Hunter: Jessica Ware
Animal: Whitetail Buck
Location: Illinois
Weapon: Thompson Center Muzzleloader

I’m so proud of my daughter Jessica. When I asked her earlier this year if she wanted to go to Hunters Safety Course so she could go hunting this fall, never did I really think she might harvest a deer this year at 8 years old. Let alone with a Thompson Center muzzleloader!

She practiced several times over the summer with a scope mounted pellet gun shooting cans that hung from fishing line in a box. This was a suggestion of Mark Drury to help her have fun while shooting. It was like shooting something at a fair for a kid. She could see it every time she hit the cans. It worked great! She loved shooting and she was a natural. We then practiced shooting the Thompson Center Contender with only 1- 50 grain pellet. We limited ourselves to about 75 yards for the shot.

We went out on Saturday evening the first evening hunt for the Illinois Youth Season and she almost shot a doe but got nervous right before the shot and decided she wanted to practice some more on Sunday. We did just that and went out Sunday evening and she ended up shooting a spike buck at 52 yards. He dropped right in his tracks and the expression on her face was priceless. A memory dad will have forever. (Especially since it is all on video) I’m so proud!

Now it’s time for dad to spend some time in the tree and get it done myself. Good luck to all!

Tom Ware