A local high school teen got a surprise in the mail just in time to kick off this years hunting season in west central Saskatchewan. Kaylee Allin who is only 15 years old recently found out that she is being featured in a national hunting magazine for her first ever mule deer buck, shot last year.

Allin who attends grade 10 at Kindersley Composite School, was nursing a cold last fall when her dad, Darcy, told her to get ready and dress warm as they set out to find a buck that had been spotted in the area. The buck, or Crab Apple which he was named over the years, gained the attention of local hunters, including the Tuff family, who had been tracking him for a couple years previous to Allin claiming him as her own.

During the excursion while Allin was feeling under the weather, she spotted him and dropped the mule deer buck on her third shot, quickly replacing feelings of being sick with feelings of happiness and excitement.

“We were out looking for him and thought he was gone and then I saw this buck with huge antlers and I pointed him out to my dad and he knew that was him,” said Allin. Although Allin had been hunting for awhile now, this was her first mule deer buck, arguably setting the bar high for future hunts.

Her dad who was no doubt happy for his daughter and recognized the significance of her first kill, submitted her photo with the buck to Muley Crazy, a hunting magazine based out of the United States and is circulated across North America. Time went on and Allin said her dad forgot he sent the submission in until the package of magazines showed up at their house, they flipped it open and saw the picture of Allin and her buck that her dad sent in months ago.

“I was really happy, it’s an American magazine so I am the only Canadian in it so I was really surprised and was freaking out,” said Allin.

She didn’t get drawn for a buck this year but said she is excited to get out hunting with her dad looking for a mule deer doe, or as her dad jokes, Crab Apples’ girlfriend.