There was a time not too long ago when local teen Amanda Snedden would not even think about killing a deer. She told me, “Last year my dad said, “Come out and just see what we do during deer season.”“

Homework in her lap, she sat on the sofa and talked about her first experience in the woods, what she likes about school and her dream of a future working with animals.

“I want to be a veterinarian, so I never really wanted to kill an animal.”

“Thinking about it, I realized, you kill a cow to eat. It is not too cruel to eat the meat, so I toughened up and decided to go deer hunting.” Amanda shared that she really likes deer sausage, too.

Amanda likes Greek plays and reading. She is enjoying the challenge of her high school studies and she likes sharing about what she has learned from her classes. We talked about friends and the popularity of hunting.

“I share with them that I hunt but I don’t try to force my ideas on others. It’s not popular to go deer hunting. I even have two friends that are vegetarians. They tell me, “We respect what you do but we wouldn’t do that.”“

One day last season, she joined her dad in the stand. For five hours she just sat and watched for deer. Even seasoned hunters take their turn at the end of a long wait just to see a deer. Youth hunters that can find quiet times in the woods learn early the reality of deer hunting.

Amanda Snedden with her first deer harvest, a four-point buck that weighed 175-pounds. Amanda is the daughter of Tim and Holly Snedden of rural Windsor, Missouri.

The first deer Amanda saw came right in to her from the creek bottom. She and her dad had been in the stand an hour and a half when the hunt unfolded. “I was looking the opposite way. When I looked I saw antlers. My dad said  “Take your time.” The buck was 50 to 75 yards out. I was nice and steady and pretty calm. There was no heart pounding. I pulled the gun up and looked for him. When I thought I had a shot, I focused and took the shot.”

“The deer stood there, then walked in a circle. My second shot I took when he was in a clearing. The deer went about thirty feet before he fell. After I shot it, I cried. I was so happy. My dad said, “I knew you could do it.”“

“My (older) brothers and sister-in- law were dogging on me about not being able to kill a deer. So now they can’t say anything about it. I got my first deer before they got theirs.”

Amanda and another youth, both hunted opening day with their respective guardians.

Sign youth up for hunter education classes, take the time to teach the youth about firearm safety and how to hunt ethically. These help to ensure our young hunters to choose good hunting practices, know firearm safety, and it creates a love for our hunting heritage.

According to a portion of a recent report sent out by Jim Low in the October MDC outdoor news:

“A poor acorn crop contributed to this year’s strong youth deerharvest, according to Conservation Department Resource Scientist LonnieHansen. He said the scarcity of acorns tends to concentrate deer whereacorns or other food are available, making their behavior morepredictable.Hansen also noted that pleasantly cool, clear weather worked in younghunters’ favor.This year’s youth deer harvest included 6,194 (50 percent) antlereddeer, 1,567 (13 percent) button bucks and 4,506 (37 percent) does.The youth deer harvest makes up approximately 4 percent of Missouri’sannual deer harvest. More than 71 percent of deer taken in Missouri eachyear are killed during the 11-day November portion of firearms deerseason. The remaining harvest comes from archery deer season and themuzzleloader, antlerless and urban portions of the firearms deerseason.”