A Hunting Story

Scott Wolfe is a young archer in our Mentored Youth Archery Program.  A program that pairs young Bowhunter Education Graduates with Master Instructors & Mentors for a full season of archery deer hunting and beyond.  I am told Scott first became interested in hunting this past summer after spending some time on the range at the Roger G. Sykes Outdoor Heritage Education Complex located in beautiful Platte River State Park.  I also have good information that after enjoying some venison jerky from his recent success that Scott is now officially a devout deer hunter; which may compete some with his bird hunting – thanks to the Cornhusker Chapter of Pheasants Forever Youth Hunt.

hershy

A Hunting Story – By Scott Wolfe

Scott's Deer

It was about 4:30 in the morning and I don’t even know how I got out of my bed because of how tired I was. I was half-asleep when I brushed my teeth and then I put my hunting clothes on. I ate a hash brown with some bacon and waited for my mentor Wes to come so we could start our hunt. We drove down to the dump with another guy a few years older than me named Shawn. We got to the dump and I got my bow out and prepared to get in my tree stand. It was a cold morning, but I definitely got through it.

It was about 5:00 in the morning and the sun started to come up and I saw a few does running around but, never came close enough to shoot. I sat there feeling the adrenaline going

through my body watching small does that would start to come but, ran back to where they came from. A little buck came by at about 5:30 in the morning and I got my bow down and prepared and it took off before I could even get an arrow. Lots of time went by and I just had to be patient. I’ve known now the key to get a deer to come is lots of patience. After lots of waiting the smallest, nicest, fawn walking by me and was in my range to take a shot but, it was too little, it would not be good to shoot, and it would provide barely any meat.

For a long time after that lots of does ran by and a nice buck but, they were way too far away. Then just about at 9:00 in the morning (9:06) exact was a nice seven point buck coming to me. I got my bow and put an arrow on it. The deer jogged across my range and I took a shot. I hit it right in the spine. The deer couldn’t move and I only had that one arrow, so Wes as fast as he could took a shot to help me. There was my first deer, a seven point buck. I got out of my tree stand and my heart felt like it was going to explode. It was one of the happiest days of my life. We field dressed it, which means we cut open its body and took all the intestines and gross stuff out of it. Then we cleaned it up, took some pictures in the field, and went to the check station to meet with my parents.

When you check a deer you are cancelling your permit, your right to shoot it. They do this by putting a metal tag around one of its antlers. Then my mom got a photographer named Doug to take pictures of me with the deer. Later, after taking lots of pictures we took the deer to Wes’s house to butcher it the next day. The next day came and after dinner we went to Wes’s house. To butcher the deer I pulled off its skin and we cut the fresh meat slowly off its body to get the deer meat. We got about fifty pounds of meat. We agreed to mount the antlers and thanked Wes for putting me in the mentor program and I had one of the best moments of my life. After this moment I realized I am a true hunter and I will always do my job to enjoy it and realize I have a gift.