You never forget your first time.
And for one Kansas 10-year-old, her first buck was the kind that even the most veteran hunters dream about.
According to Outdoor Life, Cody Perkins couldn’t wait to get his daughter Ella out on her first deer hunt. And after setting up some trail cams, she already had dibs on a big buck:
“I just couldn’t believe it when I saw the first photos of him in velvet. To see a deer like that was a surreal feeling.
I couldn’t wait to show her because I knew she was going to be so excited.”
But when opening came around, he was nowhere to be seen.
“We stuck it out as long as we could and finally shooting light ended.
When we were exiting the field and got back to the truck, I got the notification from the cell camera that the buck had just walked by on the edge of the beanfield. We had just missed him.”
Days later, the father/daughter duo were at it again, and once again, finding the big buck was proving to be a challenge. But then, after creeping their way through a bean field, they spotted him… over 200 yards away.
But Ella… calm, cool and collected, set up the family .243 rifle, locked on her target and made the shot.
“I was shaking, but I was still confident and knew from my practice that I was a good shot.
just started squeezing the trigger slowly and the gun went off. I didn’t even see what happened after, and the deer in the field started running everywhere.”
Ella’s buck scored in at 208 6/8 inches with 26 scoreable points… not quite the size of the world-record buck that taken by another Kansas youngster last season, but a solid buck nonetheless.
“I was just so happy to be there with Dad and get to shoot my first buck. It was really amazing to get to see it and touch it, to see its rack and how pretty he was.
I really like eating deer jerky, and I was looking forward to that already… this experience with my dad and family just makes me happy because I know how excited Dad was and I liked that part the most.”
And another generation of hunter is born.
You gotta love it.
And speaking of that first .243…
