If 14-year-old Kellen Luse can handle a shotgun as well as he shoots his grandfather's 20-year-old rifle, and if he's so inclined, then a box of shells is good for 24 or 25 birds. But wingshooting isn't what will land him in the pages of Rack magazine.
Last Nov. 13, opening day of Indiana's gun season, the teenager from Bloomfield toppled a buck running full tilt, the same deer his uncle had missed moments earlier. Actually, Kellen missed it as well, the first time.
"I led the buck by not quite a foot. I wanted to hit the middle of its shoulder, hoping for a heart shot," he told Gita Smith, who's writing the magazine story. "When I missed the first time, I realized I must've aimed too far ahead. The second time, I didn't lead so much."
The adjustment was perfect.
Kellen hadn't even planned to take a gun afield that day. His heart was set on bowhunting, but his uncle advised him to carry the old .44 Magnum rifle in case he saw a deer at the opposite end of the field the two of them were going to babysit.
His uncle took a stand at the front of the family-owned plot, while Kellen walked to an ancient homemade box blind in the opposing corner. Kellen's dad was set up on an adjacent field. The property consists of 160 acres in Greene County.
Around 8:00, just after the young man had spotted a few does and a forkhorn, a colossal buck chased a doe down the middle of the field. It was running as if being chased by demons, barely 40 yards away, when Kellen took the first shot.
His followup, however, was on target.
Everything happened so quickly that neither Kellen nor his uncle were able to evaluate the antlers before squeezing their triggers. Both knew only that the rack was impressive. When they approached the downed animal together, their jaws dropped.
It took the pair awhile to reach it. Because he'd last seen the deer in his riflescope, Kellen thought it had fallen just 40 yards from his blind, when the actual distance was twice that.
The 16-pointer missed the 200-inch mark by only 1 6/8 inches.
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