VENANGO TWP — Talk about a brotherhood.

Boyers residents Joe Swartzentruber, 10, Ted Swartzentruber, 14, and Robert Specht, 17 — three brothers — all shot eight-point bucks on the first day of deer gun season.

They all shot them from the same tree-stand — using the same gun.

“It’s a single-shot 30-30 rifle. ... That thing is probably 40 years old or more,” their father, Eli Swartzentruber, said. “We have it so the boys can hunt with it.”

Mr. Swartzentruber has been a hunter for more than 25 years. He said he’s invested most of his hunting time of the past four years getting his sons interested in the sport.

Before this year, his sons had combined to bag one deer in their lifetimes. At age 14, Specht got a 5-point buck.

That all changed on Nov. 28.

“I was thrilled,” Mr. Swartzentruber said. “It was the best day of hunting in my life.”

Swartzentruber took Joe up to the tree-stand first. Within 20 minutes, he spotted an 8-point buck coming out of some brush.

“I had to wait for a clear shot,” Joe said. “It was hard waiting, but I didn’t want to miss.

“It felt awesome, getting a deer. It was my first one. I stayed calm on the outside, but I was going crazy on the inside.”

Next up was 14-year old brother Ted. He was in the tree-stand for barely 15 minutes before another 8-point crossed his path.

“He jumped out from behind a tree,” Ted said. “I couldn’t believe it. I always wanted to get a buck.”

Ted had been hunting for three years. In past years, he saw a 3-point and 6-point buck, but was unable to get a shot off either time.

“I couldn’t find them in my scope,” he said. “But this one was right there.”

While his younger brothers were finding early success, Specht spent the morning hunting in another area nearby. He found nothing.

He decided to hunt from the tree-stand — and use the same gun as his brothers — that afternoon. But as the day wore on, his luck wasn’t changing.

“Honestly, I was really disappointed and was preparing to call it a day,” Specht said.

Then, out of the same brush that produced Joe’s buck, another 8-point came into view. And Specht made no mistake.

“It was around 4:30 in the afternoon or so,” he said. “I thought I was going to be the one left out.

“Instead, we all wound up getting one. I thought it was pretty cool.”

So did his father.

“We hunt on our own property,” he said. “That was a pretty successful day, one that will be hard to top.”