I took my nephew Neil Hopkins on his first ever "shooting" deer hunt this past weekend. Wooo! Whooo! What a time we had. Neil got his first buck and Uncle John got a true friend and a hunting partner for life.

 This story begins 2 years ago when Neil and I started working together on deer hunting. It was the year I killed the big buck. 2002. I think it was the first year of the Missouri Youth Deer Season. Neil was too little to go. We talked about it and decided that he could go with Uncle John, but we couldn't go during the Youth hunt. That was something that we would have to work towards. We had some lessons to learn and some skills to develop. We hunted together the first day of that season and the first day of last season with the hopes of Neil getting to see me shoot one. I killed a big one, but alas, I couldn't get it done in front of the boy.

 This year, it was his turn to carry the rifle. He'd earned it. Neil's dad, uncle Matt and I have been working with him. Teaching him about firearms and firearms safety as best we can. He knows that he has to be careful and sure of his target before he shoots. He knows he has to plan for where the bullet will go beyond the target and he knows what happens when he hits it. Neil shot at least one hundred rounds through my Lever Action .22 magnum. And almost that many through Uncle Matt's single shot .223 I'm sure that he's not cognizant of the terrible repercussions of mishandling a weapon, but he is a smart boy and I have confidence in him.

 Grandpa has a good place to go deer hunting. 80 acres along a little creek in north central Audrain county. The soybeans are still in the field on top of the hill and the bottom is green with clover and alfalpha.  

This year as the previous two, we set up in a big tree stand on the far side of the duck pond. From the stand we can see up and down Grandpa's north and west borders and right down the big draw the comes up from the creek. It's a good place to see a deer. We got there just before daylight. It was our third year, so we were pretty accomplished at it. We set there for 90 minutes until Neil started to get fidgety. I looked up and saw a little doe walking along in the woods. I pointed it out to Neil and told him to "draw down on her" and "take aim like you're going to shoot".

 He has three landowner deer tags and could legally harvest a doe, but we were waiting for a buck. After another 30 minutes, we got up and walked along the bean field down into the bottom. It's a good place to stalk up on a deer and get a shot. It is what we had been practicing to do. We turned the corner and headed towards the alfalpha and a big deer jumped the fence and ran down into the bottom with us. Neil and I both knelt down. I had him stand up right behind me and look over my shoulder. We could see the buck. It was a 2 ½ or 3 ½ year old 5 pointer with a short stubby rack. I might could've stood up and taken a 75 yard shot, but Neil couldn't do it, the brush was too high.

 I whispered "You're going to have to sneak up on him". Neil knows about stalking. "If the deer's head is down and eating, you can move, if his head is up, don't." He crouched down and started up the path. I just stayed put. He stalked towards the buck and cut the distance in half. Then the buck looked up and noticed him. Neil dropped down to his right knee and took up a kneeling supported shooting position by resting his left elbow on his left knee. Just as we'd practiced.

 The buck cut the distance in half again. Neil turned to me. He was asking "Should I shoot it Uncle John?" and I mouthed "Do It! He did. I never saw a buck go down so hard. I'd appreciate it if you'd post one or two of these photos and part of this story to the Missouri Sportsman's Information Network. I'm proud of him. I want the world to know it. Sincerely; John D. Burgher

 P.S. Do you see the gold ring on the scope? That scope was mounted to my SAR-8 when I shot the big buck!