Raleigh Hooper, a 12-year-old hunter from Calhoun, Ga., poses beside the head of a wild hog she killed last year.Raleigh Hooper already has racked up two deer in this year's Georgia season.
Hooper is a 12-year-old cheerleader at Red Bud Middle School in Calhoun who enjoys going hunting with her dad, Jason Hooper.
"It is one of my favorite things to do," she said recently.
They have made three trips this fall to Washington County in central Georgia, where they are members of the Little Ogeechee River Hunting Club and have 750 acres leased, her father said.
"Our first trip down, the weather did not cooperate with us," he said. "The second trip she killed one, and the third trip she killed one."
Those were a 165-pound buck with five antler points and a 150-pound three-pointer.
On the first one, her dad related, "She was all excited. As soon as she shot him she said, 'I got him.'"
The seventh-grader uses a Remington .243 bolt-action rifle with scope.
"I plan on going back a couple more times this year," Raleigh said, but I'm tagged out on my bucks and will have to go hunting only for does."
She began hunting with her father two years ago, and she killed a deer on her first hunt. Her father, now 44, started deer hunting when he was 18.
Raleigh connects with other young deer hunters at school.
"I know at least five of them hunt," she said. "They have not killed as many as I have, but they have killed some. They congratulate me when I kill my deer."
She bagged a 200-pound wild hog last year.
Her interest in animals goes beyond wildlife and hunting.
"I would like to be a veterinarian because I have a passion for animals," she said. "I have three dogs, one horse and two turkeys."
She expects hunting to always be part of her life.
In fact, even though marriage is far in the future, she already knows part of what she will be looking for in her mate.
"I will want my future husband to hunt," she said.
She has a 65-year-old grandfather, David Hooper of Tunnel Hill, who gave up hunting years ago, however. His passion is playing bass in several bluegrass bands in the area.
"No, I don't hunt anymore. I have not hunted since my kids were little," he said. "My brother-in-laws, Joe and Jim Hefner, burned me out on deer hunting. I did not have the right clothing, and I got tired of freezing to death."
But he's proud of Raleigh and what Jason has taught her about the sport.
Raleigh admitted she sometimes gets cold while waiting in an elevated box blind for a deer to come within range, but she loves the anticipation.
Georgia's season runs until Jan. 10, and deer hunters in the northwest section of the state can expect decent results.
"We have a healthy deer population here in northwest Georgia," said David Gregory, a wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources who is stationed in its Wildlife Resources Division regional office in Armuchee.
"The harvest season seems to be good, but it does seem to be down a little," Gregory said. "We are on the lower range."
He attributes that to a relative lack of acorns.
"They were scarce this year. Any time you have a poor acorn crop, there will be less deer," Gregory said.
And those who are still around "don't move as much. They conserve energy," he added. "Acorns are what makes the world go around."
Contact Gary Petty at sports@timesfreepress.com