Braeleigh Miller, an 8-year-old girl from Michigan, is now the youngest hunter and person in the city to have successfully hunted down an elk with a rifle.
Braeleigh Miller said she killed the 700-pound elk with a rifle from more than 200 yards away when she was with her father on a hunting trip on December 14, 2019.
Gunnar Miller, the father of the 8-year-old girl, said, “They (the gang of elk) were all still in the field when it got daylight, and we waited for legal shooting hours, and we snuck across the field and they were in a perfect position in the field, I mean it couldn’t have unfolded any better.”
Gunnar said they managed to find the elk one night before they killed it after getting the help of a guide.
The father of the girl said his daughter has bragged to her family that she is the youngest person in Michigan to have hunted an elk.
The girl said, “It’s cool for me because I’ve never set a record before, my Dad hasn’t set a record before, and my grandpa hasn’t set a record before, so I’m like to them, “Ha-ha”.”
Gunnar said he was in tears after his daughter killed the elk.
Gunnar published a post on Facebook and talked about the accomplishment of his daughter.
Gunnar wrote in the post: “There were a few people on Facebook that were pretty skeptical being the size of the gun and the caliber of the gun and the amount of the kick that it has being that it was a full size.”
He added, “It wasn’t a youth gun or anything, it was a full-size rifle, and a .308-caliber has a little bit of a kick to it, but she handled it like a champ.”
Gunnar says he wants young kids to take part in hunting events.
The proud father says “youth hunting” is a dying sport.
He explained, “Youth hunting in Michigan is a dying sport, and that’s why Michigan actually opened the mentor youth program after studies that have proven in Michigan is that the younger a kid is when they actually get into hunting, the more likely they are to continue it throughout their life.”
He added, “So doing that study and everything obviously I would have gotten my kids into hunting at a young age no matter what, but to have the opportunity to have them be the one that’s pulling the trigger and actually harvesting the animal at a young age is a huge opportunity for them that we didn’t have when we were younger.”
The 8-year-old girl said she will also take her kids and teach them hunting once they grow up.