Youth hunters share their memories

YOUTH HUNTING:

Making memories, learning about nature

Teresa Ressel Inserra

Gavin Twomey was a Deer Season baby so it’s only natural that he would love hunting.

For the past three or four years, he’s gone hunting with his dad, James. “We always do it on my birthday,” 10-year-old Gavin, a fifth grader at Central West Elementary, said proudly. “My birthday is Nov. 20. I get to miss school that day. I go hunting instead of school.”

He doesn’t so much mind getting up early and being in the cold. He enjoys hearing the deer, seeing it, and then killing the deer and “eating deer meat.”

“This year I get to clean my own,” he said. “I’m kinda excited.”

This year, he will be able to hunt on his own property.

Besides hunting deer, they also hunt turkey and “we fish a lot.”

Brothers Jaxon, 13, and Wilson Dietiker, 10, of Fredericktown, each started hunting with their dad, Jeremiah, when they were 6 years old. The youngest brother, Weston, 4, is too young to hunt for now.

Hunting is Jeremiah’s favorite hobby so it has been exciting to hunt with his children on the same property he hunted on when he was a kid.

Every year, the brothers said that they stay the night at the family cabin, “eat junk food,” play games and hang out with family from out of town. The property was

Cameron Burnham with two deer. Jeremiah, Wilson, and Jaxon Dietiker with their victory pose. First deer for Dennis Linderer and Cameron Burnham.

The latest deer for Dennis Linderer and Cameron Burnham.

Nathan and Maddan Crepps

Mason Golden Mason Golden

Mason Golden

Sydney Dunnahoo Jeremiah’s home when he was young – now it’s home to the family’s hunting cabin.

They have a game camera where they can spot the deer daily. The kids name them.

“We try to go after certain ones,” Jeremiah said.

Jeremiah said anytime he gets a big deer, the family takes a picture using the same pose. “We have multiple deer with the exact same pose,” he said.

Jaxon and Wilson agree that their favorite thing to hunt is white-tailed deer with a gun.

Jaxon said they hunt with their dad and grandpa when their grandpa is in town.

Jaxon’s favorite memory was when he was 7 and it was youth gun season. A deer came out and he shot at it, hitting it in the leg. He shot it a second time and missed. His dad shot at it and missed. Finally, with a third shot, Jaxon hit it and the deer went down.

Wilson said he missed a couple before he got his first deer. He said during alternative season when he was 9, he shot at a deer with a .223 AR pistol and missed. But he saw it still standing there and was able to shoot it in the back. He said he was nervous and excited.

This deer season will be 7-year-old Kemper Parson’s second year hunting but he’s already made several memories with his parents, Randall and Heather.

“I shot a hog on the first day of deer season,” he said, adding it was about a hundred yards away.

He and his dad looked for it and found the feral hog still alive so he shot at him two more times. He admitted it was a little scary.

He also got a buck with a blackpowder gun on Christmas Day and a doe with a rifle on Halloween. In addition to deer, he’s killed a turkey and two squirrels.

Cameron Burnham, a North County junior, has been hunting with his Papa

Dennis Linderer for 12 years and they’ve made a lot of memories together.

Cameron hunts duck, turkey, rabbit, dove, and squirrel but his favorite is deer hunting with a bow.

“Bow season starts Thursday,” Cameron said Sept. 13. “I can’t wait.”

One of his favorite memories was his first year. He was sleeping on his papa’s lap when his papa woke him up for a deer.

“I couldn’t hold a gun yet so he held it for me and shot my first deer,” he said.

He remembers his first year hunting by himself – he was 8 and a doe came about five yards from the stand. By the time he was 13, he was already cleaning his own deer.

“After a kill, me and my papa give each other big hugs,” he said.

Laney Walker, 13, of Fredericktown, has been hunting with her dad, John since she was 7 or 8. They hunt deer on a family friend’s property. She’s killed five deer so far, the biggest being the eight-pointer she killed last year.

Her favorite memory is killing her first deer when she was 9.

“I shot it and my dad yelled ‘Woohoo’ really loud,” she said. “He hugged me and said, ‘Great job!’ Mom was really proud of me and happy. The whole family called me ‘the deer slayer.’”

Laney enjoys spending the time with her dad … and also killing deer. She said it is one of her hobbies and a family tradition.

“Almost everyone in the family hunts except the younger ones and my sister,” she said.

Laney’s mom still hunts with her own dad. “It’s kinda like dad and girl bonding time,” April said.

Laney said she watches her dad and grandpa clean and gut the deer so she will know how to do it when she is older.

Laney’s cousin Sydney Dunnahoo, 14, of Fredericktown, has been hunting about seven years. Her favorite thing to hunt is deer.

Her favorite memory is, “Getting my first deer, exploding the heart and trekking her up a mountain side.”

Mason Golden, 10, has been hunting for about four years. His favorite animals to hunt are coons and deer but he also hunts turkey, squirrel and rabbits.

Mason, who attends Central West Elementary, said his favorite hunting memory is killing his first deer because it was with his dad, Clayton, and it was with a crossbow at his Grandpa Golden’s house.

His mom, Melissa said every fall he goes with his grandpa, dad and uncles to deer camp.

Kellen Crepps, 10, a North County Intermediate School student, has been hunting with his dad since he was 4.

He enjoys rifle hunting for deer with his dad and his brothers at his house. He also hunts for rabbits and fishes on their 30-acre property.

His brother Maddan Crepps, 8, likes to go with their dad while he’s hunting. He said his favorite memory so far was last year when he was with his dad and his dad killed a small deer. He’s looking forward to his dad getting a buck this year.

Laney Walker Kellen Crepps

Kemper and Randall Parson Laney Walker

Laney Walker Wilson, Jaxon, Weston and Jeremiah Dietiker