HELENA — For many youngsters, the youth deer only hunt is the most exciting two days of the year.
“I got super excited, so I shot it,” Gatlin Vercoe said.
Watch the video here:
This year, the youth hunt happened on October 16 and 17, and it’s for kids ages 10 to 15.
Ten-year-old Gatlin Vercoe was one of the youth hunters in the field this year.
“It is a family tradition, and I wanted to get meat and hang something on the wall,” he said.
He had a successful first hunt—Gatlin harvested his first buck with his grandpa beside him.
“It was a 4 by 4 and was pretty heavy, and we had to drag it out of a little canyon piece,” Gatlin said.
The hunt is open to legally licensed 12 to 15-year-olds who have completed hunter education and are joined by a non-hunting adult and properly licensed apprentice hunters between 10 to 15, and a non-hunting adult over 21.
Gatlin’s mom said it was just as memorable a day for her as it was for her son.
“Seeing him go through that process of being an apprentice hunter and teaching him about regulations and all of the work he put in leading up to this to get a good shot was amazing to watch him become a young man in that moment,” April Vercoe said.
The general big game rifle season opens on Saturday, Oct. 25.
