It was the afternoon of Nov. 1 – the day after Halloween – when Joey Allen and his six-year-old daughter, Elody, climbed into an elevated stand. They were hunting on private property in Missouri’s Chariton County, and it was opening day of the weekend youth deer season.
“My dad Curt is an avid hunter, and he has some good land to hunt,” Elody’s mom, Lindsey Allen, tells Outdoor Life. “But that afternoon Joey and Elody got into a stand on land owned by our good friend Joe Sunderland. It’s next door to my father’s hunting property.”
Both landowners have trail cameras on their properties, which contain a mixture of farmland and woods with plenty of oaks and deer trails. They’d been getting photos of some nice bucks.
“That afternoon Joey and Elody first saw a doe, and then a buck from their stand,” says Lindsey. “Pretty soon another big buck showed, and the two bucks were getting ready to fight. Elody was amazed watching the two bucks squaring off with each other.”
The deer were in close as Elody steadied the rifle, chambered in .223. She used the stand’s railing for a rest and settled the crosshairs behind the buck’s shoulder.
“Elody has practiced safe gun handling and shooting a lot with our family, especially getting ready for this deer season,” Lindsey says. “But she was nervous and shaking while getting ready to shoot her first deer, and such a big buck.”
Elody fired, and the buck ran about 30 yards before falling, according to her dad, Joey. The deer was easy to reach, and they loaded it onto an ATV and then drove it to a barn to dress the buck. Joey says the 18-point buck green scores as a 212-inch non-typical. He thinks the 240-pound buck was 5.5 years old.
The deer has already been processed into sausage and burger, which Elody loves. She especially likes venison chili, says Lindsey.
Elody isn’t done hunting for the year, either. She’s going to hunt the second phase of Missouri’s youth deer season, which runs Nov. 28 to 30.
“Elody is over the moon with delight with her buck,” Lindsey says. “Everywhere we go people ask about her deer. Her two older brothers, I think, are a little envious of the whole thing.”
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