Junior hunters
Christopher Cox gets his first deer

Christopher Cox, 10, of Las Vegas, Nev. got his first deer last fall during the Arizona junior deer hunt in Game Management Unit 12AW. He hiked into the Kanab Creek wilderness area with his father, Donald Cox, and hunting buddy Sal Moccio. Chris spotted a group of does on a ridge and put all his practice at the rifle range to good use. He quickly found a steady rest and checked the yardage to the deer. The rangefinder reported 187 yards.

With a solid rest on a dead tree, Chris steadied the cross hairs on the point of the deer’s shoulder and fired. The shot rang out and the doe dropped. Chris didn’t need any tracking skills for this deer: It was waiting to be packed out right where it landed.

Chris developed a passion for hunting at an early age. “My dad loves to hunt, and ever since I was four years old, I’d think about his trips–whether it was just a local quail hunt or an African safari,” he says. “I’d ask my dad about hunting, and he’d tell me everything I wished to know.”

When he was six years old, Chris got a .22-caliber rifle from his dad for Christmas. His first hunt, for rabbit, helped stoke his passion for the sport and eventually led to a try at bird hunting with a 20-gauge shotgun. “Then came my first big game tag that allowed me to pursue a doe mule deer on the Kaibab,” he says. “That was followed by my tag this year, which allowed me to get my first deer with a new rifle.”

Chris’s father Donald says, “Kudos to the Arizona Game and Fish Department for their junior hunt opportunities and reduced-price junior licenses. Hopefully, other state wildlife agencies will see the wisdom of not making kids wait until they’re older to start hunting with an experienced mentor. In today’s world, if they wait too long, other interests can get in the way of an outdoor lifestyle. And we need all the responsible outdoorsmen we can get to insure the future of our hunting and fishing heritage.”