By Austin Alldredge

Hi, my name is Austin Alldredge and I am nine years old. My most exciting hunting trip just happened a few weeks ago on the Alabama opening day of deer season. My Dad and I are members of the Arrowhead Hunting Preserve and our club is in its 4th year in the Quality Deer Management Program. We plant food plots both in the summer and winter, we keep accurate records of what we see in the field and we also keep track of the animals we harvest. Each time we go into the woods, we write down where we are going and pin ourselves in on the club map. This is for safety reasons and so everyone will know where everyone is hunting. If someone does not return after dark, we know the area that they were in and we have a good place to start looking for them. Our club believes that safety should be first.

My dad and I went over to the club several times this summer and worked in our fields and on our stands getting them ready for the upcoming season. Each time we would go, we would try to take one of my friends to introduce them to the outdoors. This season we are taking several kids with us to help harvest our does and to give them a chance to hunt. We try to include kids that don't have Dads to take them hunting or their Dads just do not like to hunt. My Dad says that kids are the future of hunting.

It all started on opening day this year when we left our home on Saturday morning and travelled 2 1/2 hours to the club. We got to camp and unloaded our gear and toys most of which we purchased at Mark's Outdoors! we decided where we would go and put our pin on the map and signed in and headed out. We chose the Condo stand. We had seen an eight-point buck there during the early bow season and hoped that he would be back today.

He really liked the Biologic Full Draw seed that we planted in September using our Moultree ATV spreader that we also got at Mark's. We watched him eat it and saw it hanging out of his mouth on several occasions. He would come out into the field at all times during the day. My Dad and I had been practicing all summer shooting with my 22. The Condo stand is a very large shooting house and is on a nice size field.

After we sneaked into the stand, my Dad set me up with my 243 Winchester, sand bags and ear muffs and told me to practice looking through my scope. He started getting his gear out and before he could get all his gear ready, I whispered to him that the eight pointer had already come out into the field! We had only been in the stand for about 5 minutes! My Dad told me to take careful aim just like when we practiced this summer shooting targets. He made sure my ear muffs were in place and he turned on his video camera and told me to take a deep breath and shoot when I was steady and ready. My heart was pounding but I knew that I could get this deer if my aim was true.

I calmed down and took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger just like I had practiced. I felt that the shot was good. The deer leaped out of the field with the shot. My Dad said we needed to wait at least 20 to 30 minutes before we went after the deer. He said this would give the deer time to lie down. After what seemed like hours, my Dad said it was time to go look for my deer. I knew that I hit him good and we found blood on the river cane on the edge of the field. I looked to the right and almost stepped on my deer. He had fallen in some of the thickest bushes he could find. My Dad and I dragged him out of the woods. I think that my Dad was even more excited than me. We loaded him on the four-wheeler and headed back to the camp to show everyone my awesome eight-point buck!

The folks at camp were just going out for the afternoon hunt and to their amazement we had already finished our hunt and had been successful in harvesting a great deer! My Dad always says that you can't see them at the camp. We took several pictures and I got several handshakes that afternoon and night. I guess I told the story at least 230 times to whomever I could get to listen. We called my Mom, my brother, my grandparents, our buddies at Mark's Outdoors, and some of my Dad's friends to tell them of my success.

We dressed out the deer and took all the measurements, and recorded them in our club book. Our club rules allow a young hunter who has never taken a buck to harvest any size buck for their first buck. We only allow one per membership and no more than three per year on our club. I felt very fortunate to have killed such a beautiful buck so early in the season and as my first buck. My Dad says we need to be thankful of everything God has given us. I feel very lucky to live in America, to be able to have my own gun and to be able to enjoy the outdoors year round with my Dad.

Hunting is COOL!