norman
country-financial
March 28, 2024 7:34 pm
Your hometown Newspaper since 1987.
Search
Close this search box.

Youth Hunter Uses Stealth In Muzzle-Load Hunt

By STEPHANIE BUNKER

Moapa Valley Progress

Local 14 year-old Landon Kelly scored this handsome buck in this year’s muzzle-load hunt.

Landon Kelly, a 14 year old from Overton, got to experience the joy of being in the mountains with his dad, providing meat for their freezer, and the added bonus of securing a mule deer buck he can be proud of.

With the youth tag, Landon had the option to shoot his buck during the archery, muzzleload, or rifle hunts. “I don’t shoot archery very much and I have a Desert Big Horn ewe tag in October during the rifle hunt,” Landon said.

Consequently, the Kelly team decided that the muzzleload season would be the best weapon of choice this year. Landon and his father, Shanon hunted area 231 for 2 days before spotting a group of bucks grazing on a hillside.

They had only seen one small buck in the days prior. So it was an easy decision to go after this group.

The muzzle-load gun is tricky because it has to be within a much closer range of the target compared to a rifle. With this in mind, the father and son team snuck in to some trees at the edge of the clearing where the group was located. But they were still 230 yards away.

They left their packs by the trees, grabbed the gun and began a slow crawl to get closer to the deer.
“We had to sneak around mustangs and does,” said Landon.

Despite the other animals also grazing the hillside they were able to reach some bushes that were 170 yards away. Landon said the bucks had their heads down and weren’t aware of their presence when he shot the biggest buck of the herd. The buck was a 3×4 that was 26 inches wide.

This was Landon’s second year harvesting a buck, and he really appreciated the stalk that this year’s hunt brought.

“My last hunt was not as exciting,” he said. “We were driving in the truck and the deer showed up so we stepped out of the truck and got it. This time we got to pack it out and it was fun, it was a perfect hunt.”

Print This Article:

Share This Article:

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Screen Shot 2023-02-05 at 10.55.46 PM
2-21-2024-fullpagefair
4 Youth Service WEB
2-28-2024 WEB Hole Foods St Patricks
No data was found
2023 WEB BANNER 2 DEFAULT AD whitneyswater
Mesquite Works Web Ad 10-2020
Scroll to Top
Receive the latest news

Subscribe To Our Weekly Newsletter

Get notified about new articles