Her grandfather Roman Cirignani of Wood Dale, who arrowed the buck in Carroll County, sent the nomination of his granddaughter, a 7-year-old from Elmhurst who was along on here first deer hunt.

She came along for the whole experience: from getting on the stand before sunrise to taking the photo after the buck was down.

Since my own daughter Sara, 9, asked to tag along this year, I used Cirignani's story as a jumping off point for my column today on introducing kids to hunting.

In response to that, Cirignani e-mailed this key point:

``In regards to your daughter, if she is asking, make sure to take her out. Last weekend we took both Caite and her cousin Tia out and they enjoyed themselves to no end. They get to see the wonders of the woods and nature at it's best. I regret not taking my daughters out when they were that age.''

BOTW, the weekly celebration of big bucks from Chicago outdoors, appears on the outdoors page of the Sun-Times each Wednesday from about November through about January. An extended online version appears here, usually by midnight Tuesday. I am behind because of prepping for deer hunting, so it is posted this morning, instead.

E-mail BOTW nominations to outdoordb@sbcglobal.net.