A hunter is never too old to kill his first deer, as Ron Goza of Camden proved late last year.
Goza is 77, and the button buck he took allowed him to receive the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's certificate for "My First Deer."
"I've hunted with my son-in-law the past few years and tried to get one and just never did, year after year, just never did. But I always say, maybe next year, maybe next year," he said.
"Next year" finally arrived for Goza on a cold morning a few weeks back.
"I was out there again with my son-in-law, and I told him when we saw a deer, 'Son, this is it, or not at all.' About two seconds later, I took the shot."
Goza said he fired a shot from his .30-30 rifle that appeared to pass through one shoulder of the buck and out the other. The deer began to run. Goza's first thoughts: "Oh, no." But then after a few yards, the deer dropped near a creek.
"I was happy, really happy, honestly happy," he said.
Goza said he grew up getting to hunt some with his grandfather, but mostly for squirrels around his native Cleburne County. His granddad let him hunt with a .22 rifle. He remembered later taking three squirrels on one trip with a single-shot 12-gauge. But he said he never had a chance for a deer when he was younger.
He said his first chance for a deer came in his early 60s. He now lives with his youngest daughter and son-in-law in Louann in south Arkansas, where this deer was killed.
"This looks like it was a young deer, really. It was a good, nice-sized deer," he said. "The meat was real tender. Our pastor and my son-in-law dressed it and I've got it in my freezer, though we ate some already.
"I'll be looking for the big buck next year. But this was a dream come true. I couldn't hardly believe it, that I actually got one, I really got one."
Sports on 01/23/2018