DOUBLE DELIGHT — Only 11 years old, Megan Smith has been hunting on her own since she was 8, but last year she enjoyed the kind of success hunters with much more experience only dream about. Megan shot a 105-pound doe at 4:30 and a 134-pound, 8-point buck at 5:15 — what a great holiday weekend at the farm with friends and family. She was using a Remington 1100 20 gauge with Lightfield slugs. Proud papa, Brian Smith, of Indiana, proclaims, “This is what ‘heritage’ and ‘passing it on’ is all about!”

HAPPY YOUTH HUNTER — Shelby Stolz, daughter of Steve Stolz, bagged her first turkey at 6:50 a.m. on April 12, 2008, during the Missouri Youth Season. She is 11. Steve Stolz said, “I was 11 when I shot my first turkey that my dad called in! I now know how much my dad enjoyed my first turkey.”

MY FIRST BEAR — Karen A. Meyer, Brentwood, MO, bagged this bear while hunting at Kamkota Lodge in northern Saskatchewan (north of Prince Albert) in May 2006. The lodge is situated where the Churchill River enters into Pinehouse Lake.

MINOR INTERRUPTION - Megan Harris, 15, Fenton, MO, with her first deer. Her dad, Mike, had to nudge her in the deer stand, not to wake her, but to get her to stop texting, put her cell phone down and pick up her rifle. She got the deer at 4:30 on the last day of deer season.

BEAUTIFUL BUCK — Danielle Sullens, 24, from Festus, MO, killed this deer Nov. 11, at 4:50 p.m. He was running a doe up a white oak ridge that runs between two soybean fields when he stopped at about 80 yards. After the shot, he ran 50 yards, down a hill, and fell within sight. The buck was a very symetrical 10-pointer with a double brow tine on his right side. She has a game camera picture of him that didn't get developed until after the season ended.

MUZZLELOADER MOUNTER — Aaron Carroll, 16, of Rolla, MO, stalked this 8-pointer during the December 2006 muzzleloader season.

SHARP SHOOTING SAM — Samantha Hussey, 15, of St. James, MO, nailed this nice 8-pointer on the second weekend of the 2006 firearms deer season.

OUTDOOR ODDITY — Mark Quisenberry took this 7-point doe in Bureau County, IL, during the 2006 season.

HUGE BUCK — Hunter Coggins, 10, with his dad, Mark Coggins, shown with his first buck, a 13-pointer. He donated the meat from his buck to a local family.

This bear was killed by Kelley Popp. She shot it over bait out of a tree stand. It was six and a half feet long and weighed 250 pounds. She shot it with a .338 mag. in northern Alberta . She only scales at 115 pounds. That's a lot of gun for such a small girl. We were hunting with Burnt Lake outfitters.

ANOTHER BIG BIRD — Keith Duckworth, of St. Louis, shot this 22 pound gobbler on opening day last spring. It had a 9½-inch beard and 7/8-inch spurs.

FIRST MOUNT — Christine Kube, Fenton, MO, with her first wall mounter, a 9-pointer taken in Franklin County, using a model 35 Remington on opening day, November 2006.

FINE FIRST BUCK — Corey Mendez, 13, Collinsville, IL, took this nice buck on opening day of the 2005 season. He was hunting on a neighbor's farm. He shot his first buck at about 4:30 p.m. after school on a Friday afternoon.

GIRL GOES GREAT GUNS — Pat Leonard and daughter Ellen Leonard, Hillsboro, MO, pose with a buck taken on Sunday, Nov. 12, 2006 by 15-year-old Ellen.

John Marciano with another nice buck taken from Timberghost Ranch in Iowa. John owns and operates Yellowstone Cafe and the Lazy River Grill restaurants in the St. Louis area.

Nick Fox, St. Louis, MO, harvested this trophy in Iowa. Go to timberghostranch.com to book your hunt of a lifetime.

TOM'S TROPHY — Several small “sticker” points on the base of the antlers make Tom Belt's deer a 14-pointer. His total weight was 281 pounds with a chest girth of 46.5 inches and a neck girth of 29 inches.

BUCK SURPRISE — Connor Belt thought he was shooting at a doe at about 75 yards out, but the buck ended up having two antlers.

FATHER-SON DOUBLE — John Schulte with his son Greg on a farm in Osage County, MO, had two jakes come in around 9 a.m. and Greg was kind enough to let the old man shoot first. The second bird jumped up about 10 feet, and when he landed Greg shot. Even though the birds where only jakes it made for an exciting morning that Greg and I will always remember.