Carson Rinehart, of Fannin, set his heart on killing his first buck this year. On opening day of youth weekend he thought he was going to finally realize his dream. The moment of truth came fast, and at 66 yards no less. A wide racked buck offered a fleeting shot for the youngster and he quickly aimed and fired.
Ka-boom roared his rifle and the buck disappeared in a flash. His realization of a dream quickly faded with the obvious miss. They searched the area but never found a trace of the buck or a hit. Needless to say Carson was distraught and beside himself.
“You’re going to miss plenty of deer in your life Carson,” said Jonathan Rinehart, his father. “Just pray about it and you’ll probably get another opportunity.”
And pray about it the 10-year-old hunter did. In fact, he prayed every single day for another shot at that buck.
Opening day of primitive weapon season, Nov. 13, found them back in search of his first buck.
“We went to the combine stand,” Jonathan Rinehart said. “It was our ‘go-to’ spot to see does. It didn’t take long before we got some activity as an 8-point cruised by at 300 yards just a little bit too far.”
Thirty minutes later they heard something walking in the woods behind them and turned to see a buck go back in the woods.
“Get ready, something may come back out,” Rinehart said. “He got ready, and I cocked the gun for him and two minutes later I turned and saw a buck in the middle of the field. I ranged him at 166 yards. I grunted twice and the buck never stopped so then I yelled, and he stopped. Carson pulled the trigger.”
Tic-Pow, roared the .308 rifle! The buck disappeared behind a large tree and never came out the other side.
Family tradition continues
We got down from the 2-man ladder stand and walked over to the area,” Rinehart said. “The fields were just tilled up in preparation for a winter wheat crop and we got to the top of the hill, and we could see him laying there 30 to 40 yards over the rise.”
The 240-pound buck sported 12 points with a drop tine and scored 145 5/8.
Ironically, young Carson couldn’t use his 7 MM 08 rifle as they couldn’t find ammo, so he used a .308 Handi-rifle that his father and all the members of his family had used to kill their first deer with.
“All my family killed their first deer with that rifle,” Rinehart said. “That was a really cool experience and just added to the lifetime memory of Carson harvesting his first buck.
“Carson was yelling up a storm after we got to the deer and then we face-timed everybody to let them know about the big kill. Carson killed the buck on my wife Kayla’s grandparents land. Aubrey Johnston was 78 years old when he passed and my boys were really close to him. He was one of the godliest human beings you’d ever meet. I felt like her grandfather was right there with us.”
This was the first deer killed on the property since Mr. Johnston passed away. It was a very emotional moment for the family.
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