Hunting is a game of odds.  The odds of you seeing a deer are sometimes slim, and when you tack on actually killing a deer, and then that deer being a good buck, the odds start to stack against you very quickly.  Matthew Gore of Downsville, La. liked his odds when he sat in his Dad’s old box stand just outside of Farmerville for the youth hunt on October 15, 2011.  Matthew liked his odds so much, that he and his Dad, Paul, decided to sit in their box stand until they had had enough.  Nearly six hours later, the odds fell in their favor and so did a monster Union Parish buck.

Now, some of you may say that for a seasoned deer hunter, sitting that long isn’t so bad, and in a way your right, but Matthew isn’t a seasoned deer hunter; this was his first deer hunt…ever.  His lack of experience in the stand didn’t deter Matthew’s will to sit long at all, and to his father Paul, it came as a bit of a shock.  “Kids usually have to have something going on to keep them occupied, but Matthew didn’t.  It was like he was sitting there watching TV.  He may have looked to the left or to the right sometimes, but mostly he just looked down that dim little shooting lane,” the elder Gore explained.

Being an experienced hunter, Paul had taken a break from the sport nearly five years ago, and when he asked Matthew if he wanted to go deer hunting that next Saturday and Matthew said yes, Paul knew what to do and where to go.  “I got spoiled by hunting in Mississippi, so I pretty much got away from hunting for the last four or five years.  Matthew is almost 15, and he squirrel hunts a little but has never been deer hunting.  My brother-in-law said I should take him for the youth hunt, but I didn’t know when the youth hunt was.  When he told me it was the next weekend, I asked Matthew if he wanted to go to one of my old box stands and he said yes.”

What Matthew may have lacked in hunting skill, he didn’t lack in his shooting ability and the .243 that Paul bought him a few years ago hadn’t been collecting dust at all.  “He loves to shoot his .22 and we had been practicing with the .243 in the back yard with targets.  He likes to squirrel hunt with the .22, so I knew the boy could shoot pretty good”, said Gore.