104-Year Old Woman Bags Buck On First Deer Hunt

It may be a tradition for parents to pass along their love of hunting to their children, but one family in Wisconsin is flipping the script, with a son helping his mom hunt for the very first time.

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Florence Teeters is 104-years old, and despite living in the state of Wisconsin, where it seems like hunting is a mandatory requirement for residency, she had never taken part in a single season of hunting deer until this year. The idea came to her last year, according to a news release from Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources, while she was sitting in a blind with her son.

“Yes, it was her idea to get the license. And, yes, that was her first license,” son Bill Teeters said. Make that mom’s first gun deer license – ever.

So, Mrs. Teeters got a lift to the Ball Petroleum gas station in Phillips to get that license. Wearing a sporty hunter-red plaid day-coat purchased by her daughter, Mrs. Teeters looked tip-top to take on the season. No one knew just how ready she was.

Two Wisconsin DNR conservation wardens – Joe Paul and Nick Hefter – were nearby and were thrilled to pose with the first-time buyer. “I thought it was fantastic,” Warden Paul said.

If the story stopped right there, it would be a great example of how you’re never to old to try new things, that hunting is for folks of all ages, and if a 104-year old woman can do it, anybody can.

The story doesn’t end there, however. After getting her license and posing for pictures, Mrs. Teeters and her son headed home, where they sat in the blind for a couple of hours before her son Bill spotted a buck in the distance.

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“I tapped her on her knee, and I pointed,” Bill said. Mrs. Teeters smiled and nodded that she saw what her son saw. She waited, and when the time was right – she shot and got her first buck.

“She was so excited and saying, ‘I got a buck! I got a buck!,'” Bill said.

How great is that? I’m thrilled for Florence Teeters, and a little jealous as well. Some of us may not have seen a single deer on our property this year, after all, and she bagged a buck on her very first outing.

According to Wisconsin DNR records, Teeters is the oldest person in the state to get a hunting license and successfully harvest a deer, and while the hunt may be one for the record books, I think the real impact will be the memories created when Florence and her son Bill took to a deer blind together.

Those memories will last a lifetime, and while this may have been Florence Teeter’s first hunt, I truly hope it won’t be her last. Considering the fact that she’s still gardening, traveling, and even ziplining at 104, I’d say the chances are pretty good she and her son will be back in the blind next November.

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