First hunt lands trophy buck

FORT GIBSON, Okla. (AP) -- Citizens in the town of Fort Gibson have been treating Rodney Clopton like a mini celebrity.

All Clopton did to warrant this attention was shoot a deer while hunting with his dad, Floyd, during a special hunt at the Okmulgee Wildlife Refuge.

Doesn't sound like that big of a deal. Well, consider the fact the Clopton, 12, a seventh-grader at Fort Gibson Middle School, bagged his first buck -- a 156-pound, 18-point monster with a 24-inch spread.

It may not be any kind of a record, but that's at least worth talking about at the local barber shop.

"I've been hunting for 18 years and I've never had one that big," his father said. "Those are hard to come by."

"That's an exceptional deer by anybody's standards," said Craig Endicott, the Northeast regional supervisor for the Oklahoma Department of Conservation's Wildlife Division.

"It's uncommon to bag one like that. I'm excited to hear that, especially since it's a youngster. Good for him."

"I think it's unbelievable," Clopton added. "Everybody has been talking about it. I'm actually pretty tired of bringing it up."

Father and son stayed at a hotel in Okmulgee the night before and awoke at 5:45 a.m. to begin their outing. Wet and rainy weather conditions didn't look favorable for a successful hunt, but that didn't stop the duo.

By the time father and son arrived at their desired spot, it was breaking daylight. The hunters positioned themselves behind an oak tree with a low, hanging limb that provided perfect concealment.

Moments later, Mr. Copton saw a deer approaching from his right, approximately 25 yards away. His son spotted it as well, but all he really saw was the deer's belly and neck.

"I just told him to shoot," Mr. Clopton said. "After he shot at him once. I told him to shoot again. I really had buck fever for him."

"I was nervous, but I knew it was a good shot," said Clopton, who's been hunting with his dad since he was 10.

The deer didn't drop immediately, so Clopton ended up firing three shots with his .22-250 Remington rifle. As it turns out, he found his target on all three shots.

"I think that's pretty amazing because he even hit the buck while it was running away," Mr. Clopton said. "I think that I must have taught him pretty well."

The next order of business was locating the buck. Father and son searched the woods, struggling to find any clues, but eventually discovered a blood trail.

"I thought maybe he had gotten away," Clopton said.

Moments later the hunters stumbled across their trophy kill. Mr.

Clopton did the field dressing honors and the rest is history.

The buck green-scored at 160 3/8 and likely will make the Cy Curtis award program, but it must first go through a 60-day drying period, Clopton said.

A minimum of 150 is needed for non-typical bucks in order to qualify for Cy Curtis consideration. Clopton's buck in non-typical because the right side of the rack has 11 points and the left side has seven. A typical buck would have an equal number of points on both sides.

"I'm really happy for my boy," Mr. Clopton said. "He's done something I, as well as most people, haven't done. Not bad for a first buck."