Minnesotans renewed hunting traditions — or launched new ones — starting Saturday when the firearms deer season opened. About 500,000 hunters are expected to pursue whitetails this season. Here are some of their stories.

Jason and Heather Pommier, North Branch

(As told by Jason Pommier)

The star of the tale would be my daughter, Heather. She is 10 and was deer hunting for the first time. We live near North Branch and were hunting on our own land. A buck pursuing a doe came by our stand on Sunday morning, and I took the buck while it was on the move. The doe paused momentarily and Heather only used one shot from her .410 shotgun to take the doe at approximately 30 yards. So it was certainly a father-daughter team effort. Tears of joy were shed when she saw it down, and she was absolutely ecstatic. The buck and doe fell within 20 yards of each other. We are having the pair mounted to remember the day, especially since it was her first deer. The buck was an 8-point with a 17¼-inch inside spread.

Ryan Storlien, 12, Greenfield

(As told by dad, Jerry Storlien)

It was my son's first deer hunt, and we went to southwestern Minnesota with my dad, so we had three generations of hunters. We have always hunted in this area and never before had we taken two bucks by 9 a.m. This season was different, with my son pulling up on two does early Saturday morning, but not getting a good shot, so he passed.

A while later, he had set his gun down to warm his hands and a small 5-point buck came into sight behind him. He slowly turned. But knowing he couldn't get to his gun, he told me to take the shot. I did and we had one whitetail down. While we were getting this deer, we heard a far-off shot and I told Ryan to get to the tree line so he could see. This huge buck was running in our direction about 200 yards out, with the wind in our face. I told Ryan to duck down and make his way down a fence line to get into better position. He did and the deer kept coming. When the 8-pointer got to the fence line, he fired. We found it a short distance away. We all agreed we didn't need to hunt anymore and just enjoyed the memories for the rest of the weekend.

Evan Halet, 14, Minneapolis

(As told by Dad, Jeff Halet)

Evan was sure he had hit a buck Sunday, but when we came together at the spot in the woods near Lanesboro where he thought he had shot it, there was nothing to track. A little dejected, he started to search with me, and kept looking up into the woods only to see nothing. "I bet he is up over that hill — we will never find him,'' he said.

I kept telling Evan that his head needed to be down looking at the leaves on the ground. Suddenly he spotted some blood; not much but enough. "All right!" Then, after a while, we lost the trail and started to make circles. "Found him!" Evan finally shouted. "Hiding in plain sight.'' A 10-point beauty.

It was a good lesson to never give up.

compiled by doug smith