My niece, Rachel Sharee is 14 years old and on an average day has that girlie-girl look that makes you think she would never be interested in hunting. However, when she goes into her "tomboy" mode, she seems to shed that look like a secret identity. These descriptions of her are her own, so I am not assigning her any monikers.

  Several days into gun season she told me that she wanted me to take her hunting. Rachel had taken her gun safety course two years ago so obtaining the Oklahoma Youth license and deer tag was easy. My ranch is an Oklahoma DMAP (Deer Management Assistance Program) ranch and we always have extra antlerless tags, though this year I actually only had one left as we had decided to take a lot of does.

  It had been a few months since she shot her rifle, a 357 Magnum 1894C, and we went to the old shale pit and she proved to me that she could work over soda pop cans at 50 yards with no problem. Fifty yards was our maximum range.

  My bow blind is in a great spot and often offered 10 yard shots at does. I had been seeing a spike-forked horn buck that I really wanted harvested there so I told her we would try for him, but that she could kill an antler less deer and DMAP tag it if she wanted. She said she did.

  We got situated in the blind around 2:30 and after 30 minutes I made the mistake of asking her about her drama class. After an hour of steady talking (who could have known), I asked her if she was going to hunt or talk. She said if I did not care, she would mostly talk. I told her it was her hunt and we could talk all she wanted.

  The wind was blowing from the south around 20 miles an hour and she talked low, but she had already bundled up her shooting sticks. The rifle was between her legs and she was telling me about her last speech and the next school play she was going to be in. We discussed her parent’s recent divorce and how she was trying to be more mature to help her mom. I sat there and listened to my niece growing up and I glanced down the edge of the woods and saw two deer step out of the woods. I interrupted her and pointed to the deer and she was silent for the first time in over an hour as she quickly assembled the ‘V’ of the shooting sticks. Both deer ran to the mineral block out from the blind and stopped about 10 yards from us. I knew one was a doe and one was a button buck, both legal to DMAP.

  I was trying to glance around the brush we used to brush in the blind and was about to tell her which one to shoot when the button buck made the mistake of being the first to turn broadside and she hammered him. One shot through the shoulder with a 158 grain Jacketed SP and that young buck was on the ground dieing. Rachel leaped straight up screamed twice, "I got a deer!!" Then as the buck started kicking, "I might not have hit it right."

  I laughed and said, "Hand me your rifle so I can shoot him again." We walked to the deer (the whole 10 yards) and it expired as we reached it. She was all smiles and even did some kind of dance, then knelt beside it and touched it gently and said how beautiful he was laying there. I asked if she was happy and she said, "Oh man I wanted to get a deer so bad!"

  We took pictures and then we dragged it to where I could put it in the truck. She showed off her deer proudly to our family and she did not offer any complaint as we gutted it later. After I was done, she said, "Next year, I will gut it." She sounded serious too.

  The little rifle performed well, but more importantly the small amount of recoil had her confidence level high. I believe within 50 yards that rifle and bullet combination will do the trick with a well placed shot. That is our job as veteran hunters and shooters, to teach our apprentice hunters the importance of shot placement. The pictures I took of her are priceless. Her grin says it all. The button buck was a major trophy and she is hooked on hunting. That is what it is about. I have killed some very excellent whitetail bucks, but I can honestly say that none of them thrilled me as much as watching my 14 year old niece harvest that button buck and THAT my friends is what this sport is all about to me.

  The thing that gets to me is in ten years she won't remember what she got for her birthday or what she got for Christmas, but she will remember when she was 14 years old, her Uncle sat in a blind with her while she talked about the things important to her world and he was there when she killed her first deer.

  None of us are guaranteed a tomorrow and it is the time we spend with the ones we love doing things like this that are cherished and remembered forever. My niece is a pretty girl and a good kid. She is not into video games, but she loves music and she loves the outdoors. Part of the reason she wanted to hunt is she was very impressed when my daughter killed her first deer at the age of 16. She did tell her cousin, my daughter is 20 years old now, that SHE was only 14 and by the time she is 16 she will have taken 2 more deer. I love confidence.

  I have a story to pass on. I actually just want to help other hunters with my experience.

  I was recently "caught" on private land and basically all but thrown in prison with threats of trespass, felony, etc. This was a serious wake up call for me and an education. No, I had not taken any game and was not "caught" in a stand or even walking, but I had my weapon and I was there.

  I presently lease land about 10 miles from home and found some land closer in and wanted to just scout it out. I was hoping to maybe lease this property too. I had ridden my Vespa scooter in and was just watching. It is a large wooded area.

  As I rode out onto the drive a couple of trucks had pulled up and all hell broke loose. I was polite and basically rolled over like a dog on his back. These folks managed the property for the people that owned it. Actually the land is/was owned by the matriarch of the family who recently died so the land ultimately is in probate awaiting disposition. That's my strange take on how I deserved to be there...sort of. (Not)

  Now, as a kid, we would mainly hunt on our family land but sometimes wander. And we would see people hunting on our land too and would cautiously ask them not to. It was sort of a good ole boy attitude. Better to make a friend than an enemy and calling the deputy or game warden was just not done. Not here buddy! You’re going to jail...forever.

  The situation ended with me being read the riot act and let go with the reminder that the landowner could press charges later if they wanted to. (This is the deputy talking.) I also learned that killing game on property other than your own is a felony! (Again, I hadn't shot, not once, thank God.) I also learned you can't transport a gun on a scooter and that in my state, North Carolina, posted signs aren't required AND don't mean a damn thing. (That's a stupid attitude on my part. If you don't own it then it's not yours, sign or not.)

  Lastly, to be on property that's not yours, you must have written permission by the deeded land owner, not a friend or a lease, etc...

  You can't retrieve game either if it is not on your land. Picture this. You shoot a deer. It runs onto someone else’s land. You go get it or better yet contact the landowner prior. They say you shot it on their land and call the warden who now charges you with a felony. Do you see how things can get completely out of control?

  Does this sort of scenario happen? Probably not often, maybe never, BUT it could.

  What's the moral here? Don't trespass. But there's a deeper issue. The days of "good ole boy" are fading fast. You can't rely on the good nature of people anymore. People aren't as polite and many are down right mean. I seem to have more negative experiences when encountering other hunters than positive ones. Territorial dispute is all but violent even if you are in the right. Don't think Bubba is gonna ask you "have ya got anything" and offer you a beer. It ain't happenin'.

  In closing I'd just like to say that I'm more wary than before and maybe a little scared. Things can get out of hand in an instant and maybe it's time to just go fishing. Don't forget your license. Hunt safe. - George

  The following is a method my father (John L. Thomas 1924-1986) taught me when I was very young, and that I still use today at age 51.

  This method works easier if you have a friend to help, but I have learned to do it alone also.

  1) Take a squirrel by his tail and have a friend hold his rear legs as you hold the tail (squirrel head toward the ground). With the tail in your grasp, take your knife and cut into the tail just above where the tail connects to the body above the booty hole on the underside of tail. Slowly cut through the tailbone, being careful not to cut the tail off the squirrel! You want to cut through to the skin on the other side of the bone, leaving the tail attached by this narrow band of skin holding it to the rest of the hide.

  2) With your friend still holding the rear legs and you grasping the tail, skin the tail down the squirrel's back approximately 1-2 inches skinning across and around the sides a little as you go.

  3) Next, have your friend let go and take the tail and put it under your foot on the ground and put all your weight on it. Grasp the rear legs tightly and pull upwards until the skin peels off up to the squirrel's neck (like pulling his shirt off).

  4) Now grab the front legs that are still in the skin and pull them out of the skin up to the feet.

  5) Next, let go of the rear legs as you grasp the edge of the hide left on the rear portion that looks like his pants on the belly side and pull it off like pulling his pants off. (You should still be standing on the tail at this point). Pull it down to his rear feet.

  6) Next, cut the front and rear feet off and you're done with the skinning. If you practice this technique and master it, you can clean three squirrels to your buddy's one, consistently! I have proven it over and over many times and have won bucks on those who did not believe this method works.

  7) Remove all the squirrel's musk glands during cleaning and gutting to prevent a bitter taste. The glands appear as little small grayish balls found on the neck, under front leg arm pits, on belly and hips areas, directly behind rear leg knee joints under the flesh. You must cut in order to find the gland here. The other glands are easily seen after skinning.

  This method will leave little or no hair on the squirrel meat. I have taught my two sons this method and they love it! Good Hunting and eating! Lewis E. Thomas, Tallahassee, Florida.