Memory's Gift - A Young Boy's First Buck

Few events in a hunter's life are more memorable than the taking of his or her first big game animal. If you hunt, my guess is that you would probably agree.

Here is a picture of my first white-tailed deer, which I recently found in a box of old Ektachrome slides. It is the only physical record I have left, as the mount was lost in a fire so many years ago.

I took this Maryland buck in 1971 when I was thirteen years old, with a Pumpkin Ball slug fired off the bead of my Remington 1100 shotgun. It could not have been a more beautiful, crisp, November morning in that wonderful land of whitetails. It was a fine shot too, for it is not so easy to make a fifty yard shot with that equipment. I was more than thrilled, and I don’t think anyone could have wiped the smile off of my face for several days.

I can recall almost every detail of that scene to this day, and I don’t mind revisiting it periodically in my mind. Obviously, it is not the biggest whitetail buck ever harvested, but it may as well have been, at least to me. Why it was as big as the world.

I hope that you have a memory like this in your box of experiences, and if not, may you get one soon.

Long live the white-tailed deer…and the wild woodlots of the world!

You can read the full story at http://throughahunterseyes.com/gift/

I, Michael Patrick McCarty, am the original author of this content.

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"One does not hunt in order to kill; on the contrary, one kills in order to have hunted". From Meditations on Hunting by José Ortega y Gasset

If you are interested in conservation and hunter education I would highly recommend this little volume by Jim Posewitz. It is also invaluable if you find yourself in a discussion about the defense of hunting.

We generally have a copy in our bookstore stock, if so interested.