MORGANTOWN, Miss. — A 101-year-old hunter in Mississippi is still at it, and even dropped two deer with one shot.
Veteran hunter Bertha Vickers made the twofer during her first successful hunt at age 101, the Clarion Ledger reported . Getting two in one a few days after her Jan. 9 birthday was a complete accident, and the first time she’d ever done it, Vickers said.
After missing four this season, the Morgantown resident said she was determined to bag a deer. Her shots from the blind that relatives built her had missed. Vickers was happy with the blind and its location, but not with her .243 caliber rifle. “It’s a real good place to sit, but after I had bad luck, one of the boys brought me another gun,” Vickers said. “It’s a 7mm-08. I’d seen the gun shoot and knew it would hit.”
Vickers was back in the blind days after her 101st birthday. She spotted one deer from her hideout, but she remained patient and was rewarded.
At 101 years old, Bertha Vickers is still going strong and this year she managed to harvest two deer with one shot. (Photo: Special to Clarion Ledger)
“I decided to wait for a bigger one,” Vickers said. “Before long, a bigger doe came out and I shot. Then I saw two deer on the ground. It shot plum through both of them.”
Vickers said she helped clean the animals and shared the meat with her family. “I made steaks, but I gave most of it to my grandchildren,” she said.
The centenarian also mows her lawn, raises vegetables and still enjoys fishing.
When she killed another deer just weeks before her 100th birthday, Vickers wondered why other people made a fuss about it. It was a doe after all, not a prized buck.
“When you’re as old as I am, you naturally think each one could be your last one, but I’m going to go as long as I can,” Vickers said.