I completed Hunter Safety this year in Wisconsin. This was my first hunting season. I went out opening weekend with my Dad and we didn’t see anything but a couple does, some turkeys and tree rats. The second week of Deer Camp, my Grandpa and I were in our cabin on Friday afternoon and we saw a buck out at 25 yards. Grandpa asked me if I wanted to take a shot at it. I did but my gun and eye patch (I shot with an eye patch) were still in my dad’s truck as we weren’t going to go out until later. So I used my Grandpa’s gun and missed. We could tell the buck had a nice rack but a very small body.

That night, my dad, Grandpa and I got to help catch a poacher who killed a HUGE buck from his truck with a pistol. That made me so mad that someone would do that.

On Saturday the Warden who we helped came up to our cabin to thank us again and asked if we had seen the “sick buck”. He was talking about the one I had shot at the day before. We told him we did and that I had shot and missed. The Warden said “I think it will come back”. That afternoon as we were headed out to the woods to hunt, that buck walked out into the field! My dad asked me if I wanted to take a shot. I said “YES!” I was a bit nervous that I wouldn’t be able to make the shot because the buck was quite a ways out. My Dad told me that he thought I could do it and to take a deep breath. I took my deep breath and squeezed the trigger. I shot that buck at 165 YARDS and he dropped dead in his tracks! I handed my gun off and started hollering and crying in happiness! I couldn’t believe I did it! I did it! I killed my first buck! My dad and Grandpa were sooo amazed and sooo very proud of me! We headed out to the the buck and he was very sick. He probably weighed 65 pounds before we gutted him. His fur wasn’t very pretty and when we lifted his head, the rack on the left side fell out!

I worked so hard in my Hunter Safety Class that I took at the Oregon Sportsman’s Club and practicing my shooting skills. It all paid off! One of my best friends who did Hunter Safety class with me shot her first buck and doe this season also. I am going to get a full head mount and the taxidermist is going to use a different cape.

What an awesome first year of deer hunting!

Bailey Clark
age 12
November 30, 2012