ST. JOE - Rip Finley’s preparation paid off.
Finley, an 8-year-old from Mountain Home, became the youngest hunter in Arkansas to kill an elk when he recently shot a 4x4 bull in the Richland Creek area of western Searcy County.
Finley had practiced shooting a .270 caliber rifle on the family farm leading up to the hunt, familiarizing himself with the using a tripod stand while shooting from a standing position. He shot the bull elk from 205 yards, according his father Rob, who measure the shot with a rangefinder.
“There were cows and bulls,” Rip Finley said. “When I got a shot at this bull, I hit him, and he kind of hunched.I shot him again and he went down. This was really exciting.”
Finley’s opportunity to take an elk came when his father made the winning bid in September at the Arkansas Outdoors Hall of Fame banquet.
Finley, a third-grader at Mountain Home Christian Academy, is no beginner when it comes hunting. He also enjoys hunting deer and ducks, and has even taken a deer with a crossbow.
The 2012 elk season closed with 23 of 27 public land permit holders getting elk. Ten bulls and eight cows were taken on private land.
Sports, Pages 19 on 11/08/2012