{"id":405,"date":"2022-10-28T07:50:29","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T07:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/?p=405"},"modified":"2022-10-28T07:50:29","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T07:50:29","slug":"6th-grader-tags-dads-target-buck-right-after-his-football-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/?p=405","title":{"rendered":"6th Grader Tags Dad’s Target Buck Right After His Football Game"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Many hunters agonize over enrolling their kids in fall sports, but 12-year-old Conor Kuehl is proof that you don\u2019t have to choose.<\/p>\n

The sixth grader from Valparaiso attended his Saturday football game on Sept. 24, which happened to fall on the first day of Indiana\u2019s two-day youth season. The game between the two undefeated teams started at 3 p.m. but went faster than anticipated with a blowout score of 18 to 6, according to Conor\u2019s dad and coach, Greg Kuehl.<\/p>\n

\u201cConor led us to a big win against them and had a touchdown pass or two,\u201d Greg says of his son, who plays quarterback, wide receiver, tight end, and safety. \u201cWhen we got back to town, I told him, \u2018Man, we\u2019ve got 40 to 45 minutes here, we can still hunt if you\u2019re interested.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Conor was eager to hunt, so his mom and sister agreed to drop him and his dad at the family farm. But he was also hungry, so the Kuehls hit the drive-thru first.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Dude, you\u2019re killing me,\u2019\u201d Greg says with a laugh. \u201c\u2018Literally every minute we spend at Burger King is one less minute to hunt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conor and his dad, Greg, before heading to their blind; watching for deer inside the blind. Courtesy of Greg Kuehl<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The two were short on time and gear as they arrived at their spot. Before the game, Greg had put his Marlin .30-30 in the truck\u2014and not much else.<\/p>\n

\u201cI threw the rifle in the truck with a couple orange hats even though our school colors are basically hunter orange anyway. I wasn\u2019t thinking we\u2019d even have enough time to hunt so I didn\u2019t pack my hunting pack, binos, the shooting bag he normally shoots off of\u2014literally anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t have any camo, either. They looked so ridiculous heading to their blind\u2014Greg in his coaching polo, slacks, and orange sneakers, and Conor still in his jersey, pads, and cleats\u2014that Mrs. Kuehl snapped a photo before they headed to the blind.<\/p>\n

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The Kuehl\u2019s blind, built from an old gravity wagon and a run-down shed, became a pimped-out deer hunting hide, complete with a urinal. Courtesy of Greg Kuehl<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Oscar the Cull Buck<\/h2>\n

Conor and his dad have worked together to plant food plots and manage the habitat on their 102-acre farm. Over the years they tricked out a mobile blind (which went viral on TikTok<\/a>) by rebuilding an old shed on top of an abandoned gravity wagon. The result is a tiny, insulated cabin complete with framed photos, a heater, and a urinal that can be towed around the farm with a four-wheeler. For the last few years, it\u2019s been parked on a treeline overlooking a plot of corn.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where Conor shot his first deer last year, a heavy-horned buck that turned out to be nine years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe went two seasons without shooting a deer because he wanted to make sure his first buck was bigger than his brother\u2019s buck,\u201d says Greg of his son\u2019s good-natured sibling rivalry.<\/p>\n

Although he didn\u2019t know it, Conor would soon show up his dad, too. The Kuehls had two nice bucks on their family farm this fall and planned to harvest only mature deer. They\u2019re both \u201cmeat hunters first,\u201d but they do their best to manage the farm for older bucks. One of the two deer was a familiar one: A buck nicknamed Oscar for the trash on his left antler. Greg had watched the buck for several years, and originally wrote him off as a cull buck.<\/p>\n

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The buck the Kuehls called Oscar, after the garbage-can dwelling Sesame Street character, for his \u201ctrashy\u201d left antler. Courtesy of Greg Kuehl<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI showed pictures of that deer to friends who wanted to try deer hunting, or distant cousins who wanted to hunt the farm. I told them \u2018If you get a chance, shoot this deer because the left side of it is all messed up,\u2019\u201d Greg says. \u201cWhen it was a 3-year-old, I had a chance to kill it, didn\u2019t want to use my tag on it. Then as a 4-year-old, last year, I passed him because he started to look really cool. I was like, man, this thing could be something.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Research shows that cull bucks are more myth than reality<\/a>, and dozens of trail camera photos from this summer and fall showed the 5-year-old had grown into a nice shooter.<\/p>\n

A Fast and Furious Hunt<\/h2>\n

By the time the Kuehls reached their blind, it was already 6:15 p.m. \u201cWe were getting close to the food plot we had planted [when we saw] a little six-point buck there,\u201d Conor says. \u201cSo we waited for like three minutes until he went into the corn, and we snuck into the cabin really quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The little buck reappeared, followed by a pair of does and two more young bucks on their tails. They were pushing the does around when a big buck emerged from the treeline at 80 yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe followed the little bucks and he was [pushing] against them,\u201d Conor explains. \u201cHe was trying to show the does who the alpha buck was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite their history with the buck, the Kuehls didn\u2019t recognize the deer. Neither he nor his son had brought binoculars.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I saw him, I was thinking, that\u2019s a nice deer.<\/em> Its [body] wasn\u2019t as big as my last one, but it was big,\u201d says Conor, who pays more attention to a buck\u2019s body than his antlers\u2014a good rule for aging deer<\/a>. \u201cIt looked like a good deer and it looked like something I\u2019d hang on my wall. \u2026 I did look at the antlers a little bit. When I was first counting [points], I was like it looks to be around eight [points]. And for me eight is a normal sized deer\u2014one that I\u2019d shoot. \u2026 So I pointed it out to my dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Conor took this buck on the 102-acre Kuehl family farm. Courtesy of Greg Kuehl<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Greg checked the buck in Conor\u2019s riflescope\u2014a quick glance to confirm it was a shooter\u2014and balled his sweatshirt into a makeshift shooting support on the blind windowsill. As Conor settled behind the rifle, one of the little bucks walked in front of the bigger deer. As soon as it stepped aside, another forkhorn stepped behind the buck. As soon as that deer moved, Oscar shifted.<\/p>\n

\u201cOscar turned a little bit so he wasn\u2019t quite broadside,\u201d Conor says. \u201cSo I waited for him to turn back just a tiny bit so I could get a better shot. And he did. And I shot him, and when I shot him, I dropped him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greg texted his wife immediately to let her know Conor had shot a big buck.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was like, \u2018What? I just left, we\u2019ve been gone 15 minutes!\u2019 I said, \u2018I know but you have to come back and get us. I don\u2019t have my knife, I don\u2019t have my pack, I don\u2019t have anything.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

After a quick trip back to their house, the father-son team returned with Conor\u2019s grandparents and Greg\u2019s cousin, Jeff, to look at the buck for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy cousin picks up the rack and the left side \u2026 pops out of the clover, and I\u2019m like, you shot my buck!\u2019\u201d says Greg, laughing.<\/p>\n

Conor perked up at that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t really notice the antlers until cousin Jeff had pointed it out. I didn\u2019t feel guilty, I don\u2019t think,\u201d says Conor, joking about giving his dad a hard time. \u201cI felt like rubbing it into my dad\u2019s face.\u201d<\/p>\n

After some good-natured trash talk, Greg congratulated his son on a well-earned deer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him it was a great buck. I didn\u2019t really care, obviously he\u2019s my son,\u201d Greg says. \u201cThis was such a cool deer and we had a long history with it, so I was glad somebody was able to take him when he had really sprouted.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Conor with his second ever buck, taken right after his Saturday football game. Courtesy of Greg Kuehl<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although the Kuehl\u2019s had originally planned on turning Conor\u2019s next buck into a European mount to cut down on their taxidermy bill, Greg made an exception for this deer.<\/p>\n

\u201cConor\u2019s a real good teammate,\u201d says Greg. \u201cHe enjoys the moment. He doesn\u2019t stress, he doesn\u2019t panic, he just kind of lives it. He\u2019s a good communicator and he\u2019s super focused, and I think that\u2019s what makes him a good hunter, too. There\u2019s not a lot of kids\u2014especially 12-year-old kids\u2014who would sit there and watch three or four different bucks walk around that are all\u2014for a 12-year-old, in my opinion\u2014shooters. But he has the discipline to know what he wants and he\u2019s willing to wait for it. And two years of doing that paid off for him, and he got that 9-year-old buck last year. This year he didn\u2019t have to wait as long.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n