A couple of weeks ago, as Mandi Webb of Dedham celebrated her 10th birthday, she informed her father that she’d made a decision.

She was ready to go hunting … if her father agreed, of course.

Her dad, avid hunter Hartley Webb, knew his daughter had grown up around the sport, and had spent plenty of time shooting targets with a BB gun. He knew she had absorbed a lot of hunting stories in her 10 years. And he figured he could teach her a few more things.

He agreed to take her out last Saturday on the state’s second Youth Deer Day, which allows youngsters older than 10 and younger than 16 to have their own “opening day,” without pressure from adult hunters.

After a trip to Old Town Trading Post for a new youth model .243 rifle, and after getting into the field to sight it in (two shots, two bull’s-eyes from 50 yards, in case you’re wondering), Hartley Webb figured his daughter would do OK.

“I was impressed enough with that to say, ‘You’re all set,’ but I never thought we’d hear anything,” he said.

The problem: He wasn’t sure how long Mandi would want to sit still in a tree stand.

On Saturday, she did just that. She sat for hours in one stand. Then they relocated, and she sat for a few more hours there. Finally, they arrived at a stand Hartley Webb knows particularly well: He was nearly knocked out of the same perch on the last day of hunting season a year ago when a deer his father had shot ran directly to the stand, became tangled in the ladder, and proceeded to thrash about.

The deer died. Hartley Webb lived (though he does admit that his grip on the tree in question was quite tight at one point). And after seeing and hearing nothing for most of Saturday, they returned to the spot Hartley had visited the year before.

“Finally, we had six deer walk onto us. She only saw one. She didn’t see the others.”

Mandi first noticed the deer when it was directly under the stand, and patiently waited for it to move away and present her with the shot she wanted.

“The night before we sat down and I drew a picture of a deer and showed her where she should shoot,” Hartley Webb said.

That’s where she shot. And that’s where she hit. The deer was a 95-pound doe.

Only then did she find out that there were other deer; Hartley Webb said they scattered after her shot rang out.

The story doesn’t end there, however. It seems Mandi Webb has already begun planning for her next hunt.

“When I was dragging it out, I hear this voice behind me,” Hartley Webb said. “‘Next time I think I’m going to be more selective. I think I want something with horns.'”

“She thinks this is like shooting grouse now,” he said with a laugh.

Twelve-year-old Billy Bissell and his 15-year-old cousin Christopher Lane had a Youth Deer Day to remember.

While hunting a few miles apart – Bissell in Brewer, Lane in Orrington – the pair ended up bagging virtual twins. Each shot a 125-pound doe.

Billy’s father, Bill Bissell, said the deer was his son’s second … but his second in two consecutive days of hunting.

“He got one the last day of last year, and one on the first day of this year,” he said.

Bill Bissell said the hunt was exciting for father and son alike.

“He’s hearing-impaired, so he couldn’t hear the deer coming very well,” Bill Bissell said. “He was looking a little bit to the right and I said, ‘Psst. Psst.’ And waved a little bit.”

After Billy saw the deer, his father put his hand in the shape of a fist and wagged it gently up and down.

“That means ‘Yes’ in sign language,” Bill Bissell explained. “I [was saying] ‘go ahead and shoot it.'”

After dispatching the deer, there was a moment of concern, Bill Bissell admits.

“I was scared he was going to fly right out of the tree stand, he was so excited,” Bill Bissell said.

A 12-year-old hunter from Corinna sent me an e-mail this week that closed with an interesting phrase.

The note is signed, “Your outdoor friend, Holly Hughes.”

While I’ve yet to meet Holly, her closing is somehow appropriate; I’ve heard from her … or about her … a couple of times now.

Earlier this week a message on whitetail deer e-mail stationery informed me that she headed into the woods again on Saturday.

“Yesterday afternoon I was lucky enough to bag a 120-pound crotch-horn buck,” she said. “I’m 12 years old and this is my third deer since I started hunting in 2001.”

Her first deer was a 120-pound spikehorn that she shot that opening day. Last year she shot a 120-pound doe on residents’ day.

Now she’s 3-for-3.

Actually, a little better than that: She also bagged a wild turkey during the May hunt.

Thanks, Holly. Let me add this: I’m happy to be your outdoor friend. Hopefully some of your “luck” is contagious.

Coming up on Saturday, I’ll tell you a couple more Youth Deer Day tales, including one in which a Newport girl shot her third deer in four years. The shooting, you’ll learn, may have been the easy part. Deciding which of the 14 (yes, 14) deer in front of her to target was a bit of a challenge.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.