Pennsylvania boy, 9, goes hunting in South Carolina after asking wrong sheriff to take him

Sheriff takes young boy on first hunting trip

Pennsylvania boy's hunting dream comes true after letter mix-up

A 9-year-old boy is on an “awesome” hunting trip in South Carolina after mistakenly asking a Pennsylvania sheriff to teach him how to hunt.

Alex Collins flew to Chester, S.C., Monday to hunt with Chester County Sheriff Alex Underwood for two days. The sheriff took Alex shopping for boots, pants, a camouflage jacket and a fishing tackle box. Then he lent Alex his favorite rifle and showed the boy how to hold it safely. After that they had a hearty breakfast and ventured into the deep woods to look for deer.

“Awesome,” the Rock Hill Herald quoted the boy about his adventure.

Underwood has a program where he offers to take kids hunting and fishing. The boy’s mother saw the offer on Facebook but when she saw Chester County she thought it was Chester County in Pennsylvania. That’s where she and her son live.

The Herald says Alex and his mother dropped off hand-written letters to the sheriff in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Carolyn Welsh, just minutes before the deadline.

“I wrote in there I didn’t have anybody to teach me, or take me,” Alex told the Herald Monday. Leslie Collins is a single mom and ill.

Alex was crestfallen when he was told about the mix-up. But that’s when Welsh contacted Underwood.

“I talked to the sheriff up there and I said if we can work it out let’s get him down here and I’d be glad to take him hunting with me,” Underwood said in a report on Fox & Friends Tuesday.

The two sheriffs and their deputies are chipping in for Alex’ trip and his hunting gear. Alex is staying with Underwood and his family. The sheriff and Alex call each other Big A and Little A.

“People read the story and it just took off,” Underwood told the Herald. “Everybody wanted to make sure Little A was taken care of, and I want the whole country to know that we are going to show Little A the best hunting and fishing trip anybody ever had.”

Underwood, elected sheriff in 2012, took the boy to a one of his favorite hunting spots, a 500-acre spread straddling the Chester and Fairfield county lines.

The sheriff told Alex the spot is so secret that he had to swear not to tell anyone how to get to it.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.