May 2010

Kody Pickell

This month’s featured buck was shot by a young man named Kody Pickell from Grove City, Ohio. Kody shot this beautiful 11 pointer while hunting with his Dad. His Mom tells us Kody has had a passion for the outdoors since he was 5 years old. Since that age, his Dad Jay and his Godfather George have taken him shed hunting, shown him how to set up trees stands and taught him how to locate scrapes, beds and tracks. At the age of 8, his Dad started to take him to the youth gun hunt and when Kody was 10 he received his first Horton crossbow. Every year since then he has killed a deer. As you can see from the picture, he hit pay dirt in 2009. Kody also likes to go 4 wheeling and he works on cars. It is exciting for the team at BWB to read all of the stories submitted by fellow hunters and hear their passion for the outdoors expressed in the words they choose to describe their experiences. It is especially exciting to hear of more and more young people and women taking an interest in hunting or the outdoors in general. It is a great way to spend family time and strengthen the family unit. Congratulations Kody for your accomplishment and good luck this fall. The BWB team would also like to congratulate Kody’s parents for their effort to encourage Kody to enjoy the outdoors but also create strong family ties that will likely pay dividends as Kody grows older.

On Oct 16, 2009 Jay and Kody went to the Gater Farm in Athens, Ohio. The farm has over 100 acres to hunt on. This October day found Kody and Jay sitting in a box blind by the food plot.  They saw 3 different small bucks and 2 does but all the deer were out of range for Kody’s crossbow.  One of the does did eventually feed close enough for a shot but as Kody went to pick up his bow, it brushed against the box blind and spooked the deer. Bridgett, Kody's Mom, got a text message stating “I hate hunting.” Kody and his Dad decided to stick it out even though Kody was pretty down on himself. About 2 hours later, a beautiful 11 pointer came out of the woods to the food plot. Jay pointed out the deer to Kody. Kody got ready for the much anticipated shot. Although Kody was all set up to shoot, Jay kept asking Kody if he had a clear shot. Finally, just as Jay was repeating his previous question, Kody shot then he turned to his Dad and said “Yes, I Have A Good Shot!” Sure enough it was a good shot. The excitement in that blind for the next hour, as they waited to give the deer time, was electrifying to say the least. You could almost say it was like Christmas morning for a couple of 4 year olds. The next message Kody’s Mom received on her phone was a call from Kody stating “I love to hunt!” A major lesson Kody learned from this hunt is being patient pays off!