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ENLARGE
Eli Wolfe, right, dropped this blacktail buck while waiting for the school bus near his Camas Valley area home. Brother Kai, left, played a key role by bringing the rifle to Eli.
Eli Wolfe was not half asleep at his school bus stop outside Camas Valley. With a blacktail deer tag in his pocket, the 14-year-old peered into the brightening morning light in hopes of seeing a buck in his outdoor surroundings.
On previous days in the dawning light, he had seen does and fawns while walking the 100 yards down the graveled driveway from his family’s home. He had also occasionally seen deer in the distance during his morning walks. Seeing those animals inspired him to stay observant, and he was rewarded for his persistence about 10 days ago.
It was about 7:25 a.m., and Eli, the eighth-grade son of Eli and Kristen Wolfe, had arrived at the bus stop. He continued to look out onto an overgrown Christmas tree farm when he saw a deer walk into view 100 yards away. It was a bigger-bodied deer than the does he was used to seeing, so he guessed it had horns, even though he couldn’t be sure.
Eli was quick on the draw, pulling out his cell phone and calling Kai, his 11-year-old brother who was back at the house. Eli hurriedly explained to his brother that he was looking at a deer that he thought was a buck, so please be quick and bring his rifle out. Kai grabbed the .243 gun and one bullet and ran out the door and down the driveway to Eli.
“But that rifle wasn’t sighted in,” said Eli.
So he asked, or told, Kai to run back to the house and get the 30.06. Using the scope of the .243, Eli could see the deer was a buck.
Kai was quick and returned in a couple minutes with the 30.06 and several bullets.
Kristen was talking on the house phone with husband Eli, who was on business in Salem, when her oldest son first called his brother. She was aware of all the running back and forth with rifles and got short descriptions of what was going on from Kai as he came and went. She watched from a window and stayed on the phone with her husband in case she needed some verbal help as this hunting scenario unfolded.
“I have uncles and brothers who hunt, and my husband’s family hunts, but I never have,” Kirsten said. “I was kind of hoping nothing would happen.
“I was grumbling a little bit about it on the phone to Eli,” she explained. “I wasn’t sure what to do about the whole thing.”
About then she heard a “ka-boom!”
The young Eli, sitting and resting his elbows on his knees, needed only one shot to drop the buck in its tracks. After several weekends and after-school hunting trips of tromping through the woods in boots, he had filled his tag wearing flip-flops and a pair of shorts.
“When the boys came back to the house, my first question was: ‘Which way did it run?’” Kirsten said. “I didn’t want to go chasing a deer.”
But her sons looked at her with an air of confidence. They had come back to get knives to field dress the buck and the 4-wheeler to help them move it.
On the way back to the animal, the boys were joined by brother Bryson, 7, and sister Brooklyn, 5. Kirsten, after giving her husband some final details of what was going on, followed with a camera.
“By the time I went out to help, they’d pretty much taken care of everything,” the mother said. “They gutted it out and brought it in on the 4-wheeler. It took them about four tries to get it on the 4-wheeler. It was a lot bigger than they thought and it was pretty awkward.”
Back at the house with the deer, Eli and Kai threw a rope over a garage rafter, pulled it up and then tied it off. Eli was then driven to school in Camas Valley by his mother, arriving about 45 minutes late. With a football game the next day, he didn’t want to miss a day of school and possibly not be eligible to play.
Kai, who is home-schooled, and family friend Chad Bachmeier, who came over after completing a nightshift at his mill job, worked together to skin the buck.
Four days later the family cut the meat up and venison has been served for dinner at the Wolfe house three times in the past week.
“It’s no wall hanger, but I haven’t seen many deer out and we’ve been hunting hard,” the young Eli said. “It was my first buck, so I was pretty excited.”
On previous days in the dawning light, he had seen does and fawns while walking the 100 yards down the graveled driveway from his family’s home. He had also occasionally seen deer in the distance during his morning walks. Seeing those animals inspired him to stay observant, and he was rewarded for his persistence about 10 days ago.
It was about 7:25 a.m., and Eli, the eighth-grade son of Eli and Kristen Wolfe, had arrived at the bus stop. He continued to look out onto an overgrown Christmas tree farm when he saw a deer walk into view 100 yards away. It was a bigger-bodied deer than the does he was used to seeing, so he guessed it had horns, even though he couldn’t be sure.
Eli was quick on the draw, pulling out his cell phone and calling Kai, his 11-year-old brother who was back at the house. Eli hurriedly explained to his brother that he was looking at a deer that he thought was a buck, so please be quick and bring his rifle out. Kai grabbed the .243 gun and one bullet and ran out the door and down the driveway to Eli.
“But that rifle wasn’t sighted in,” said Eli.
So he asked, or told, Kai to run back to the house and get the 30.06. Using the scope of the .243, Eli could see the deer was a buck.
Kai was quick and returned in a couple minutes with the 30.06 and several bullets.
Kristen was talking on the house phone with husband Eli, who was on business in Salem, when her oldest son first called his brother. She was aware of all the running back and forth with rifles and got short descriptions of what was going on from Kai as he came and went. She watched from a window and stayed on the phone with her husband in case she needed some verbal help as this hunting scenario unfolded.
“I have uncles and brothers who hunt, and my husband’s family hunts, but I never have,” Kirsten said. “I was kind of hoping nothing would happen.
“I was grumbling a little bit about it on the phone to Eli,” she explained. “I wasn’t sure what to do about the whole thing.”
About then she heard a “ka-boom!”
The young Eli, sitting and resting his elbows on his knees, needed only one shot to drop the buck in its tracks. After several weekends and after-school hunting trips of tromping through the woods in boots, he had filled his tag wearing flip-flops and a pair of shorts.
“When the boys came back to the house, my first question was: ‘Which way did it run?’” Kirsten said. “I didn’t want to go chasing a deer.”
But her sons looked at her with an air of confidence. They had come back to get knives to field dress the buck and the 4-wheeler to help them move it.
On the way back to the animal, the boys were joined by brother Bryson, 7, and sister Brooklyn, 5. Kirsten, after giving her husband some final details of what was going on, followed with a camera.
“By the time I went out to help, they’d pretty much taken care of everything,” the mother said. “They gutted it out and brought it in on the 4-wheeler. It took them about four tries to get it on the 4-wheeler. It was a lot bigger than they thought and it was pretty awkward.”
Back at the house with the deer, Eli and Kai threw a rope over a garage rafter, pulled it up and then tied it off. Eli was then driven to school in Camas Valley by his mother, arriving about 45 minutes late. With a football game the next day, he didn’t want to miss a day of school and possibly not be eligible to play.
Kai, who is home-schooled, and family friend Chad Bachmeier, who came over after completing a nightshift at his mill job, worked together to skin the buck.
Four days later the family cut the meat up and venison has been served for dinner at the Wolfe house three times in the past week.
“It’s no wall hanger, but I haven’t seen many deer out and we’ve been hunting hard,” the young Eli said. “It was my first buck, so I was pretty excited.”
