I Hope I Get a Forked Horn!
By Hannah Wilson
years earlier. I was proud of myself and
so were Andy, Margo and my brother.
We texted pictures to my dad right
away and he was excited to hear that I
got my first buck.
Two weeks later I hunted the
Soper-Wheeler property with Ron Lara
and guide Clay Fragulia just above
Bangor, California. My dad was with
me on this hunt and once again I was
able to bring home a beautiful buck.
Western Wildlife Adventures and Ron
have a great hunting program on this
property and I saw several bucks during my hunt. This was a great hunting
season for me. I learned so much!
I would like to thank CDA for
helping to introduce kids to hunting. I
would especially like to thank everyone who was part of my first year of
hunting.
Hannah Wilson with her great Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve buck.
I was born into a hunting family so
it is not a big surprise that at the age of
13 I took an interest in hunting myself.
Both my dad and brother are hunters
and last year I decided that it was my
turn.
At the time I started talking with
my dad about hunting, it was turkey
season. He asked me if I wanted to
hunt turkeys and I quickly responded,
“No! I want to shoot a buck.” I asked
my dad if I could hunt deer this fall.
He got so excited when I asked that
he immediately got me signed up for
my Hunter Safety class and was the
lucky bidder on two hunts during the
live auction at the California Deer Association dinner in Chico.
This past October I hunted the Big
Chico Creek Ecological Reserve. It took
me two weekends, but on the last day
of the G-1 season I got my first buck.
I hunted with Kurt Steindorf and my
dad the first weekend but came home
empty-handed because the weather
was just too nice and the deer were
not moving much. Because of a slow
start, my dad and Kurt had the chance
to talk to me about the highs and lows
of hunting. The following weekend
my dad took off to Colorado on his
deer hunt so I went with Andy and
Margo Wood and my brother, Bryan.
We hunted all day Saturday. We saw a
nice buck, but before I could find him
in my scope he jumped into the brush.
Darn!
Sunday morning I harvested my
first blacktail deer. He was a beautiful
buck! My rifle was a .243 Weatherby
Vanguard Youth Model that my mom
had won at the same CDA dinner a few
CDA has made a concentrated effort
to introduce young people to hunting in
its youth programs. From our perspective,
seeing their excitement and enthusiasm for
the outdoors and hunting is well worth the
time and effort it takes to get them there.
We have been fortunate to hunt with
both of the Wilson children and it was
our pleasure. Their parents can be very
proud!
Margo & Andy Wood
California Deer
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