PROSPECT— At age 12, Austin Greathouse should only be starting out as a deer hunter.

Instead, he's a seasoned veteran.

The Prospect resident already has bagged 11 deer in his brief lifetime, including an 8-point buck Monday in Jackson Township on the first day of Pennsylvania's gun season.

"He's definitely a good hunter," said his father, Rob Greathouse. "I feel safer hunting in the woods with him than with anyone else I know."

The younger Greathouse began hunting deer in West Virginia in 2004 at age 9, which is the youngest age permitted to hunt in the Mountain State.

"A guy I work with has a couple of friends who have a cabin in Cameron (W.Va.),"Rob Greathouse said. "We go down there every year to hunt with them. I get Austin licensed in West Virginia each year. I get him a buck and a doe tag."

While hunters can bag only one deer each year in Pennsylvania, the annual limit in West Virginia is three.

Austin Greathouse got a 3-point buck and a doe when he was 9. The following year, he got a spike buck and two does.

Altogether, he has gotten six bucks and five does. While in West Virginia earlier this year, he got 8-point and 6-point bucks.

"It's a lot easier down there,"Austin said. "There's a lot more deer in West Virginia."

He has gone some days in the woods without getting a deer — but not many.

"It seems to work out where I get a deer a day," he said. "But I know I've missed a few."

Austin has been going into the woods with his father since age 5. It didn't take him long to get involved with the hunting game.

"He developed quite a duck call,"Greathouse said of his son. "Austin would go into the swamp with us, do his duck call and they would come.

"Even as a little kid, he always paid attention to what was going on. Now it's paying off for him."

There's no substitute for experience, even at 12 years old.

"Dad and I always scout for deer a lot before we go out,"Austin said. "I've done bow-hunting, too, and when we've been duck hunting, we always see deer. We know where they are."

They do plenty of hunting in Jackson Township, as Greathouse, a Seneca Valley graduate, was raised in that area.

Hunting has been part of the Greathouse family for generations. Now 43, Greathouse began hunting with his father at age 12.

"My dad always hunted with my granddad. ... I don't know how far it goes back,"Greathouse said.

Besides deer and ducks, the family has hunted pheasants, rabbits and geese.

While Austin succeeded in bagging his first Pennsylvania buck Monday, his father succeeded in bagging the biggest buck of his lifetime — a 10-pointer — the same day.

The size of the buck makes little difference to Austin, however. He has other numbers in mind.

"By the time I'm 20, I want to have shot 20 deer,"he said. "It's exciting every time you get one."