Youth Outdoors - January

Adam Bouch, age 14, 8th grade
14 pt., muzzleloader
Mahoning County, OH

By Adam Bouch

I had seen a lot of small bucks during the 2007 deer season. Many of the bucks were four and six pointer and some of them were as close as 5 yards from me. I was hoping to hold out for at least an eight point. I had seen a few big bucks in bow season but they were always out of crossbow range.  The target for my season became clear on Thursday, November 29th during gun season. My dad spotted the biggest buck of his 30 year hunting career that afternoon. The moment he saw it, he left a message about the buck for me on my mom's cell phone. Based on his excited voice, I could tell he must have seen a special deer. Since he had already used his buck tag, we decided I should keep my buck tag to hunt that buck (or a bigger one) for the rest of the season.
The next day my dad put up a treestand for me in the area where he saw the bruiser. To avoid disturbing any deer, he snuck in during mid afternoon and left at dark. During the rest of shotgun season and extended gun season, the wind direction was wrong for hunting the stand. We patiently waited for the correct wind direction to effectively hunt the stand. The forecast for the first day of muzzleloader season (Dec. 27th) called for southwest winds in the afternoon. We would finally have a chance to hunt the stand!
My dad decided to hunt the opposite side of the 80 acre woods that morning while I was at basketball practice. If there were deer on that side of the woods he hoped to bump them to the side I would be hunting in the afternoon. As he was leaving the woods, the big buck jumped up in front of him and ran toward my stand. He knew there was a dense bedding area near my stand and he assumed that the deer would stop there. My dad left the woods and picked me up at basketball practice. He told me about seeing the monster again while he was taking me home to prepare for our afternoon hunt. I took a shower, gathered my gear, and headed to the woods.
We approached my stand from a downwind direction to avoid spooking any deer. Once I was settled in my stand, my dad circled the dense bedding cover and allowed his scent to blow toward the area where he expected the deer to be hiding. He slowly moved back and forth through the cover trying to let the deer sneak out toward me. I was watching two main trails to my left and right. As I shifted my focus from the right to the left, I saw movement directly in front of me. I could see deer legs trotting towards me from the beding area. I stood up to prepare for a shot and I could see the deer's chest below some low branches. I couldn't see the head yet and I hadn't decided if I was going to shoot a doe if it came near my stand. I didn't have to make that decision because as the deer came out of the trees I could see it had a very wide rack. I raised the gun and prepared for the shot as the deer was slowing to a walk. I put the red dot scope on his shoulder and pulled the trigger. The smoke from the muzzleloader blocked the deer and I wasn't sure if I hit him or not. I was glad to see that he had not run away to the left or right, but I was afraid he would be standing there looking at me when the smoke cleared. As the smoke lifted, I could see that the deer had fallen in his tracks. I was thrilled to finally get the big buck that we had been patiently waiting for.
I knew that I had shot a nice buck but I didn't realize how big it really was. When my dad got to my stand he was very excited for me. I got out of my stand and we walked over to examine the deer. It was a 14 point buck with 11 inch tines and good mass. That evening about 30 hunters came to our house to see the deer and none of them had ever seen a larger buck while hunting. That is when I began to realize what I had accomplished. Later that evening we green scored the deer's rack and it grossed 175 2/8 and netted 165 0/8.  The next day the taxidermist said he had received 198 bucks to mount and mine was the largest of all of them! I am very glad that I held out for "at least" an eight point.
I would like to thank my dad for all his help during this season. This hunt would not have been possible without him.

Mason Clutter, Age 11
8-pt., first deer, shotgun
Columbiana County, OH

By Mason Clutter

My name is Mason Clutter, I’m 11 years old, let me start at the beginning of my first deer season. My dad woke me up at 4:30 in the morning, it was finally Saturday, the first day of the Ohio youth shotgun season. We loaded up and went to our spot and waited on it to get light. Dad spotted a deer and I put my gun up, but the buck saw us and ran away. Dad says it was a small buck. I was kind of bummed out that I didn’t get a shot. We waited for more deer, but none came. We went to the truck after lunch and went to try one of dad’s other spots. Then it got colder and started to rain at about 2:00pm. We had a long wait in the rain until about 4:30pm, Dad told me the deer would be starting to move to come out and eat for the night. At about 4:40pm Dad nudged me and said there was a deer! It was behind us and going across the hill above us. I turned my head and it looked right at us, I could see it was a buck! It wasn’t there, and then it was there. Dad was wispering to me to be still and that it would calm down, and it did after about 3 minutes. It started walking again and I got my gun to half draw and it looked at us again, Dad was shaking with excitement and telling me to stay still. When he started walking again I got my gun to full draw and aimed right at the shoulder. He stopped just facing me a little and was looking right at me! My dad was talking to me the whole time until I aimed at the buck. I asked my dad, “Shoot it now?” and he said YEAH! I shot and it rolled down the hill!! It got up and walked 10 yards, fell, and died. Dad was yelling and jumping up and down, he said it was a 20 yard shot and it was perfect in the heart. He is an 8-point buck, when we got to him he looked bigger than ever! Dad said people hunt all their lives to find bucks like him. He weighs a lot, and he’s huge! Dad said he probably wouldn’t even been able to shoot it when he was 11. I was kinda shaking when I shot him, then me and dad were both shaking! I can’t wait to get a buck next year too!

Brandon Grubb, age 10
8 pt., first deer, crossbow
Carroll County, OH

By Brandon Grubb

One Friday morning at 6 a.m, my Dad and I went to the woods. We got in our treestand, got comfy and relaxed. We waited and waited, and then we saw a squirrel. We watched while it played, it was funny. We were cold. My dad grunted and rattled, then used the can call two times. I was really, really, really cold. We grunted and rattled some more. At 8 o’clock my dad said we had to go, so I could go to school. Just then I saw a deer, and said SHHH! I watched it jump the fence, and realized it was a buck! I got ready and stood up (my dad held onto the back of my coveralls), I raised our Horton Yukon crossbow; and waited. The buck walked around in front of us for awhile, while I held the crossbow steady. When he stopped I fired, I hit him! A perfect shot. I was so happy, and proud. I watched him crash into the brush, and then took my safety harness off. Dad called my mom while I quivered with joy. We found him 30 yards away where he fell. After we got him tagged in, and dropped off at Country Cuts (a local processor), I went to school at 11:30 3 hours late, but I made it.