My First (Hunted) Deer

My friends and I have been drawn for Indiana State Park hunts for three years in a row now thanks to George and his lucky horseshoe stuck up his ass (he’s actually been selected four years in a row now). The first year we were drawn for the Potato Creek early and late hunts during which Jake was able to take a nice six point buck in the last half hour of shooting time. The second year we had the Dunes early and Potato Creek late in which we were all skunked. This year (2022) we were drawn for Tippecanoe early and Potato Creek late. 

Indiana State Park hunts require that you take any ethical shot at any deer. The reason behind these park hunts are to control populations that are getting large for the park so they would rather you take the little guys and does. The limits are one antlered and two antlerless deer (or 3 antlerless). 

So, here we are. Jake, George, and I are geared up for a chilly but not too cold morning and we take the hour drive to get to the park. Jake was the only one who had the opportunity to scout the park beforehand so we were following his advice before we wandered out into the woods. He had a nice area picked out by the river that had some bedding areas around it. We grabbed our guns and flashlights and headed down the trail, George broke off first, spotting a promising opening that was slightly elevated from the river and grass. Jake broke off a couple hundred yards down the trail and I kept going. Flashlights were pretty useless to see much past the trail as the light would just reflect off of every little branch of brush but I got to a point where I could make out a bend in the river and what seemed like an overlook into a grassy area. This is where I planted myself. 

One thing I love about getting out in the woods to hunt is after I get settled in. This is when you’re able to sit and relax while taking in the all but silent surroundings of nature, especially when the sky is clear. This particular morning was about 30 degrees and a clear moonless sky. I sprayed some doe piss around the area and waited. I had about 45 minutes before sunrise to take it all in. 

At about 6:45a.m. I heard some rustling in the leaves that sounded like someone walking through, but I saw no lights. Sunrise is at 7:02 which is when you can start shooting. It’s 15 minutes before I can shoot. The area is starting to lighten up, but not much. The rustling was coming from behind me on my right (I was sitting on a downed tree) so I sat there and just listened. More rustling as it moves from my right to behind me and then off to my left. I squint and look to my left and I can see a silhouette from what I can tell to be about 25 yards out. It looked like a decent sized buck, he had this walk about him like he was hot shit. My heart is pounding. I check the time as slowly and silently as I can… 6:52, 10 minutes... He walked up a little bit and turned to come up the elevation I was sitting at and stood about 15 yards dead ahead of me. Then he must’ve smelled me as he bounced back off to my left back to where he stood before and stopped. My heart is beating through my chest, neck and ears. I checked the time, 5:57… 5 minutes to go. I have everything ready and waiting just in case he sticks around…. He doesn’t. He took off and I never saw him again. My adrenaline was still pumping and I was thrilled to have that experience! 

Sunrise came and I finally get to see the whole area around me. I was elevated about 15 feet from the river. Where I sat was near where the river bent down and around in kind of the shape of a uvula (the little punching bag at the back of your mouth) so I was able to watch all along the banks. Anything on my side of the river was fair game, across the river was a safe zone. Behind me was all forest, while along the river to my left was lower land that was flat and grassy. It turns out I picked a really good spot! 

Shortly after sunrise, shots began in the distance. I spotted what looked to be a pair of nice sized does across the river grazing and wandering lazily. I was hoping they would cross and come towards me, but they walked along the bank for about 100 yards and crossed up stream and out of range. Then a buck that looked like a six pointer crossed the river into the safe zone on my right. This is by far the most action I’ve witnessed in my four seasons of hunting, I’m getting pretty damn excited! The shots were getting a little more frequent and louder… The deer are moving, and moving my way. 

It was about 8:30 or so when I spotted a deer crossing the river to my right. In that area the bank was a drop off and there was a downed tree blocking my view from the edge, but I heard the deer jump out of the water on my side of the river. I stood up and readied my shotgun. I waited for about a minute before I saw what looked like a smaller doe pop onto the trail and walk towards my direction with its head down, probably smelling the piss I sprayed in the area. It stopped about 25 yards from me, I took aim and took my shot. 

It wasn’t my best shot, but I’ll be damned… in my fourth season overall, third season of park hunts, the first time I have ever taken a shot at a deer, I got one! As I said, it wasn’t my best shot, I hit it in the middle of the back. The deer fell to its side, kicked a couple of times and expired. I was relieved when it died quickly as I did not want it to suffer at all, and I also didn’t want to have to walk up and put it out of its misery if I didn’t have to. Surprisingly my heart was not thumping through my chest. I was calm. I think I was so calm because most of my adrenaline was spent between 5:45 and 5:58 that morning. 

Holy shit! I got a deer! Now I walk up to the animal and see a bit of a bulge on its forehead, it wasn’t a doe, it was a little button buck with barely a break in his fur around the two nubs. I brought my deer over to where I was stationed and thanked it for its sacrifice. I’m kind of surprised I had no tears, I definitely thought I would cry like a little bitch when I killed my first deer, I’m emotional like that sometimes. I can’t wait to let Jake and George know I got a deer already… absolutely no phone service, oh well. 

So now I’ve got a deer and I need to field dress it. For those of you that know me, you know why the title of this is my first (HUNTED) deer… Last year I picked up some very fresh roadkill and I dressed it on the side of the road, and to be honest I think I did very well for it being my first time. If you want that story, let me know and I’ll send it to you. Anyway, this time I went completely blank. I knew where to start but couldn’t think past that. All I had on me was my SOG multi tool, everything else was in my “got one” bag in George’s car. I walked down the trail and found Jake first and he came back down the trail with me to check out my deer. I told him I was drawing a blank on how to field dress it, so he refreshed me and headed back to his car to grab the sled. We would regret this later. 

Shots around me and in the distance were happening pretty regularly at this time and I got the deer in a good position to start the process.  I tried to start with the blade in the multi tool, but the edge was a bit dull so I decided to wait until Jake got back. This is where knowing all of the rules would’ve come in handy. I shot a male that I thought was a doe, in my mind at the time I couldn’t remember if I could take another male. I hear more rustling close by, in the woods behind me I see two more small deer coming through, the first having a graze across its shoulder, and the next I could tell was a spike. I could’ve taken a shot but was afraid that the one in front was another button and wouldn’t be legal. It turns out, I would’ve been perfectly within the limits to take either deer because anything under 3” antlers was considered antlerless. So, if I would’ve been clear on the rules, I could have at least taken a shot at the two deer walking by. Lesson learned. 

When Jake got back with the sled and seen that I made about zero progress I’m pretty sure I got a “what the fuck are you waiting for?” look of disappointment, but he still helped me out and gave me his knife to get going. I’ll spare the details and just say that I did a better job with the roadkill than this one, but I had a video at the ready when I was on the side of the road. When I finally got my deer all cleaned up I got it in the sled and started hauling it back to the car. Remember when I said we would regret Jake going to get the sled at that time? Yeah, that’s because on his walk to the car and back, while all that shooting was going on, he counted 8 deer moving along the trail… All deer that could’ve been walking towards his spot or mine. If we (I) would’ve thought clearly we could’ve let the deer sit and had more opportunities to put even more meat in the freezer, but I was too excited to sit still. As we passed George on the way back he joined us. When we got back to the cars I cleaned up a couple of spots and rinsed out the deer. We stayed by the cars for a little while so that we could discuss the hunt thus far. A DNR officer stopped by to say hi and I asked him to clarify the bag limit rules just to make sure that I was a dumbass for not taking a shot at the other deer, again, lesson learned. 

George and I went back to our original spots and Jake went down the trail to find a new one. By this time the shots around us had slowed and we knew the deer were bedding down and hiding out. I saw a couple deer wandering around across the river throughout the rest of the day and watched a group of 4 does cross the river into the hunting area on my left side, but where they jumped out was blocked by a big tree in my line of sight, when they got out of the water I was hoping they would come my way but they just disappeared. Every shot in the distance off my right side I was hoping it was Jake, my left, I hoped it was George, but the only deer taken that day for our group was mine. We took it back to Jake’s and hooked him up in the garage so he’d be ready to get broken down when we got back the next evening. 

The second day of the hunt was pretty much a (deer) ghost town. Distant shots were few and far between. The only deer I saw that day was on the wrong side of the river and wandered deeper into the safe zone. When the day was done we all came up empty handed and George proclaimed himself to be a Stormtrooper because he missed 5 deer over the two days, but in his defense his sight broke off of his (beautiful) 70+ year old shotgun after a couple of shots. 

When we got back to Jake’s house that evening we got to work on the deer. I had to work that night so we were limited on time. I always had it in my mind that I would save the hide of my first (hunted) deer, but my poor marksmanship and limited time changed that. I put a pretty big hole in the middle of the deer and being in a rush because I had to go to work kinda put a stop to that. Instead of keeping the hide I decided to do my own European mount, which is a lot of work and a huge pain in the ass… at this time I’m still not done cleaning it. If you don’t know what a European mount is, just look it up so I don’t have to explain the process. I’m happy to say that we had everything broken down and packaged with enough time for me to get home, put everything away and get to work on time… early actually, because if I would’ve waited any longer to leave the house I would have fallen asleep and showed up late, if at all. 

So there it is, the story of my first (hunted) deer. I hope you enjoyed the story! 

Brian Stessl