Alexa Tazelaar, 9, killed her first deer on opening day of the youth season on Oct. 7 in Peoria County.

“We took advantage of the new law in Illinois and used a .350 Legend,” her dad Ron said. “Alexa made a great shot and the deer didn’t take another step.

“She said, `I smoked it!’ after the shot. I asked her where she heard that term and she told me, `My older brother.’ ”

The Villa Park family had a good youth-season outing with older brother Ronnie also getting a deer.

Tazelaar starts off Buck of the Week, or Deer of the Week, for another season.

BOTW, the celebration of big bucks and their stories or (the stories matter, as this one shows) around Chicago fishing, runs Wednesdays in the paper Sun-Times. Sometimes, such as this case, it is DOTW.

To make submissions, email (BowmanOutside@gmail.com) or contact me on Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside), Instagram (@BowmanOutside) or Blue Sky (@BowmanOutside).