Taking a deep breath, sophomore Zach Hoffman slides his finger over the trigger of his gun. Another deep breath, as he aims the gun at the deer and pulls the trigger. One shot. That’s the goal. Drop the deer as quickly and painlessly as possible.

At the age of six, Zach continued a family tradition when he began hunting with his father Craig Hoffman in Warrenton.

“My family’s been hunting since way back when,” Zach said. “My grandpa, he hunted a lot and we know a lot of people who hunt. I don’t know, I always wanted to do it too so I went with my dad.”

The Hoffman family, including Zach’s uncle and cousin, hunt together in Warrenton and while they are there they stay in a cabin that they’ve been staying in for years.

“It’s a really old log cabin, really really old and we call it the deer shack,” Hoffman said.

Spending hours together in the deer stand gives Zach and his father the opportunity to talk, joke around and bond as father and son.

“I’m watching him shoot the little deer one year, and then shoot the bigger ones,” Craig said. “And just seeing the smile on his face and having time, joking time in the deer stand, me and him. Just being together, me and him.”

Some people worry about their children carrying a firearm, or going hunting. But Craig has the utmost confidence in Zach and wishes they could do it more often.

“I mean he could do it on his own two years ago,” Craig said. “I wish we could do more hunting, but we just don’t have the time.”

Zach’s cousin, freshman Jake Hoffman, began hunting with Zach when he was 8. And although they go hunting together, they are always at separate stands. Jake’s favorite part of hunting is the adrenaline that courses through him.

“When I first see it, that starts the adrenaline just to see it, and then actually holding the gun up and aiming at it,” Jake said. “The gun is shaking but you need to hold your breath and make sure you get that perfect shot because you don’t want to make the deer suffer.”

Every year, the first weekend of deer season is called the youth season and is dedicated to youth, a hunter who is 15 or younger. This is Zach’s last year of youth season, but he is ready to move on to something else and excited for the future.

“I’m kind of ready to not have to be youth anymore,” Zach said. “Next year I’d like to be more into bow hunting. Bow season opens in September and stays until like January so it takes a lot longer than rifle season. So I’d like to get into bow hunting so I can still go before and after the rifle season next year.”