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11 year old Max took his 1st deer on November 25th with a marlin 1894 in 357 mag. its a 9pt that weighed 140lb. The buck came out of the woods around 5:30pm out into the field and was walking to the fence row we were sitting in. Max passed on a 50 yard shot for some reason, the buck then walked to the fence row, I thought it would cross into the picked corn field behind us. I had Max reposition, after waiting for what felt like hours( it was actually seconds) looking for the buck to come out I saw he was walking down the fence row we were sitting in and it was only about 10 yards from us and getting closer. I had Max reposition again, when the buck came into Max's view it was 10 feet from us, that's right I said 10 feet. The buck stopped quartering to us and looked at us, I am kneeling beside Max whispering to shoot. The buck goes to spin around and Max lets the lead fly. The buck does a mule kick, I am not sure if he hit the buck or he was reacting from the muzzle blast from being within a few feet of the gun. After waiting 15 min it was getting dark, we didnt see any blood right away and as we were walking out I heard a deer walking in the direction the deer ran in the woods. I told Max we should back out and come back in the morning. Max had school the next day and I told him I would return the next morning. I went back to the spot not sure I would find anything, within 20 yards of the shot found blood, after 150 yard blood trail the buck was found with a perfect double lung shot. I called his mom and told her the buck was found, I met her at his school and she went in asked to take him out of class to go outside to see something. When Max saw my truck he started smiling ear to ear. Max later told me when his mom got him out of class he thought he was in trouble. This was one of the best days in the woods I have ever had. This brought back memories from my son taking his first deer 20 years ago. As you can tell by now Max isnt my son, he is the son of a very good friend and co-worker that was killed in the line of duty in 2011 at a church fire. Scott had just started getting Max into deer hunting before his tragic accident. Scott would be so proud of his son right now. Congrats Max on your first deer.