By Austin Toler

It all started late in the 2001-2002 deer season. We had been hunting in Bessemer, Alabama and were seeing plenty of game, but because of strict game laws, we had taken just one deer so far in the season. That's when it all changed, our friend Shep Jones invited my father and I to go hunting with him in Natiffala, Alabama. We agreed and we were off. We hunted that afternoon when we got there, but did not see any deer, The next morning it rained but we were still out bright and early. I sat in a group of oaks along a heavily used trail. That morning I did not see a deer. We got a tip from a fellow hunter that he had seen two eight points and four point frequently in a green field on the property. My father and I hunted that field that evening. About an hour after we got there we heard snorting in the woods. We thought for sure the deer had smelled us but about five minutes later two does stepped out on the field. (by that time I was ready to shoot anything that moved Since neither of them were bucks, my father made me wait. It worked 45 seconds later an eight point buck stepped out. I shot the buck with a .243 caliber rifle at 100 yards, the buck fell on the other side of my field in an overgrown clearcut. at the age of ten this was my first buck.