COOK- Some might call 15-year-old Merilee Scofield the envy of many a deer hunter in the North Country, as she’s never failed to fill a deer tag since she started hunting at the age of ten.
“She turned ten on opener, and that’s what she wanted to do for her birthday,” said her mother, Jennifer Scofield. “She’s 15 now and about to turn 16, and I think she’s shot seven deer total.”
Merilee has already made a mark at a young age as a sharpshooter on the North Woods School archery team. The sophomore competed in the NASP Centershot Eastern Nationals last spring in Louisville, Ky. in both the bullseye and 3D target competitions. But when it comes to deer, her mother said, Merilee uses a rifle, and obviously learned well under the watchful eyes of her father, Jeremy, and her grandfather, Bill Nieters.
And some might also envy the relative ease with which she bagged another doe this past Sunday. No long drives, no arduous treks through dense forest to a remote tree stand, no sir – Merilee just took a short trek out of her back door.
Jeremy and Jennifer Scofield live about eight miles west of Cook, where they have 70 acres adjoining their home’s back yard.
“She was in our field, and I can watch her from our back yard,” Jennifer said.
It’s rare to find a teenager these days without a cellphone, and Merilee’s came in handy as she prepared to take aim at her prey. She sent a text to her vigilant mom.
“She said there’s a deer between you and me, Mom, you need to go in the house because I don’t want to shoot you,” Jennifer said.
Jennifer complied, and moments later Merilee chalked up the seventh deer of her young hunting career.