Michigan News
Broken back doesn’t deter teen
AP
One shot for her to regain the confidence previously dashed by a debilitating back injury.
The 16-year-old took out a buck — her first deer — during a Michigan Department of Natural Resources youth hunt season in late September.
She’s also recovering from spinal fusion surgery she had in late June after suffering a fracture in a lumbar vertebra.
Stephanie killed her buck with one shot to its heart with a 20-gauge shotgun. The deer ran 50 yards before collapsing.
“I was so excited when I saw it go down. As soon as I saw it, I was so excited I started crying,” she recalled. “I was calling all my friends, all my mom’s friends, all my deer hunting people.”
She wanted a buck to be her first deer kill and had no intention of taking down a doe.
Also a skilled archer, Stephanie woke up the day of the hunt before her parents, focused on the task at hand. Her father, James Goodall, joined her in the field.
She initially encountered three eight-point bucks in the field behind the family’s Genoa Township home. But the seven-point buck presented the perfect shot as dusk began to turn to darkness.
Three years of hunting experience came into play as Stephanie took her shot just behind the deer’s front shoulder toward its heart.
“One shot. That’s all I needed,” she said. “I was completely surprised because I’ve missed deer with archery before.”
The Pinckney Community High School junior began hunting around age 13, and soon after developed a passion for archery. Her back surgery prohibits her — for now — from archery, because of the strain it would put on her back.
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