By Christopher McKenzie

We always go to Gilmer County, West Virginia to deer hunt every November. We stay at my uncle's cabin, back in the hills.

We had hunted two days and I didn't get a shot. But the third day was my lucky day.
It was 11;23 am, my cousin called me and dad on the radio and said,"there are 7 deer over here." So, we rushed over there, I saw it 150 yards away. I shot 5 times with my dad's 270 rifle, finally hitting and killling it. That gun sure kicked me, when I shot it. It was my first deer ever and I had a lot of adrenaline.

By Cody Stark
I harvested my first doe with my 12 gauge shot gun when I was eleven years old. My grandpa got me interested in hunting when I was nine or 10 years old. He taught me everything that I know and use today. We even took the hunters safety course together even though he already had his hunting license. 

  I harvested my second doe when I was 12 with my Mathews compound bow which was a Christmas present from my Grandpa. When I was 13, I got my first buck with my Mathews compound bow. The buck was a young six point but to me it was a giant.  On my 13th birthday my Grandpa got me a 50 cal. Thompson Pro Hunter Muzzleloader. I started practicing loading the gun and target shooting so I would be ready for the opening of turkey season. I bagged a nice long beard with my muzzleloader. Grandpa even got it all on tape except when I made the actual shot, the camera ran out of memory. 

  On November 16th, 2007, my Grandpa and I got our gear ready for the youth deer season that opened the next day at 6:43 in the  morning. I was all excited because our trail cameras had been getting some nice pictures of mature bucks including a 180 class Boone and Crockett buck in the area we were going to be hunting. We got up at 4:30 a.m., got our sandwiches and coffee packed along with our hunting gear and left to go where we set up for our hunt, which was only a half mile from my Grandpa's house. My Grandma took us in the Jeep and dropped us off close to where we were going to be hunting that day. At around 5:20 a.m. we walked to a blow down we had chosen to hunt from, and got set up. It was a little foggy that morning, plus we were set up in front of a small pond, and the steam was rising up from the water.

It was all quite until 6:05 a.m. when Grandpa poked me in the ribs and said he could see the silhouette of a large body deer in the field just off to the right of us. I grabbed the 8 x 56 binoculars to see for myself and there he was... a large deer grazing on clover about 100 yards out. Because of the fog and because it was still a little dark, we were unable to make out it's size clearly yet. After 10 minutes passed we realized it was a large buck and it was grazing right toward us. It kept getting closer and closer and then he walked to the pond in front of us and starting drinking water. It was the Boone and Crockett buck we had pictures of from our field cameras. I couldn't believe my luck. A Boone and Crockett right in front of me at 30 yards and I was ready.  But there was a BIG problem, my Grandpa looked at his watch and said it's 6:35 a.m. and I had to wait eight more long minutes before I could take a shot. I thought to myself....You've got to be kidding. I had my 3 x 9 Zeiss scope turned down to three power and the cross hairs right on his vitals. We impatiently waited for those eight long minutes to pass. The Boone and Crockett left the watering hole and started walking to our left..he stopped and started eating grass again. But then he snorted twice and my Grandpa and I both knew that he winded us, but to our surprise he went back to grazing again and slowly walked out of our sight. I looked at Grandpa and said, “what time is it?” He replied, “6:45”. Three more minutes was all we would have had to wait.  We both looked at each other in disbelief and smiled. We were both shaking from the adrenaline rush we had just experienced for the last 30 minutes. That was a morning I will always remember.

The rest of the day was good but not Booner good. I saw lots of does and six bucks but they were all too young. I wanted a 2 1/2 or older buck. At the end of the day Grandpa and I were still pumped about seeing the Boone and Crockett buck. Even though I didn't get a shot at it, we will always remember the excitement we felt at watching such a great buck. 
The next day we were back in the blow down at 5:30 a.m. hoping to get another chance at the Booner we had seen the day before, but he never showed up. We did see quite a few deer. Some young bucks and a few does were in the field but nothing mature enough to shoot. Then a mature seven point buck came in from my left, but his rack was messed up, so I passed on him. It was quite for about an hour and a half, then off to my right on top of a hill a nice 2 1/2 year old eight point buck stepped out of the woods. He just stood there for a long time, I grabbed the Swarovski binoculars to get a better look at him. He was nice. I told grandpa this was the buck I wanted.

I grabbed the range finder and he was 290 yards from us. I checked the wind with my indicator and we were downwind. The buck started walking at an angle toward us and stopped. He walked closer but was still 250 yards away. Then he looked in the direction of some pine trees and started walking toward them. He was putting more distance between us so I told Grandpa to use the grunt call. Grandpa grabbed his gear pack and fumbled around for the call. When he found it he gave the buck three short grunts. The buck stopped and turned toward us and looked down in our direction. He stared in our direction for about 45 seconds, then turned and started walking away and toward the pine grove again. I seen Grandpa put the call to his mouth again and this time he gave the buck one very long grunt for about 4 or 5 seconds. The buck stopped, spun around and stared down the hill again in our direction. He was walking right toward us as if we had him on a string. The buck started closing the distance very quickly. I had my scope turned up to 9 power and watched as the buck kept getting closer. Grandpa was ranging him for me. When the buck stopped at 150 yards, Grandpa said aim at the top of his front shoulder and take him when I was ready unless he comes closer. The buck turned side ways and was getting ready to go back up the hill when I took aim and squeezed the trigger, (POW). I saw a orange flash from the black power! But when I looked over the scope all I could see was black power smoke.

Grandpa and I jumped up and moved away from the smoke to see my buck running up the hill. He ran about 50 yards then he stopped and wobbled a little then dropped. I just harvested my first 2 1/2 year old buck. Grandpa and I high fived one another, and Grandpa told me I made a great shot. I told him he made some great grunt calls. We gathered up our gear and walked up the hill to tag my eight point buck. It was the nicest deer I had ever harvested. I am getting him mounted, and we are enjoying steaks, burgers, summer sausage, and deer sticks! My Grandpa and I would like to thank Bob and Opal Gill for allowing us to hunt on their property. THANKS!

By the way, Grandpa saw that Booner again during gun season. He shot but missed. Maybe next year we'll be lucky enough to see him again.