Photo by Jenny Kirk Mavis Verschelde, a passionate and outdoor-loving woman, demonstrates how to take aim with her crossbow.

IVANHOE

Ivanhoe resident Mavis Verschelde isn’t your typical grandmother.

The 82-year-old has 24 grandchildren and 35 great-grandchildren, and though she’s been known to bake batches of cookies from time to time, Verschelde is more of an outdoorsy kind of woman. She loves to hunt and fish. And recently, she shot her first deer with a crossbow.

“It was so exciting,” Verschelde said. “Hunting with a crossbow is different than hunting with a slug. My son (Bob Verschelde) would always say that’s why he bow hunts — to get the exhilaration.”

Growing up in the Minneota area, Mavis (Pesch) Verschelde was surrounded by family members who were passionate about the outdoors. She, too, began participating in various outdoor activities.

“I’ve always been an outdoors person,” she said. “I was brought up with five brothers and we, along with my dad, all went hunting. I was always outside with my dad and brothers. My mom had a harder time getting me to do things in the house.”

Verschelde said she and her family went pheasant hunting and shot cottontails fairly regularly. Later, after getting married, she continued hunting.

“Maurice and I would go slug hunting for deer,” Verschelde said. “I love it. We have a good time.  A lot of people can’t understand why I like it, though.”

As time moved on and circumstances altered her life — her husband Maurice died in 1994 — Mavis found it more and more difficult to get out and hunt. All of that changed in 2014, when Minnesota passed a new hunting rule — one that allows anyone over the age of 60 to hunt with a crossbow during archery season.

“I like to go and just sit in the woods, so it used to bother me so bad when I couldn’t go,” she said. “I tried a couple of bows and I can’t pull them back. But I can cock this crossbow.”

While the invention of the crossbow dates back to the year 6 B.C., the weapon has been modernized. For many — like Verschelde — ease of use is the foundation for hunting with one. The short bows are held horizontally on rifle-like stocks and they can remain loaded even when not in use.

“You cock it and leave it cocked, so just like a gun,” Verschelde said “You have the safety on when you’re sitting out there. It’s all ready, so when a deer comes along, you can shoot.”

After finding out about the rule change, Verschelde quickly approached her son, who is also an avid hunter.

“Bob told me, ‘Mom, if you get a crossbow, I’ll take you hunting,'” she said. “I said, ‘I’m getting a crossbow.’ We researched them and I think I bought it on eBay.”

While she participated in the 2014 and 2015 archery hunts, Verschelde didn’t have the opportunity to shoot a deer.

“Last year, you could only shoot a buck,” Verschelde said. “The does would come in close and just look at me. But the bucks are more skittish. I’m surprised that nobody was allowed to shoot a doe last year because there were so many of them.”

This season — archery season runs from Sept 17-Dec. 31 — she was determined to get one. And on Nov. 23, she did.

“I wanted to shoot one this year,” Verschelde said. “I went out a lot. Some weeks, it was almost every night. Early in the season, I had hit one in the foot. My sights were off, so (my grandson) Ryan (Verschelde) helped me fix it. It was right on this time.”

While many bow hunters perch high in a tree, Verschelde prefers to stay on the ground. She was inside an old barn the day she shot the doe.

“Bob and Ryan usually sit me on the ground,” she said. “This time, I was in an old barn with a lean-to when the deer came up from the north. I couldn’t even hear it. I saw its nose and ears as it walked by me. She didn’t even know I was there. I brought my bow up and shot.”

Verschelde estimated that the deer was 15 yards away.

“The arrow sliced into the heart and both lungs, so she didn’t go far,” she said. “I saw her fall down. I was really pacing up and down waiting (for Bob and Ryan) to come in (from their tree stands). It’s funny how you get so excited. It’s unbelievable. You have to be a hunter to really appreciate it.”

While it was getting close to dark when Verschelde shot the doe, she said it seemed like a long wait until the father-son duo showed up. When they did, they were pretty surprised, she said.

“I said ‘I got one over the hill. She’s lying over there,'” Verschelde said. “To have both Bob and Ryan there made it extra special. Ryan hugged me and said he’d rather have me get one than him. Bob said that, too.”

Ryan Verschelde, a 24-year-old who has hunted for most of his life, was truly proud of his grandma.

“She went out and sat a few times last year, but never got anything,” he said. “This year, she’s been out every night that has been nice. She’s put in quite a few hours. I was pretty excited for her. It’s really something to see your 82-year-old grandma get a deer with a crossbow. It was a pretty fun experience.”

Mavis Verschelde said she’s extremely thankful that her son and grandson allow her to go along with them and help her get situated before going to their own tree stands, but Bob Verschelde said that it was not a big deal and that he enjoys having her as part of the hunting party.

“We don’t do too much — just get her seat in the tree is all,” he said. “We have a chair that we screw into the tree and she has her feet on the ground. I’m just glad she shot one finally. She was pretty tickled when she got it.”

While Mavis Verschelde isn’t a typical 82-year-old, she was forced to slow down a bit this past year.

“I had hip surgery done in June,” she said.

Worried about missing the 2016 deer hunting season, Verschelde asked her doctor if she could still hunt.

“He said he didn’t see any reason why not,” Verschelde said. “He hunts, too. He said it’s good for you, but to just watch where you walk. And I do.”

The doctor’s optimism, coupled with her own passion for being outdoors, prompted her to take her recovery and therapy seriously.

“You have to do your therapy,” Verschelde said. “I worked with rubber bands for strengthening after my hip surgery. I was trying to build up those muscles. I’ve had no problems. It’s amazing.”

Verschelde did rely on her son and grandson to help gut the deer and pull it to the pickup. The deer was then registered and butchered.

“We make it into hamburger, bologna, jerky and steaks,” she said. “I like venison. It’s more lean than beef.”

Since party hunting is allowed, it’s possible that Verschelde could shoot another deer and fill her son’s or grandson’s tag.

“I teased Ryan and said I could shoot one for him,” Verschelde said. “His girlfriend, Katie, also got one but with a bow. So we’ve both been giving him a bad time. I’ll probably keep going out unless it gets too cold. Then I probably won’t go out much.”

A week after making those comments, however, Bob and Ryan each got a deer.

“We have one tag left,” Bob Verschelde said. “So we’re almost ready to go ice fishing.”

After missing out on last year’s ice fishing season due to her sore hip, Mavis Verschelde is looking forward to the upcoming season.

I’m just thankful that Bob will take me,” she said. “A few years ago, I got a pretty big walleye. I was sitting in the fish house, while Ryan and Bob were fishing for perch outside, when they came in and asked how I was doing. I told them I got three (walleyes). (When he saw the five-plus pounder), Bob was almost as excited as I was.”

While there have been a lot of memorable moments for the three-generational trio, there is a debate on whether anything in the past or the future can top Mavis’ effort.

“You never know,” Bob Verschelde said.