A Zulu Deer Hunter in Arkansas

Last year, I joined the urban hunt here in the village. It was my very first time hunting. I told my husband in September 2023 that I was interested in learning. We have an overpopulation of whitetail deer, and there is a hunting program in place to reduce deer numbers. I completed the hunting class, and my husband bought me a crossbow. We had no experience with the crossbow, so we went to the crossbow tutorials to figure out how to use it.

About 250 people attended the orientation for the urban hunt. Each hunter received eight deer tags and could get more once they were used up. The first deer each hunter took had to be donated to the food bank, where it was processed into jerky sticks and donated to Arkansas schools to curb childhood hunger. The person who donated the most deer, received a cash prize. The previous year, a guy donated 30 deer and received $300 in prize money.

My husband set up a chair and a couple of cameras in the forest once we found the best place to hunt. I got to my stand around 4:30 am and sat there alone in the dark until daylight came. That first day out, a deer came by. I aimed and shot it just below the shoulder. It ran about 20 yards before falling to the ground. The whole time I kept track of the direction it ran.

I got off the chair and called my husband, who came over and helped me take it home, where we gutted it with directions via video from my brother-in-law in California. It was exciting and scarry at the same time. We took the deer to the butcher for processing.

After that the whole process was easier. What I learned at the end of last season was to have patience and wait for the bigger deer to come out before I shoot the smallest one, which is always the lookout deer.

I am originally from South Africa and of the Zulu tribe. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine hunting. Now it is part of my life. I love sitting in the forest and waiting to see whitetail deer come up to the corn feeder. – Beullah Arrends Terrell