Cody gets his first buck

Curt Stufflebean thought perhaps allowing his son Cody to take a quick leak behind the deer blind might help him focus for a while longer, given how little boys seem to enjoy that sort of thing.

But to no avail. It was getting dark, and they had been there two hours already. Curt, 7-year-old Cody and Curt’s dad Philip (AKA Gramps to Cody) eased out of the blind and headed for the pickup as quietly as was possible with a tired, bored 7 year old hunter in tow.

They had only walked a ways when Curt, an avid bow hunter himself heard the familiar sound of a deer “blow” (snort) from somewhere in the nearby trees. They spun around and headed back toward the blind, which was a large, well camouflaged hut built of recent cedar trimmings woven between two big cottonwoods in a wooded draw full of cottonwoods and plum thickets.

However, before they could reach the cover of the blind, a young spike buck stepped into the open ahead of them. After a short game of cat and mouse with the deer and a fence crossing or two, they faced the curious young buck which actually began walking towards them.

Cody carried his great-grandfather’s .243 rifle, which Curt knew packed a little punch for a 7-year old. They had practiced with a smaller caliber .223 to help Cody gain confidence, help him learn safe firearm handling and proper shooting techniques. They had shot from sandbags at a broadside-deer silhouette target so Cody knew where to properly place his shot, and had even rigged shooting rests for Cody inside the blind. Now suddenly much of that preparation was out the window as they stood in the open with no shooting supports, anything but a broadside shot and facing a deer that was certainly about to bolt.

Curt dropped to one knee, had Cody rest the .243 across his shoulder and with some whispered coaching helped him make a perfect chest shot to harvest his first Kansas whitetail deer.

As I talked to Cody and his parents, Curt and Ali Stufflebean from Galva, I found Cody’s first deer was only part of the story. Ali’s grandfather Horton was an avid hunter, and he and Cody were very close. When Grandpa Horton passed away a couple years ago, his guns were divided among the family. Already seeing Cody’s love of hunting and of the outdoors, Ali suggested the .243 would make an excellent first deer rifle for him, and so it was he carried it this first deer season.

Now here’s the fascinating part of all this; the very same .243 rifle 7-year-old Cody used to harvest his first Kansas buck during this, his first Kansas deer season was also used by Great-Grandpa Horton to harvest his first Kansas buck in 1965 during the first deer season ever in our state. Cool huh?

After listening to Cody’s hunting story, I asked him why he likes hunting and the outdoors, and why he thinks more kids his age aren’t getting into hunting. He told me he likes hunting and time in the outdoors because they do it as a family (Cody also harvested his first Kansas wild turkey last year when he was just six, and Ali, his mom hunts turkeys with them.)

He feels fewer kids his age are getting into hunting because their dads don’t spend the time to take them. ... Ouch! This year, let’s all do ourselves and outdoor sports a favor and take someone afield for the first time and show them how to Explore Kansas Outdoors!

Steve Gilliland is a syndicated outdoors columnist, and can be contacted by e-mail at stevegilliland@embarqmail.com.