HELENA — For many youngsters, the youth deer only hunt is the most exciting two days of the year.

“I got super excited, so I shot it,” Gatlin Vercoe said. Young hunters bag deer during the annual youth hunt

This year, the youth hunt happened on October 16 and 17, and it’s for kids ages 10 to 15.

Ten-year-old Gatlin Vercoe was one of the youth hunters in the field this year.

“It is a family tradition, and I wanted to get meat and hang something on the wall,” he said.

He had a successful first hunt—Gatlin harvested his first buck with his grandpa beside him.

“It was a 4 by 4 and was pretty heavy, and we had to drag it out of a little canyon piece,” Gatlin said.

The hunt is open to legally licensed 12 to 15-year-olds who have completed hunter education and are joined by a non-hunting

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