Hello! My name is Lisa Derrickson. I am sixteen and reside in Pennsylvania. I live on a small farm in the valley below the Tuscarora Mountain and am now raising five Saanen dairy goats and a few beef cattle. For the past six years I have raised my goats for their milk and for show and in that time, I have won a couple county Fair awards and 4-H awards. I currently milk two goats and get an average of 20 pounds of milk from them per day. I also have a registered 14 year old Standardbred mare named Baby. I feed and care for a beef cow named Daisy, and two calves named Solana and Miss Prissy, growing as replacement cows for raising beef steer. If any of the animals are ill, I consult my mom, she prescribes the treatment or injection, and I administer them.
My dad owns a business specializing in electrical controls and controls design. I have a wonderful mother who is also a terrific hunting companion. I also have two brothers, Ben, who is twenty-two and Gregory, eight, and a sister, Teresa, who is six. Ben married a year ago and I now have a sister-in-law named Cori, with a baby on the way, making me a soon-to-be aunt. I am Homeschooled and am in 10th grade. In the future, I plan to raise beef cattle for selling and also start pack-horse guided hunts. I plan to do a little team calf penning and barrel racing on the side.
My outdoor activities include hunting, horseback riding, fishing, running the farm, and hiking. In addition to riding my own horse at home, I ride a friend’s Quarter horse in team calf penning competitions and thoroughly enjoy it! In late winter I attend archery classes, compete in grocery shoots and in the summer, 3D shoots. I like reading, and that is one of the things that brought me to love the sport of archery. I read Robin Hood when I was young and I developed a longing to get a bow in my hands and maybe do a few "Robin Hood’s"! I learned to shoot compound bow and I did split a few arrows in the bull’s eye! This year I went to a State Championship Indoor Target shoot and won first place in my class of Woman Bowhunter Intermediate A. I was representing my local club.
My favorite local game to hunt include whitetail deer, squirrel, and turkey. I also love to paint, sketch, woodburn, and ink draw and have won a few blue ribbons at the county fair. Last, but not least, I enjoy reading and writing.
My love for hunting was planted in me at an early age. I would admire the kills my mom, dad, and older brother would bring home at the end of a successful hunt, running my hands over the sleek, soft fur, feather, and hide of rabbit, squirrel, pheasant, and deer (I never touched the groundhogs!). When I was eight, my dad would take me squirrel hunting and I would help spot them. I loved to go out with him, put on an oversized orange vest and find a place to sit! He would lean over and whisper in my ear, "be very quiet. Sit still and be patient for five more minutes, the squirrels will be here soon. Would you like a drink?" My dad was always patient. He would sit there and just look around, now then turning to me and giving me an encouraging smile. My mom was the one who taught me stalking. She and my brother were experts! I longed to go hunting with a gun in my own hands, to show the world what I learned from my mom and dad.
By the time I was twelve and had my license, I was so excited! The first year was a disappointment for deer, but squirrels were a different story. My dad was with me as I took my favorite twenty-two and got fifteen or more of them that year! Looks like Dad’s lessons of patients paid off! The second year, I got my first deer, a little doe. Then my third year, 2002, I got my first buck. My fourth year, 2003, I went archery hunting for my second season. I took a shot at a doe, missed, and later that year, shot a buck. We knew the deer had died, but we lost him in heavy thorn brush. I didn’t get a deer last year but I did shoot my first two bunnies, with my trustworthy twenty-two!
This year I’m on my own. Pennsylvania law allows sixteen and older to hunt on their own, and boy do I plan to hunt! My plan for this year is to get my first turkey, archery hunt for groundhogs, howl for coyotes, and to track down the nine point, King One Brow, and happily harvest him, maybe even with a bow! Even if I’m not successful, I know I’ll have fun!
