On the Gold family's 200-acre farm outside of Clarkstown, mother Dora can be found farming portions of the land and hunting the grounds with her husband, Rick Gold Jr., and daughter, Alecia, 29, who lives outside Muncy.
"We just plant corn and sell a little bit of it," Dora said.
The acreage is mostly wooded, with farm fields set here and there.
At 7:45 a.m. Nov. 27, the second day of rifle buck season last fall, Dora was in her tree stand along a field. She was watching a small buck and a doe.
She made a hard left turn and there he stood - a nice, trophy-sized whitetail.
"I saw the mass and the points," Dora said.
The deer had his head down and was eating as she looked through her binoculars.
She put them down, hefted a 7mm Mag and fired from about 40 yards.
The mighty buck took off, but made it only about 10 yards. He fell down a bank and got hung up on a tree.
The 10-point had a 24-inch spread.
"He is pretty symmetrical. As perfect as perfect can be," she said.
It hasn't been scored yet, but Gold plans to have that done.
"He is a beautiful buck," she added.
No fanfare
Buck fever never set in for Gold on this one. There was no time, she said.
"I didn't even have a chance to think. I didn't get butterflies or anything. I was watching the other buck, but he wouldn't move from that tree," she said. "I thought, 'Well, he will step and I will see what he is.' And then I turned around and it happened so quick, I didn't get that rush."
She has a talent for being a good shot. Last year, she watched her 7-point buck drop right in the scope.
It took Gold about two hours to get the deer out of the woods that day.
When she made it closer to the house, they loaded the deer on a
tractor bucket. Cars were lined up all along her driveway.
"People were wanting to see it," she said.
Repeat performance
Also hunting in the vicinity was Dora's daughter.
"Once I heard the shot and realized it was mom, I was so happy and proud of her," Alecia said. "Both my parents do so much work around the farm, and it was great to watch her smile from ear to ear while retelling the story."
Her father's smile was just as big, too, Alecia said.
The night before, Alecia and her father saw the same buck on the property's "back 40." Neither had a good shot, so they let it go.
That evening, the Golds sat at the dinner table, chatting about their day and the big buck.
"We kept teasing who had enough patience to wait for the 'Monster' ... and Mom and I kept saying we were going to get him," Alecia said.
Rick said he would really like to see his wife or daughter get the deer.
He and Dora have been married for 38 years and have been hunting together for the same length of time.
Dora began hunting as a child with her father.
"I love to be outdoors and he got me a camera last year for Christmas and you would not believe the photos I have taken," she said.
The Golds have seen the big buck on their property for the last 4 1/2 years. He always seems to come around during deer season.
"He was right in our yard last buck season," Dora said, adding that the family has photos of him.
"We don't see him any other time, only in rut season," she said.
'The longest walk'
Gold, 56, recently had both her knees replaced, but that doesn't stop her from getting around in the great outdoors.
"I take the longest walk and the highest tree stand," she said.
The family hunts together so much that it has become a tradition for them.
Alecia said she has tons of amazing memories of hunting with her paresnts. The fondest are when she and her mother are hunting, especially when Dora took her first gobbler, which had a 10-inch beard.
Alecia was hunting that day too. She spied a flock of gobblers in an area on the farm every afternoon around 3:30.
"I just knew that I wanted Mom to sit there to have the opportunity to take her first gobbler," Alecia said. "She was reluctant to sit there, insisting that I go there. (But) eventually I persuaded her, and we got set up."
Alecia went across a field and started calling. In no time, she heard the turkeys respond from her mother's side of the field.
"Just inside the woods, (I heard) rustling in the leaves. I was praying they were the long beards," Alecia said.
Just past 3:30 p.m., Alecia heard a single gunshot. She went over to her mother's area and found that Dora had taken down a nice gobbler.
"We just couldn't stop gleaming with pride. It was an experience I'll never forget ... it was a hunt of a lifetime and a memory with my Mom that I'll never forget," Alecia said.
"We all enjoy it," Dora said of hunting.
"I am very thankful and love spending time with them (her family) in nature, whether it's hunting, fishing, farming or just sitting back and taking photos," Alecia said.
The Golds have lived on the farm for about seven years. It first started as a hunting camp, but when daughter Alecia and son Rick Gold III left for college, the couple moved into the house permanently.
"A new tradition at the farm is that we always have a family dinner on the first two nights," Alecia said "We eat delicious food and tell stories of our day. It's just an all-around great time."
The wooded property has been pretty successful for the Gold family over the years.
"I even got a turkey this year. A gobbler," Dora said.
She prefers to hunt for deer, though.
"Those turkeys just give me the run-around," she said.
Retiring?
Dora plans to have the 10-point mounted and hung in her husband's office.
She said she has waited years and worked hard to get a deer like this one. Some years, she came from the woods with nothing, others she killed spikes and doe.
"Mom is so deserving of this buck and I'm so happy for her. I havent given any thought of topping her. I'm just too proud of her and what she accomplished," Alecia said.
The buck is Gold's biggest deer she has harvested in her time hunting the Pennsylvania woods.
"I got a seven-point last year," she said. "But I told my husband, 'With this one, I better retire and hand the gun over to you.' "
