Angelina Fasulo grew up watching her father and brother hunt, and she could never wait for her turn. When it finally came, she cried tears of joy.
The 12-year-old Valley Stream girl harvested her first deer Oct. 11 during New York’s youth hunting weekend over Columbus Day weekend. She was hunting with her father, Sean Fasulo, near the family’s property upstate.
Hunting is a family tradition. Her father has hunted since he was 6, and her mother, Desiree, said he has taken more than 100 deer and bears. Angelina’s 16-year-old brother, also named Sean, hunts too.
“She always couldn’t wait to get her turn,” Desiree Fasulo said.
The family arrived on a Friday, and Angelina began hunting Saturday. On Sunday, she and her father were in the woods from about 3 a.m. until 7 a.m., waiting in the dark for deer to come out to feed. Nothing came. They left to pick up her brother and went back out.
Around 9 a.m., a deer walked toward her.
“I get the gun up, and I shoot, and it was probably the best experience I had with my dad and my brother,” Angelina said. “I learned all my knowledge from them, so finally getting the deer, they were so proud.”
Staying still did not come easily. Angelina got a BB gun when she was little and learned to shoot sitting on her father’s lap. But she said it was hard for her to stay quiet in the woods. As she got older, she learned.
Her father had a saying for his children, Desiree said: “Aim small, miss small.”
Angelina kept her deer a secret from her mother, who was waiting at the hotel, and from cousins who had come along on the trip. When she pulled up with the deer in the pickup truck, she broke down in tears. Desiree said it was 12 years of built-up emotion.
The moment carried a spiritual meaning for the family. Angelina’s aunt, Mar, died suddenly in May, and Angelina believes her aunt was watching over her in the woods.
Desiree, a minister, said she says a prayer whenever someone in the family takes an animal, thanking it for giving its life so the family can eat. Her husband butchers the deer at home and gives much of the meat to others.
Angelina’s favorite way to eat venison is in cutlets. The family also makes meatballs and sausage and serves venison every Holy Thursday. Angelina plans to share her deer with family and friends, including her cousin Peter, who hosts a Friendsgiving each year.
“I’m so happy that I get to feed my family,” Angelina said.
Desiree said hunting may not be a typical hobby, but it brings the family together.
“Angelina harvested her first deer, but what she brought home was so much more than venison,” she said.
