FENELTON— Deer hunting was supposed to be a father and son activity for Pat McCue. But two years ago his father died of a heart attack.

However, 15-year-old Pat found a way to keep his father's memory alive.

Pat ventured into the woods this deer hunting season for the first time, joined by his older cousin, Mark McCue of Butler.

Pat's father, Ray McCue, died of a heart attack on Oct. 14, 2004. That was just weeks before the pair were going to hunt deer together and only a few days after Pat's East Butler football team won the Butler Area Midget Football League championship.

"It would have been Pat's first hunt,"said Karen McCue, his mother. "That was a tough time. Three of the boys on that football team lost relatives right around that championship game.

"Pat had taken the hunter safety course and was ready to go."

But without his father, he wanted no part of hunting, despite his cousin Mark's offering to take him.

"He called, but I didn't want to go,"Pat said. "Dad took me into the woods hunting with him a few times when I was younger, just to watch.

"I couldn't wait until I was old enough to hunt with him."

The youngest age to hunt deer in Pennsylvania is 12. Pat was involved in football that year and was unable to take the hunter safety course in time for hunting season.

Even after taking the course, he figured that without his father, he would do without hunting.

"I didn't want to be out in the woods and start breaking down, crying, thinking about my Dad,"Pat said. "It would scare the deer away and ruin it for anybody out there with me.

"I never totally gave up on the idea of hunting, but that's not how I wanted it to be."

So the teen stayed home. He stayed home last hunting season as well.

But this hunting season, his cousin called him again.

This time, Pat joined him — wearing his father's orange hunting suit, the jacket that went with it, one of his T-shirts and a pair of his hunting socks. He also wore his father's hunting boots and took along his hunting knife.

"I would have taken his gun, too, but he used a scope and I can't shoot with a scope,"Pat said.

It didn't matter. On his first morning in the woods as a hunter, he bagged a 6-point buck. And he's convinced his father lent him a helping hand.

"Dad got a lot of deer over the years,"Pat said. "The scent had to be with this clothing a little bit.

"He's the one who got me interested in hunting. He showed me the peace and quiet of the woods. He showed me how to hunt. I knew that when I was ready, I would go."

He also knew he would wear his father's clothing and use his gear when he went.

"I didn't get rid of anything when Ray died," his mother said. "I stored all of his hunting clothes and equipment in a cupboard downstairs.

"I had a feeling Pat would come looking for it one day."

"I never would have let her get rid of that stuff," Pat said. "If she had given it away, I'd have gotten it back."

Pat hardly had to hunt the deer. In fact, he had fallen asleep in the brush when he was awakened by the sound of the deer's hoofs.

"The deer was walking alone and I heard no gunshots,"Pat said. "I woke up my cousin and asked him what to do. He said:'Shoot it.'"

From 30 yards away, the teen fired one shot and got his first buck. The family is having the deer's head mounted.

When Pat sees it on the wall, he may cry, but not in the woods.

"I didn't shed a tear," he said. "The old deer scent on those clothes may have brought that deer right to us. I think it did."

"This was an obstacle Pat had to get over and he did it,"his mother said. "I always told him Dad was watching him."