When he retired 40 years ago, Clyde Roberts of Bedford, VA started hunting at the urging of his son. “I bought him a rifle when retired to keep him busy,” said Mike Roberts.
In 2016, at age 103, Mr. Clyde shot his biggest buck ever. The next season, he bagged 2 does and an 8-point buck. Only 6% of Virginia’s hunters killed 3 deer that year. Only one of them was 104 years young.
Mr. Clyde killed 10 deer since he turned 100.
“When people ask me about the secret to my longevity, I tell them it was all about hard work and living for the Lord,” he said.
More about Mr. Clyde from an interview he did with WDBJ7:
Clyde Roberts was born on Oct. 29, 1913. At 7 years old, he stopped going to school and went to work for 75 cents a day. When Clyde was 25, he bought his first car — a 1929 model Ford for $137.
Clyde loved deer hunting. ”I just like to be up in a tree stand and when one comes out I like to shoot it and see him drop.”
At 103, Clyde asked God for one thing: ”…give me the strength to get up in my tree stand and kill another deer…and he did.”
That fall he killed his biggest buck, a 200-pound 8-point buck. ”My hand was steady and I dropped him,” Clyde recalls.
On September 10, 2019, America’s oldest deer hunter passed away at age 105.
RIP Mr. Clyde. By all accounts you were a great man. The way you lived your life makes me proud to be a fellow Virginian, Christian and deer hunter.
