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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.

A gooden too! Congrats to him!

Congrats to him and you as well. Great deer and a great thing to do to keep him involved in the outdoors.

That is flat out 100% outstanding!

Congrats to Max, and thank you for taking him and carrying on the legacy that Scott was starting with him, I lived in Muncie when Scott was killed, terrible day. Again great stuff right there.

Great deer and story. Thank you for sticking with the boy.

Congrats Max.

Way to go Max, nice deer. Love that crab claw.Congrats.. Thank you tattoo for be a mentor for the youth, Lord knows they need all the help they can get.

Fighting back tears reading that story... Congrats to BOTH of you. That's just AWESOME

x2

Congrats Max!

That story has pretty much everything deer hunting is about to me. Nice deer Max!

Way to go Max! What a buck! Congrats!

Don't even have a word close to describe that story......

Awesome!

Now that's what it's all about. Congrats to all involved.

Great story and congrats to Max! Thank you for all you have done here!

Thanks to all of you for the comments, I plan on printing these and saving them for Max.
Max is a great kid, he is very quite and well behaved, he is a pleasure to be around. He wants so much to be a great hunter like his dad. He lives near me and spent time this summer at my gun range learning how to shoot, making plans on hunting this season and talking about deer hunting.
Youth weekend came, the first morning a spike buck came by and at that very same moment Max was stricken with a bad case of fever followed with heavy breathing and uncontrollable shaking. After the gun fired and the unharmed spike ran away the fever left him just as quick it came on. The rest of the weekend we only saw deer out of range.
Opening weekend of gun we were again at my property in Jefferson county, the weather was terrible and we never saw a deer. I was feeling very bad for Max because I wanted him to get a deer.
Well a couple of days ago his luck changed and he now has his first deer. It has been a honor for me to be hunting with Max and I hope to see him get many more.

That is GREAT!!!!

Buy the kid a box of "Captain Crunch".......Good job Max!!

That's great...you're a good man to mentor him.

Congrats to Max and congrats to you! Awesome to help another harvest a deer especially a kid.

Congrats to Max, and Congrats to Dad, Thats what its all About, Great Read. Send some Deer My Way, I have had a Horrible Year. Always ML season.