Family affair for Buck of the Week 11-25-08

Henry Martinez sent this photo, which earned Buck of the Week honors for Illinois first firearm deer season.

The Lockport man is a hunting mentor to his friends in Homer Glen, Beto Martinez (no relation) and his son Andres. They hunted Mercer County in first firearm season, which ended Sunday.

As much for the photo as the deer, the nine-pointer taken by Andres earns BOTW.

An extended online version of BOTW, which tops the Illinois Hunting Report during deer season in the Sun-Times on Wednesdays, is posted here on Tuesdays.

The story is below.

They were hunting Friday morning when Andres, 11, bagged his first buck, a nine-pointer with a 20-gauge with iron sights.

“It happened so fast, he didn’t get buck fever right away,” Henry said.

He looked through binoculars after the shot and realized Andres had a deer down, so he strapped on his waders and crossed over to help.

Looking at the buck is when it hit. “The kid is yelling, `I got one. I got one,’ ” Henry said. “I said, `Be quiet. Your dad and I want to fill our tags.’ The kid is so hyped right now.”

Beto filled his tag with a six-point. Henry hung on in hopes of a monster. He has the second firearm season, Dec. 4-7, to fill his tag.

E-mail BOTW nominations to outdoordb@sbcglobal.net.