Welch harvests first buck

By By Mike Giles / outdoor writer
Feb. 14, 2003
Ten-year-old Warren Welch of Toomsuba went on the hunt of his lifetime this year. Welch has hunted with his dad, Ed, the last three years and passed up several small bucks. Ed wanted Warren's first buck to be one he could be proud of. Warren Welch finally got the chance he was looking for during the last week of the season.
While taking a stand next to a giant fallen oak tree, a huge 210 pound buck tried to slip by undetected. However, Welch was on full alert and ready for the challenge. He took a rest over the fallen oak, aimed and fired. At the rifle's report the deer dashed off, but not very far.
Welch had made an almost perfect textbook shot. The deer was nailed with a heart shot at about 125 yards. The old monarch only went 50 yards before collapsing over a beaver dam and into a creek. The large buck had been felled with a single shot from Welch's .243 Remington model 7 youth rifle. Apparently all of the target practice and pointers that he had gotten from his father had finally paid off big time!
It's not every day that you get to take your first buck, and Welch was surely ready for that day. His time had finally come. The deer had three points on the left side but only a large "cow horn" on the other. It's obvious by the size of his antlers that it was an old buck. In fact, the deer aged out at about four and a half years. Jerry Thompson of Sugar Bear's deer processing said that it was the largest deer that he had processed this year, according to Ed Welch.
Rite of passage
As all deer hunters know, the bagging of a hunter's first deer is truly a memory of a lifetime. And with that first kill, comes first blood. For many hunters, the traditional initiation into the ranks of buck slayers comes shortly after! the first kill. Welch was ready and excited as his dad "painted his face".
This Lamar school fifth grader surely harvested a fine buck with his dad and had a memorable experience, one that will be with him all his life. Although his dad has hunted deer for over 35 years, he said that he had never killed a buck as big as this one. Together they had experienced a wonderful hunt and started a tradition. The hunt could be the start of a lifetime of outdoor memories for father and son. And who knows, Warren just might pass on the hunting tradition to his own son some day!