Young Marathon County hunter uses old rifle to bag his first buck

It’s like Marathon 10-year-old Frederick Knoeck, whom everyone calls Freddy, went back in time to the Wild West with the vintage iron sights gun he used to kill the first buck in his lifetime this fall. Freddy used his father Joel Knoeck’s Winchester Model 53 leveraction rifle during the Wisconsin youth deer hunt just before dark on Oct. 5 to harvest an eight-point buck with a 143/16-inch inside spread in his father’s town of Cassel woods.

“It was really exciting because it was my first ever buck and I don’t get to go hunting too much,” Freddy Knoeck said. “It was a really fun opportunity for me to hunt with my dad.”

The Winchester Model 53 lever-action rifled is considered a more modern version of the classic Model 1892 Winchester that was used in the American Frontier that is popularly called the Wild West. This was during the period of American expansion into North America from 1865 until 1895. Joel Knoeck figured he’d let Freddy try shooting his 98-yearold gun because it didn’t have as much recoil, which is the backward force that someone feels when they shoot a gun.

“It’s like he kind of went back in time,” Joel Knoeck said about Freddy shooting his antique gun.

Joel Knoeck had Freddy practice shooting from 25 and 50 yards into an old feed sack full of sawdust on his land. He wasn’t even sure if he’d take Freddy hunting on the afternoon of Oct. 5 because it was forecasted to rain. It’s a good thing the rain held off so they could climb into the tree stand in the woods to take advantage of the youth hunt.

“We saw the buck enter the woods from the edge of the hayfield and it kept coming closer to us,” Joel Knoeck said. “I used my rangefinder to discover the buck was 70 yards away. The buck came closer and then stared us down for a few minutes before it began walking back toward the edge of the hayfield. I had Freddy make a calf call to stop the buck which was now facing broadside from us. Freddy took a shot and the deer flinched but didn’t move. I thought to myself, ‘Did we not feed the shells into the gun properly? Freddy then ejected the bullet shell casing so that wasn’t the issue. He took another shot and the buck still didn’t move. I was surprised that Freddy could’ve missed the buck twice in a row because he did such a good job at practice target shooting. I told him to keep his head down when he shoots the gun. He took a third shot and the deer jumped up with its tail tucked down, which usually means it is a dead deer. Freddy was shaking so bad after he shot the deer that I took the gun away from him.”

Freddy Knoeck may have been calm while shooting the gun but he experienced “Buck Fever,” which is normal for young hunters, after he took his third shot and realized that he probably killed the deer this time. Freddy killed the buck at 6:34 p.m. on Oct. 5, which was before the 6:50 p.m. closing that night. Joel Knoeck figures that Freddy shot the buck 60 yards away from the tree stand. They found the deer lying dead in the woods 25 to 30 yards from the edge of the hayfield.

“It was lightning outside while we were looking for the deer,” Joel Knoeck said about the weather that night.

Joel’s father, Ivan Knoeck, brought Joel’s other son, nine-year-old Nick Knoeck, into the woods to help. Joel’s brother, Glenn Knoeck, drove the ATV into the woods to help load the buck onto the back of it after it was gutted out.

The Knoeck family’s fall hunting success story doesn’t end there. Freddy’s brother, Nick Knoeck, killed his first ever deer on Oct. 19 during the archery season. He shot the large doe from 30 yards away with his grandfather Ivan Knoeck’s crossbow. The harvested deer was an early birthday present for Joel Knoeck, whose birthday was on Oct. 20.

Nick Knoeck killed the first buck of his lifetime on Nov. 2 during the archery season. He used a crossbow to kill the 6-point buck. The Knoeck family now has plenty of venison to eat this winter.