Rhinelander youth bags second wall hanger

Oct. 8, 2025 will be a day youth hunter Claire Laddusire remembers for a long time. She will remember it every time she looks up at the wall. That is the day she arrowed a 10-point buck in Oneida County. The buck had a 16-inch inside spread and received a Northwoods Youth Deer Hunt Challenge score of 26.

“He was on camera for a while,” Laddusire said of the buck she took this year. “I told my dad this is the buck I want and I am going to hunt him until I shoot him. I’m not shooting anything else until he comes in.” She said the buck was on camera a few times but would not come around when she was out looking for him.

“Finally, one day we saw him coming and my dad said that’s him,” she said. “I got so excited. My heart was beating so fast.” She had to hold off a bit until the buck turned just right for her to take him down. She said he still wasn’t positioned perfectly, but she knew if she did not take the shot, he would be gone. She raised her crossbow and made the perfect shot. The deer made it 80 yards before falling, where she and her dad recovered it.

This is the seventh deer she has been able to harvest, but the biggest to date. She has one other mount, an 8-pointer, already on the wall.

“I have two mounts and dad has zero,” she said, laughing. “I say I’m not expert and he’s the newbie

Her dad, Brant Laddusire was the impetus for her to get out hunting. She started tagging along with him when she was about four years old.

“Always seeing him as a little kid bring home these monster bucks and stuff, I was like dang. I really want to do go that one day myself,” Laddusire said. She said she also got to watch him harvest some big bucks as a kid, and that was when she decided she, too, would be taking aim at her own monster bucks in the future.

“It makes me happy that he can take me, and that he wants to take me,” she said of hunting with her dad. “It’s nice having another person who gets really excited for you, too.”

“She’s shot bigger dear than I have,” Brant Laddusire said. “I find more enjoyment in watching my daughter shoot a deer than I have shooting one myself.” He said if he never shot another deer the rest of his life, but he got to watch his daughter hunt, he felt it would be worth it. “It’s the father-daughter time, really.” He said he hoped Clarie would always want to get out hunting with him. 

Laddusire just started turkey hunting with her dad last year, but she said deer hunting would always be her favorite. In the summer she loves to be out fishing, whether it is in a kayak or a fishing boat. She said she loves to fish for huge northern pike. In the winter she can be found snowmobiling

She recommended that other kids who had not tried hunting yet, but were interested, should just get out and try it.

“That’s what my dad told me,” she said. “Just get out there and try it. You’re going to fail sometimes and not see anything and you’re going to have success.”

Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].