Mallory McRae already accomplished something her dad didn’t while hunting: kill a bear.
But the Penn-Trafford freshman recently achieved a rarity: She killed a bear, a buck and a turkey in the same license year.
McRae, 14, achieved the “Triple Trophy” honor after getting her turkey earlier this month in Penn Township.
She killed her bear in Vowinckle in October and a spike buck with a crossbow near Marienville the next day.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission hasn’t kept records of this achievement since the 1970s, said her father, Knox.
“I talked to a man who’s been keeping records since 2015 (for the Pa. Triple Trophy Unlimited website), and he feels she might be the first female,” Knox McRae said. “There have been some 12-year-old boys who have accomplished it. I’ve never killed a bear. I was so proud of her.”
Mallory is an accomplished hunter. She has harvested four bucks, three turkeys and a bear. She got her sixth doe this season.
The bear was 271 pounds, the buck 125 and the turkey had a 3-inch beard.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Mallory McRae said. “It was pretty exciting.”
Mallory began hunting under the mentor program at age 8. She has killed a doe in six of the seven years she has hunted.
“We actually saw two bears that day, and my dad told me to shoot the biggest one,” Mallory said.
So she took aim with her Creedmoor rifle, took her time and pulled the trigger.
“I was about 80 yards away,” Mallory said. “I was hyped.”
The next day while deer hunting, she saw the deer walking so she called it.
“When it stopped, I shot,” Mallory said. “We actually thought the deer was a doe. To be honest, I never thought I’d get the bear.”
Her dad said she has developed patience in the sport, and it’s hard to keep her out of the woods.
Coronavirus restrictions have allowed Mallory to hunt more because school is online.
Now, the member of the Penn-Trafford rifle team has her sights on getting an elk and a pronghorn.
