A young hunter shot an enormous Indiana whitetail recently, during the Hoosier State's two-day, youth-only hunt. Ava Kirtley was hunting with her father and a family friend when the 12-point buck stepped out in front of their elevated box blind. Her Dad, Kevin Kirtley, tells F&S that the big whitetail's rack green-scored north of 180 inches.
"We'd been watching this buck, and my buddy had him on trail camera," says Kevin Kirtley. "We have a few food plots set up that we'd spotted him in, but none of us expected him to show up that early into an evening hunt."
The group had just set up on the afternoon of Saturday, September 28 when a 6-pointer walked within shooting range of the blind. "Ava decided to pass on that, and it wasn't long at all after he walked away that this big one showed up," Kirtley says. "She spotted him as soon as he came in and just said: Deer ... Buck!"
Kirtley's friend watched the buck through his binoculars while he readied the tri-pod for Ava's rifle. All three hunters knew it was the shooter they'd seen on camera, so once her 243 was situated on the tri-pod, Ava didn't hesitate.
"I think about 10 seconds passed from the time she saw him to the time she made the shot," Kirtley says. "I was worried that she might have missed him because she aimed and took the shot so quickly."
Ava's shot was dead on, though, and the buck dropped soon after she pulled the trigger. "It was a perfect heart shot," her Dad says. "He didn't go more than 25 yards. I was so proud of her."
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According to Kirtley, 13-year-old Ava is no stranger to big bucks, having killed an impressive non-typical with a double main beam just last season. "She's got my best buck beat by at least 20 inches with this one," he says. "It's the same way when we're bass fishing. She always catches the biggest bass. She lives for the outdoors."
Kirtley says a local taxidermist is doing a shoulder mount on Ava's youth-season giant. It's unofficial green score came in at 184 inches B&C.
