Tanners Browning Buck

March 2003
Dewey County, OK

My name is Tanner Black and i am 14 years old.. I have been hunting most of my life but last year was the year i could hunt with my own rifle. I live in Oklahoma City but i have a lease in Dewey County, Oklahoma(nw of okc).My dad loves to hunt so that is how i got into hunting. My favorite kind of hunting is deer and Duck hunting. I hunt with my bow, blackpowder, and my Rifle. Before we got our lease, i used to hunt on my dads friends property but we didnt see very many bucks.

During Black powder season last year it was terrible. I had the worst luck you can imagine. First i barely even saw anything. Second the chance i had i was kinda dozing on the ground when i heard a commotion from behind me and all of a sudden a 5 or 6 pointer was running 10 feet in front of me! It scared me really bad but i got up and tried to get a shot at him but i didnt he was running away from me which gave me no shot. I heard it from my dad all weekend long.

During rifle season things started to heat up. The opening mornin i didnt see anything. During the afternoon we decided to make a drive. Me and my pap's sat on a hill while my dads friends Paul,Burt, and Dennis tried to push some deer towards us. All of a sudden i hear a Boom! i look behind me and there my dad Steve is taking a 300 yard shot on a doe! We kinda laughed a little bit then all of a sudden my dad says "Tanner!, crawl on your belly over here there is a buck!" I get over there and see him. He is about 200 yards away and the 22-250 Browning Bolt is a little bit to big for me and i cant see the whole picture but finally he turns broadside and i pull the trigger. I missed him! He runs a little bit then beds down for about a minute! This time a am ready and when he stands up i shoot and he runs off.

The doe still is coming towards me and i shoot at her at 50 yards and miss! She takes off up a canyon. I am really bummed out now and we go look for any sign of blood. My dad sees him and says "Tanner get your gun ready he might be down there" I see his white belly and yip and holler! He was the same one i didnt get a shot on during blackpowder. He weighed 120 field dressed and had 5 points.

My dad ended up shooting a 8 pointer the next mornin. I still havent got one with my bow but out of the stand i sit in my dad shot a 9 point 160 pound deer. It grossed 160 Pope and Young. Even though if i dont shoot anything i enjoy spending time with my dad and my best friend Kelley Robinson which shot a 9 point during black powder which weighed 200 pounds field dressed. I tell him he is really lucky! But like all of us he has missed some deer.

Thank you for reading my story.

Tanner Oklahoma