Second Time’s A Charm

By STEPHANIE BUNKER

Moapa Valley Progress

Whitney Waite, 14, got way more hunting than she bargained for when she put in for a youth mule deer tag this year. She drew area 23 in Nevada, and not only did she get to shoot one buck, but she was able to go again for a second shot!

Whitney would have been just fine with the first buck if it had not been for the infection inside its body. Whitney began during the muzzleloader hunt. When they spotted the first four-point buck, figured it to be one that she had shot at earlier since it looked wounded.

“When we got up to the buck, we saw it had a runny nose and diarrhea,” said Whitney. Upon cutting it open, the hunting party found it to be infected. They called the Nevada Department of Wildlife and inquired about what to do with the buck. They were told to go ahead and tag it.

When they got home, they called a game warden to inspect the carcass and he suspected that the deer had been hit by a car due to some other wounds it had on its body. The warden took the carcass and gave them paperwork to fill out so they could pick up a new deer tag in Las Vegas.

When the rifle mule deer season opened, Whitney was right back at the hunt. This time it was along with her cousin Emily Matheson who also had a tag to fill.

The girls were accompanied by Lanny Waite and his son Jason. When Lanny spotted two bucks while driving his four-wheeler, he slammed on the breaks and silenced the questioning girls who hadn’t seen the deer yet.

Both girls pulled up their guns to shoot. Emily shot at one deer but missed, and Whitney shot at the other.

Whitney said it looked like it stumbled, but at the time, they weren’t sure she had hit it. The group then split up. Lanny and Emily went one way to see if they could find one deer and Whitney and Jason went off looking for the other.

Whitney spotted the buck’s antlers as it was bedded down about 50 yards away. It had been wounded. Jason threw some rocks to get it up again so Whitney could get a better shot. Eventually, it got back up and ran again.

Jason ran back to get the four-wheeler and they were able to track the deer down the wash. They found it in the middle of the wash lying down once again and Whitney shot it a final time.
This time, when they dressed the animal the meat was clean and it made some great jerky! The buck ended up being a 21-inch wide four-point.

The following day, Emily Matheson was able to fill her tag as well when she shot a 2×3 buck.