Outdoors: 13-year-old bags 2 bucks in 1 day

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Anna Messisco, 13, shot not only her first buck, but her first two bucks on Friday, Nov. 27, on family land in Rowan County.
Her sister, Emily, was supposed to be hunting that day, but decided to let Anna use her stand instead. Emily was proud of her younger sister’s success, but couldn’t help but gawk at what she didn’t get in on.
Anna’s first was a six-pointer weighing 125 pounds. He came out of the woods in front of her stand, and she dropped him right where he stood.
Before she climbed down to claim her prize, the second buck, a seven-pointer with a 16-inch spread and weighing 192 pounds, wandered out.
She couldn’t believe it. After she took her second shot of the day, the deer jumped and ran back into the woods.
She turned to her dad, Brian, and said, “Dad, what happens in the woods, stays in the woods.”
However, after coming down and finding blood, she called her grandfather, Barry Gupton, and he helped her successfully track the second one.
She later told her family that tracking the “big one” was her favorite part of the day.
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Amanda Smith of Salisbury had a successful outing at the 6 Point Hunt Club in Richmond County with her father and grandfather. She shot her first deer, a beautiful longtine seven-pointer. She is a student at North Carolina State University.
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Jake Nichols, 8, passed on a doe early, hoping that his first deer harvested by himself would be a buck. Several days passed without seeing a deer. A minor change in stand placement paid off with him getting two does. Jake used one shot on each. His father, Darrell, got the buck. ëJake likes to tell everyone that he got his with one shot each and Dad took three shots for his. He leaves the fact out that mine was running at 250 yards,í Darrell said in an e-mail.