Franklin hunter, 86, still bags his buck
At 86, Bill Stein's hand is still steady and his ability to aim down his rifle's sight still brings results.
The Franklin Township man has pursued a healthy outdoor lifestyle, which yielded a 7-point buck on opening day of this year's rifle season.
An avid hunter for more than 81 years, Bill Stein said he harvested the buck on his family's property while out hunting with his grandson. The two were in separate tree stands on the property.
He said he saw the first signs of activity around 11 a.m.
“First, a fox came running across, then six doe came across,” Stein said. “I figured, well, there's gotta be a buck behind them.”
Stein said he received a brief phone call shortly before he saw the buck for the first time, but it disappeared. He said the doe that had passed him wandered down to his grandson, who successfully harvest one, but the buck remained unaccounted for another few hours.
Stein said the five remaining doe walked passed him again in the direction they had originally come. He felt the presence of the buck somewhere behind them. Around 4 p.m. Stein got his second chance.
“The does stepped out of the woods below me, and then the buck stepped out,” Stein said. “I took a good aim, and I dropped him. It was 135-yard shot with a Model 94 Winchester with iron sights.”
Up close, the deer featured 7 points across a 17-inch rack with one point falling short of the threshold to be official. Stein said the buck was above-average in size and weight, estimating it around 170 pounds.
After the harvests, he let his grandson take over the butchering, and now the meat from both deer is packed into the family's freezers.
Sarah Enis of Glenshaw, Bill's granddaughter, said hunting is a big part of her family.“I remember sitting with my grandma at the kitchen table, looking out the window and waiting to hear gunshots,” she said. “We were waiting for someone to come and give us a report on what was going on.”Enis said she has always known her grandfather to be an outdoorsy person, who enjoys staying active and do the things he loves; however, the ties he has with hunting deepen because it is connected to family time.“I think he loves that it's a family event,” Enis said. “It's something they look forward to doing.”Stein said he has always been an athlete, and he values the impact that has had on his life. He said he once tried out for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and while that didn't translate to a contract, he had success when he returned to the county's baseball league.As he tells it, he once struck out 14 batters with a torn rotator cuff.These days Stein likes to stick to golf, in which he still shoots below 100 on 18 holes, and hunting on his family's 50-acre property.Coming from an outdoorsy family and marrying into a like-minded family has created that favorable relationship with the forest and activities within it.He said even the dogs they owned were trained for hunting rabbits.“It's been a family affair,” he said.Stein said there is very little that can keep him from his outdoor passions. Metastatic lung cancer is not one of them.“I still go,” he said. “I'm not going to let that stop me.”
Enis said the moments her family shares with her grandfather reinforce the memories they have made.She said it's great to still be making new memories too, like seeing his big smile after a successful buck hunting and hearing his excitement as he tells the tale.“It's really important to soak in every moment we can,” Enis said.For Stein, he also enjoys those moments, and he hopes others who are aging might find solace in nature and the activities it has to offer.Stein said the fresh air and activity has done wonders for him.“It's good and healthy,” he said. “You're not locked up and letting your muscles stiffen in front of a television.”Most of all, he hopes others find a way to incorporate their family into those outdoor activities.“It's quite the outdoors relationship here,” Stein said.
