Teen gets trophy deer on youth-only hunt

When Tony Huxel went looking for his first deer on a youth-only hunt, he ended up hitting a "hunter's jackpot."

Tony Huxel with his 14 point buck

The 15-year-old from Washington, Mo. bagged a 14-point buck that weighed 170 pounds even after being field-dressed.

Tony said, "My uncles said my hunting career from now on will be from the peak all the way down."

But, the sophomore at St. Francis Borgia High School doesn't seem worried. He's eagerly looking forward to his next hunting and fishing trip.

Tony got his spot in the Missouri Department of Conservation's youth-only deer hunt when his name was picked in a lottery drawing. He said MDC officials said only 3 per cent of the kids who applied a year ago got a chance to hunt.

This also was the first year he'd gotten one of the lottery hunting spots.

This year's youth-only deer hunt weekend was October 29-30. He got to hunt with his dad, Mark, at the Busch Conservation Area in St. Charles County.

His hunting experience didn't start out too promising on the first day. He said, "On Saturday, we saw tons of does but I was waiting for a big buck."

On Sunday, Oct. 30, his hunting day started at 4 a.m. when he got up. He and his dad started the drive from Washington to the Busch area about 4:35 a.m.

"We checked in at 5:15 and were at our first blind at 5:30. We didn't put on our hunting clothes until we got there. We always wait to dress to the temperature at the site," he said.

The first spot was in a cornfield at the edge of a wooded area. He said he and his dad made a homemade blind. They set up in the second row of corn. Then, they broke off the first-row stalks about halfway down.

That way, they could see into the woods but the deer would have trouble seeing them.

But, the deer didn't show up. "We didn't see anything," Tony said.

So, he and his dad made a short drive and walk to a second hunting spot. This time, they hid behind two big trees. They didn't have to wait long.

They were in their second spot by 9 a.m. "The deer came between 9:30 and 10," he said.

"He came with his head down as if he were chasing does. He stopped to get a good whiff and I shot him in the chest. He ran about 15 yards and then dropped," Tony said.

Tony admitted to having "buck fever" before making the kill. He explained "buck fever" as an adrenaline-induced shaking as he anticipated the first confrontation with a deer.

"I had to give my gun to my dad for awhile," he said. But, he added "I slowly came to my senses" and had the gun back by the time his deer came through the woods.

Although this was the first time he killed a deer, he's been hunting a number of times. He said he usually hunts on his grandfather's farm near New Haven, Mo., less than 20 miles from his home in Washington.

"I've hunted from my own deer stand in a tree at the farm.," he said. The stand is in tree limbs above the ground. "It's made of wood and we replace it every five years," he said.

Tony was using his father's .30-.30 lever-action rifle during the successful deer hunt. He has his own .22-caliber semi-automatic rifle for smaller game, such as squirrels.

He said he was "going to get into archery this year." He noted that bow hunters get a longer deer hunting season than do gun hunters.

Tony said he and his family are avid fishermen also. The family has a "pop-up" camper they use on three-day weekend trips at a private trout fishing area west of Washington.

Tony has an older brother, Tim, now a college freshman, and a younger sister, Tricia, 12.

For trout, Tony uses a short casting rod, rather than the traditional longer fly-fishing rod.

He was 10 years old when he started to go hunting with his father.

He rates the bagging of his first deer as his most memorable hunting experience so far.

Asked about his interest in the outdoors, Tony said, "I like to be out in nature." He said during his hunting trip he ran across three trees in a row that were in full color.

"One was red, another was orange and another was yellow," he said.