Youth Outdoors - January/February 2007

Hunter Hall, Age 12
8pt., Crossbow
Licking County, OH

By Hunter Hall, Age 12

The dear I shot was an eight point buck. I hunted at my uncles woods. It was a cold night. My dad was in the treestand above me. First we saw 2 does. They came right to the corn pile. Then we saw two bucks come in. There was a doe to the right of us. She didn’t come in because a little six point jumped her out of there. For a while it was just that 6 point and another buck. Until my buck. He came from behind us. I heard him walking. I didn’t know if it was a buck or not. Then my dad tapped me on the head with his boot. I got ready. I aimed to the corn pile. That 6 point went over to him and fought him for a second. My buck was walking to the corn pile. Then he stopped about half way. He put his head down, and then I shot. He ran toward a bunch of briars. The other deer were just standing there looking at me. Then they ran off. I didn’t know if I hit him. My dad got it on video. He watched the video, looked at me and said you got him. We got down out of our treestand and went to find the arrow. When we found it, it was covered in blood. We went to see if we could find him, but it was too dark. So we went to my grandpa’s house and showed him the video. He said that the deer was dead for sure. So we went and got some of my dad’s friends to help us find it. We used spotlights to look for him. We found some blood, but not much. So we split up to try and find him. I followed my grandpa. Me and my grandpa found him dead in the brush. We got him drug out of there, took him to my grandpa’s house, and then we got him field dressed. Then we took some pictures. And got him checked in. I am getting him mounted, because he is the biggest buck I have shot. That is the story of my deer I shot.

Marshal Hall, Age 10
10 pt., Crossbow
Licking County, OH

By Marshal Hall

When I shot my ten point buck. It was on Friday the 13. When I got home from school my dad asked me “œare we going to go hunting.”? “œI’ll think about it I said. So My dad wanted us to leave to go hunting at 4:00 P.M. But then It was 4:30 P.M. and my dad didn’t even know it was that time. But I didn’t want to go. Then my dad said “œwe’ll definitely see a groundhog. So I went. We hunt at my cousins woods. We got in the tree stand and in 10 min. we saw a groundhog. Then in 45 min. My dad told me “œturn.”? Then I did what my dad told me. Then I saw him. My heart started to beat faster and faster. He turned perfectly. I got to nerves and did not shoot. Then He got about 8 feet from our treestand. Then he got spooked. He ran back about 10 more feet. Then I here “œshoot him marshal”? Then I shot. Thump! He jumped like a bull. He ran off and then a doe ran off. Then my dad did not find the arrow. There was no blood trail then we found him. We tried to drag him out but it was no good. So we called my grandpa and his friend Andy. Then we dragged him out and We got pictures and tagged him in. And that was a great hunt for Friday the 13. And the Arrow got stuck right inside of him.
Ruger Miller, Age 9
14pt., 26 1/2 in. spread, Crossbow, Stark County, OH

By Ruger Miller, Age 9

One evening, My Dad and I went hunting in the tree stand. I kept bobbing my head and fell asleep. Dad woke me up because he saw a 8 point buck. I couldn’t get a good shot and He walked off. Dad made a call for him to come into the feild but he didn’t and another buck came into the feild,I shot at him and he went up into the woods. Waited a little bit. I was really ecited. We climbed out of the tree stand and we saw it flopping on the ground for a couple of seconds. It reminded me of when dogs are wrestling in the yard. All you can see is brown, and white rolling around. I finally saw the antlers. Oh my Gosh we counted 14 points. It was huge, bigger than any of my uncles or my dads! My dad stayed with the deer and I went to get my uncle Joe and my grandpa. We took the Ranger to get the deer. We called uncle Doug and BJ. We all gathered in the garage and took pictures. My mom freaked!

Roy Roberts III, Age 12
8 pt., Archery
Westmoreland County, PA

By Roy Roberts

My name is Roy Roberts, I am 12, West Morland PA
I have been hunting since I could walk. This is how it happened. We were walking into the woods right before dark. We went and sat down to post on the ground leaning against the tree. We were sitting there till around 4:30 and then me and my dad seen some movement in the brush then he came out at the nice 8 pointer he walked right over the hill about 20-25 yards away from me. So I waited till I got into a nice position to shoot. I got into position drawed back my Bear bow and let an arrow fly right through the the chest of the nice deer. We walked a little bit and tracked him into a little bit of brush whitch covered the front side of the hollow then we found him lying there I was very happy so we gutted him out and took him back to my camp.

Brian French Jr.
8pt.
Columbiana County, OH

By Brian French Jr.

Here is a brief story of my hunt.
            It was about 1:30 in the afternoon when we went out. We couldn't go any earlier because I had basketball practice in the morning. I went with my grandpap because my dad had to work.
            We went to our usual hunting place. We made a hunting blind a couple of years ago when I started hunting. I was pretty tired from basketball and fell asleep. Grandpa woke me because he heard something behind us. It wasn't a deer.
            We sat there a while longer and I saw a deer in the field. It looked really big and dark. We lost sight of the deer and couldn't figure out where it had went. About ten minutes went by and I saw it coming through the trees. It came down the usual path and when it went behind some brush, I raised the muzzleloader my grandpap lent me to use. As it came down the path towards the little crick, we could tell it was a buck. My grandpap grunted to stop the deer. When it stopped, I put the crosshairs on his chest and fired. The deer kicked and ran about fourty yards back where it came from and stopped. It then fell over and layed there.
            We sat there for about ten minutes to make sure it didn't go anywhere and grandpap reloaded the gun. We walked up to the deer and made sure it was dead. we tagged and gutted the deer and drug it to the truck.
            We drove home to show my mom and call my dad. We were back home by 2:30. This was a very short hunt, but a very memorable hunt. I hope to have many more with my grandpap.

Tommy Woolf III, Age 9
1st Deer,Button Buck
Berlin Center, OH

By Tommy Woolf III

            My name is Tommy Woolf. I'm nine years old. I took a gun safety course, and started hunting last year. Me and my Dad never nothing, but this year was different!
            We saw two to five deer a night. I was hunting at my neighbor Larry Truitt 20 acres, who gave me permission. I have a buddy stand it's 17 feet high.
            For crossbow I tried for a shot at a Doe and trimmed fur. I kept trying. Two days before youth gun I shot a arrow at a button buck and missed. Me and Dad rechecked the sight on the cross bow, which was 10 feet off.
            Now it's first day of youth gun the Doe and button buck that I shot at with arrow are back. It's about 8A.M. I aim at the bigger Doe, but she went behind a tree, so I had a shot at the button buck, I aimed, shot, I hit him! He ran then dropped. I was so excited! We waited awhile to check. We climbed down, went to the deer I couldn't believe it! He was my 1st deer. A nice button buck!
            I thought how exciting it this to wait a whole year, and get a great chance to hunt with my Dad here at my side to see this with me. He also was so excited! We tagged him, took it to Runzo's checkin station.
            This year was a great season! I can't wait till next year. I hope my Dad gets his chance in two weeks! Thanks Dad for taking me all those days and sitting with me, and teaching me. I had fun!

Zac Keim, Age 12
1st Buck - Muzzleloader
Carroll County, OH

By Zac Keim

            I owe a special thanks to the land owners that let us hunt on there property and harvest my buck. On Dec. 2,dad and I headed to Carroll co. to hunt. By 6:45 we were in our spot. About 20 minutes later we saw a doe, but I passed it up because I didn't have a good shot, and I had my heart set on a buck.
            About 25 minutes later we saw a coyote,so my dad shot it.We figured we probably scared all the deer away, but about 30 minutes later I saw deer! " Dad, there's a deer I said!" My dad looked and told me to wait until the buck was closer, then my heart started thumping really hard.I put myself into position to shoot, the buck came in and my dad grunted in order to stop the buck in between two pine trees at about 85 yards.At first I couldn't find the buck in my scope and started to panic. I didn't want it to get away.
            Finally I found the buck in my scope and shot.I knew I hit it
but I wasn't sure where. The buck didn't act like it was hit very hard. we waited for about 40 minutes and went to check. we found hair and good blood right away.We tracked it for about 20 yards and there it was.It was a great
end to a great hunt.

Cassandra L. Burke, Age 10
piebald button buck
Mahoning County

By Cassandra L. Burke

            I started hunting last year When I was 9 years old. I got to shoot at a doe my first day out, but I missed it.
            This year was diferent. The first day of youth gun Season Daddy woke me up at 5:00 A.M. Then we got dressed to go hunting, and went to Pap’s house.
            Dad and I were almost to our treestand, and we saw a deer but it was too dark to shoot. So we went to the treestand and sat for a while but we did not see anything.
            So we started walking and scared a nice buck away. Then we sat on a hill by the corn field. Where I saw a big buck but he was too far for me to shoot.
            On November 19, 2006, the second day of youth gun season Daddy woke we up at 5:00 A.M. and we were ready to go. We got to paps and went to Our Secret hunting spot. Dad and I sat under a Pine tree. Then a deer walked in, and I lost it behind some trees. Dad grunted to it and it came right in.
I cocked the hammer on my .410 Single Shot, Shotgun and I shot and killed my first deer at 25 yards.
            It went straight down.
            I was so excited I could not stand up.
            Dad ran down to my deer, and said “œcome see, you shot a piebald button buck, this is a rare deer.”? Dad and I celebrated in the woods with a hug and a highfive. The hide of my deer is being made into a rug.

Lacy Leaver, Age 12, 13 pt
Stark County, OH

Allie Howell, Age 10, 1st Deer
Tuscarawas County, OH