting that we take up bowhunting two years ago simply to extend our seasons. That was the first time I had archery hunted since 1977