Ron writes, "Thirteen year old Cedric started his hunt in August with archery. As always, we loaded up and headed out for a week of camping and hunting as a family. Camp was set up the day before the season opened and scouting had been completed. We were all ready for a great hunt. Cedric wanted to get a nice buck with his bow as he had missed a good buck the year before and was unsuccessful during the rifle season. My son hunted opening morning and then left camp for football tryouts that evening. While he was unsuccessful on the morning hunt, he was the #1 pick at the football draft! The next day his archery hunt and football season would come to an end as he rolled his four-wheeler and broke his pelvis in three places! Needless to say it also put a damper on my season as well.

Six weeks later Cedric was given a full release and was ready to go, just in time for the rifle season. Opening morning found the two of us in one of our favorite hunting areas, and the snow coming down hard. Not many deer were moving as the snow would not let up. Then about 9:30 the snow quit and the deer were everywhere! We hiked in to look for a heavy-horned four point I had seen during the archery hunt but couldn't get close to. As luck would have it, there he was 330 yards away. I tried to get Cedric calm as he rested his Remington 300 Win mag for the shot. I heard the crack of the rifle and the shot went right below the big buck. By the time we got back on him it was almost dark and to far for a sneak. I told him he could take next Friday off of school and we would come back for the big buck. (The hunt was over for the weekend as it was his younger brother Trevor's birthday.)

The following Friday we were headed up the mountain early to catch the big buck. But things would change. On our way in we stopped to check a watering hole where we often see many deer. To my surprise, 150yards from the watering hole was the buck Ced would shoot! The buck looked up and knew he was caught. I told Cedric to hold dead on and shoot. At the report of the rifle, the big buck jumped forward, spun, and ran off. We watched as the buck made it a short way and dropped!! When we got to the buck there was no ground shrinkage at all. And to our surprise, there were four extra points. Two small ones off the back of the main beam, and a small one on the third. The kicker was the five inch droptine on the left side.

The big old buck was a 26" wide by 21" tall 6 x 4 not counting eyeguards. Not a bad first buck, I told him he'll hunt long and hard to top this one. What a great hunt and time we had in the field. Now we have a little brother that can't wait for his turn in two years."