Oct. 8, 2017 – West Bend, WI – Aiden Guse, 13, of West Bend made deer hunting look easy. Saturday was opening day of youth gun deer hunt which, according to the DNR “is designed to give youth hunters ages 10 – 15 an opportunity to hunt deer and gain valuable hunting experience at a time when other hunters are not authorized to hunt deer with a firearm.”
Hunters 10 – 15 years of age, with or without hunter education certification, are eligible to participate in the youth gun deer hunt with a mentor.
Guse is an eighth grader at Holy Angels School in West Bend. About a year ago he took a hunter’s safety course through the New Fane Sportsmen’s Club.
Guse hunted in a wooded area on his neighbor’s property to the west of West Bend. He was in a tree stand. “The deer showed up around 7 a.m. and they were just taunting me and hiding behind trees so I couldn’t get a good shot at them,” he said.
As a first-time hunter, Guse said he was “super anxious” but finally got “calm enough to shoot.”
He bagged a doe that weighed about 120 pounds. It was a shot from 100 feet. “I got it right around the chest area and the bullet curved inside and nicked its heart,” he said.
Guse and his mentor tracked the deer for a bit. When they found it Guse said he got a little weak in the knees. “I’m really happy,” he said. “There was shock and awe but also a lot of high fives.”
Todd Guse, Aiden’s dad, was working at the Washington County Clean Sweep event when he got word of his son’s success. “I got done with the event and I wasn’t able to check my phone at the time and wondered how many text messages I missed,” he said. “I had 20 text messages when I check and one was from my dad telling me ‘I didn’t know we had a hunter in the family.’ I am so proud of him.”
To learn more about the DNR youth hunt click HERE