11-12-2023 Harford Mag - Flipbook - Page 48
From left, Emily Troyer, 15, Mason Hall and Troy Hutchins take aim as parents Justin Hall and Chrissy
Hutchins look on.
with their dad, Jack Troyer, on their 70-acre
farm. Emily, who is 15, and Julie, 9, also take
part, whether the target of the day is deer,
squirrel or raccoon. Each has felled at least
one deer, all of which the Troyers dress and
eat themselves.
“The kids help gut [the game] as I show
them what comes out,” said their father, who
takes time to explain the anatomy. Most of
all, Troyer, 40, appreciates those times when
he and his brood go tromping through the
brush in their camouflage outfits and orange
hunting vests, discovering habitats in the
rough.
“It’s a good bonding experience, away from
the hustle and bustle of work and school,”
said Troyer, a logger by trade. “We study stuff
in the woods, like bugs and streams and trees.
A big part of hunting is spending time in
nature with the kids; it’s not just about going
out in the woods to kill something.”
When they do bring game home, little is
discarded. Bookends on the shelves in Emily’s
room are made from the hoofs of a deer that
she shot. A freshman at North Harford High,
Emily was 7 when she asked to go along on a
deer hunt.
“It’s a fun activity to do with your dad,” she
said. In time, she learned to shoot, mastered
safety skills and landed a doe two years ago.
“I was nervous to shoot but relieved when
I hit [the deer]; it felt huge, because I knew
she could be useful to us,” Emily said. “I was
proud of myself; I felt like I’d accomplished a
goal that I set out to achieve.”
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| Winter 2023 | harfordmagazine.com
“A big part of hunting is
spending time in nature
with the kids; it’s not just
about going out in the
woods to kill something.”
— Jack Troyer, hunter
In doing so, she had a light-bulb moment.
“Girls can hunt just as good as guys,” she
said. “Maybe better.”
Brianna Kerns would agree. At 13, Brianna
bagged her first deer last year, a 6-point buck,
while hunting with her father on the family’s
20-acre spread in Norrisville.
“Her reaction was priceless,” said Jason
Kerns, 46. “Brianna grinned from ear to ear.”
Kerns, who is employed by Baltimore
County, hunted as a youth with his dad but
quit until coaxed back in by his daughter.
“She took a hunter safety course before I
even knew it,” he said. Brianna, it seemed,
had caught the bug.
“It’s ‘in’ her,” Kerns said.
Brianna called her first shoot “the best
moment of my life” though confessing mixed
feelings afterward.
“The deer was a living creature, kind of
innocent,” she said. “But he was in our corn
field, eating our crops — and it was exciting
to shoot something that we could eat.”
Now Brianna, who is home-schooled, has
moved from tree stand to soap box to talk