Hunting: It was love at first site

A veteran hunter says style and condition are more important than the size of a deer's rack.
By SUSAN E. BERLIN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
HUBBARD -- Do you know what you did the day after your last birthday? Betty Sherman does.
From 30 feet up in her own personal tree house near Maysville, W.Va., the 70-year-old Hubbard Township woman bagged a 10-point buck.
Happy birthday.
Using a 30-year-old Remington model 742, 30-06 semi-automatic carbine with a Redfield scope, Sherman saw the deer Nov. 19 about 140 yards away, sited it between an electric utility pole and the pole guide wire, and took it down with one shot to the neck.
She couldn't tell from her distance how many points the antlers had, but she said she saw it was a nice rack.
She was so excited to check it out, she scrambled down from her tree stand, only to have to climb back up the 30-foot ladder again to retrieve her orange hunting vest, which must be worn by hunters on the ground.
Sherman said most men would not make use of the vantage point proffered by the tree house because they're afraid to go up the ladder, and the house sways in the wind.
The deer was shot on her husband Boyd's 500-acre family farm about three miles from Maysville, a 41/2-hour ride from here.
Longtime hobby: Sherman has been hunting the area for 50 years, as taught to her early on in their marriage by Boyd, beginning with squirrel hunting. One of few women in the Maysville area who hunts, Sherman and her husband also hunt rabbit and squirrel.
While a 10-point buck is not among the biggest being bagged these days, Sherman said the style and condition of a deer's rack are more important to trophy-seekers than point count and measurement.
The reason, she said, is because the antlers may not be symmetrical or one of the points (tips of the rack) may be broken.
"Before, I had an eight-pointer with a wider spread, nineteen and three-fourths inches, but this rack had longer, more perfectly formed points," she said.
The rack is measured from inside at its widest point.
Sherman is having this rack mounted to go with the eight-point head of her previous personal record kill.
The meat goes in the family freezer; their favorite cuts are venison tenderloin and steaks.
Sherman, a West Virginia native who moved to Hubbard in 1951, said deer hunting is not the easiest thing in the world to do.
Her advice: The Franklin Avenue woman's advice to beginners: "First learn from a good teacher how to handle and respect the weapon and know the safety rules before going out. & quot;
Sherman, who is retired after 28 years at Delphi Packard Electric Systems, and her husband have one daughter and three grandchildren, none of whom hunt.