Crossbow Buck
YouTube: Larry Smith Outdoors

Young Hunter Drops Nice Buck in Tracks with a Crossbow

Young hunter's second buck ever is a beauty.

Almost every hunter I know is concerned with declining hunter numbers. Not as many young people are getting into hunting to replace the numbers that are leaving the pastime forever each season. It's a legitimate concern for both hunters and state wildlife agencies that get their primary funding from the sales of hunting licenses.

As rough as it is to accept the hard truth that it is getting harder and harder to bring new people into the spot, we can at least enjoy the successes of the few younger hunters we have. This video today should give you a little hope.

Gunner heads out hunting with his dad Joe as the cameraman in Wisconsin when a dandy of a buck steps out. Gunner's shot on this buck results in no tracking job for this 10-pointer.

Obviously, this shot hit a little higher than Gunner intended, but it did the job. The buck went down immediately, and the follow-up shot minimized any suffering of the animal. We call that a job well done, especially for someone's second buck ever!

This youngster showed some incredible patience on this hunt. That buck was extremely close and appeared to be on edge. He probably could have alerted on those hunters at any time. Gunner did a great job waiting for the buck to step into the shooting lane and turn for a clean shot. We think Joe was more excited than Gunner was once that buck went down!

While this hunt would have made for a great memory, the thing that makes it even better is the fact that Joe captured the whole thing on video for them to relive for years to come. We imagine this will be a classic they'll watch before every opening morning from now on!

For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels

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