Many of y’all have been introduced to my oldest son, Emory, here on ALdeer. But, for those that don’t Emory: he is 6.5 years old and is “ate-up” with everything that has to do with hunting!! Emory has already killed a turkey this past Spring and his first deer this Fall (doe with a crossbow on opening morning of bow season)…Emory took it all a step further and killed his first buck this past Saturday!!! My Dad and I have worked a lot with Emory over the last two years to get to this point and we’re all so proud of him!!!

Emory is still a little bit small for his age, so he struggles to hold a rifle. I have a youth model .243 and he’s practiced a lot with it in a Bog Pod tripod that holds the gun for him (we have to use it with the crossbow too). We had a good chance at some bucks on last season’s youth hunt, but he simply refused to shoot the deer because we didn’t have his earmuffs with us…Saturday was a different story and Emory didn’t let that hold him back!!

Saturday was opening day of gun season in our neck of the woods (Zone D) and Emory wanted to go hunt with “Pop” (my Dad) that afternoon. They made plans to hunt a shooting house that’s a little bit cramped for two grown people, so we had no intention of Emory shooting a deer that afternoon. They didn’t take the youth model .243 or the tripod; just the two of them and Pop’s rifle, which is a very heavy Ruger 25-06. They got settled in the shooting house and soon began seeing deer. About 5:30 pm, I get a text from my Dad that says “Can Emory shoot a 3 year old 8 point?”. Of course, I said “Sure!” and ended up calling Dad to go over all of the details about how to try and help Emory zoom the scope, let the buck get as close as possible, etc…As we whispered on the phone, Dad realized the buck was a 7 point instead and I instantly knew which buck he was describing (from trail camera pictures)…Emory’s still too short to stand in the floor of a shooting house and be able to aim a weapon out the window. Dad ended up having to sit Emory in his lap in order for Emory to be able to get high enough.

The buck fed up to 125 yards and the hunters were getting anxious!! More deer came into the food plot at the far end and Emory’s target buck went down that way to investigate those deer. He was now at 200 yards again (where he’d originally entered the field as well). Emory had been practicing his aiming on the buck, so Dad was feeling more confident. It took the buck almost 20 minutes to feed back up to 125 yards agin, but Emory dropped the buck DRT about 6:15 pm!!! He’d hit the buck a little bit high and it shocked the buck’s spine. The buck never even wiggled.

Emory had dropped his first buck in its tracks with a rifle he’d never shot before and with no tripod holding the gun or earmuffs!!! I figured he felt the recoil difference in the .25-06 versus the .243, but he said “No! I didn’t feel a thing!!”

We’re all still on Cloud 9 and Emory’s still grinning from ear to ear!!! Gonna be a cool European mount for Emory’s bedroom!!!

Pop and Emory:


Group photo with all of us:




The traditional “first buck necklace” and more blood on his face

Congratulations great job guys

Congrats!!

That’s what it’s all about. Congratulations to all of you, job well done

Great Job Emory and Dad and Grandad for taking the time to train him right....Hard to tell who has the biggest smile

Awesome!

congrats.

That’s impressive! Congrats!

Good start

Awesome stuff!

That's great, save those photos, they will be memories for the rest of his life, especially the "balls necklace".....lol....

Awesome, great pics Thanks for sharing!

Yup

Congrats

Congrats young man. Hope he kills many more 👍

That's awesome! Congrats to all involved!

Congrats Emory , Dad and Paw Paw ! I see a taxidermy bill in the near future. 🤔