One Shot, Two Kills. And it Was His First Deer Hunt!

Wisconsin – Do you know anyone who ever forgot their first deer? I sure don’t. I clearly recall my first deer, way back in 1987.

I was just glad that I’d remembered to aim and pull the trigger. I hadn’t done either the first time I got the chance. But I got the little buck, and I was plenty thrilled.

At the time, I was almost twice the age of the ten-year-old from Wisconsin who took his first two deer with a single round, according to WBAY.com.

Kyler Verbeten was sitting with his father Matt on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. It was the first time the youngster had gone deer hunting as an actual hunter.

‘I wanted to go hunting this year because I really wanted a deer,’ said 10-year-old Kyler Verbeten.

Like most bored hunters, he didn’t see deer right away and was watching a squirrel in the meantime.

‘This squirrel kept distracting me, so I kept watching the squirrel,’ said Kyler. ‘The squirrel was just jumping from tree to tree, everything. It was just doing weird stuff.’

When two antlerless deer arrived, one larger and one smaller, Kyler’s father told him to shoot the big doe.

Like many hunters (including many more-experienced adults) Kyler missed his first shot at a living deer.

Matt told his son to shoot again. And when he did, he hit both of the deer.

‘I said, “Shoot again,” he puts it back up, BOOM. They just fell right over,’ said Matt.

I’m betting that this young hunter will never forget that hunt and that he will be forever hooked on the excitement that comes from deer hunting.

‘I was so excited I almost jumped out of the stand,’ said Kyler, ‘I just ran down the ladder and ran out there to look at them.’

Fortunately, Matt also had a deer tag, so both of the deer were legal.

Kudos to Matt Verbeten for taking the time and effort to expose his kids to the great outdoors, rather than leaving them with their eyeballs glued to a glowing LCD screen.

‘Just for kids nowadays to get the value of nature, to get outside and do something,’ said Matt. ‘There’s not an app for something like that.’

Young Kyler is well on his way to becoming a sure-nuff hunter. And I’m glad to see that despite his unique first hunt, he has realistic expectations for the future.

‘Are you going to get three with one shot next year?’ we asked Kyler.

‘Probably… maybe, I don’t know. Probably not,’ Kyler said.

Truly. But there’s always a chance.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.