Proud of my 10 year old nephew (got his first deer)

I’m very proud of my 10-year-old nephew who killed his first deer on Thanksgiving day, and wanted to share the experience since I’ve enjoyed reading similar stories on this board.

The boy has had it kind of rough since the beginning. My sister and his dad split shortly after he was born, and for years he was bouncing back and forth clear across Louisiana in custody. He spent a lot of time at my parents’ house while my sister got her feet under her. Through all of that, we’ve always kept him involved with the family land. I bring him hunting with me just like I do with my own sons. He’s the oldest of our little group of boys, now the first to kill a deer (my sons are 6, 4, and 2)

Thursday morning I woke him up and told him he was coming with me. We went to the shooting bench and went over gun safety, how to shoulder the gun, how to pull the trigger slowly, all the basics. We were using the same setup I’ve talked about in other threads: a 5.56 Ruger American Gen 2 Ranch with an Otter Creek Polonium K suppressor. At first he was worried about the “kickback” and asked about it several times, but once he smoked the first 25-yard target, all that went away. I asked him to hit our 4" steel at 100 yards and he nailed it on the first shot. I let him ring it one more time and told him, “You’re going to kill a deer this afternoon.”

We headed to a new spot we set up with a nice blind and a DeathGrip. My oldest (6 years old) came along to watch his cousin’s big moment. I’ll add that I was extremely proud of my son—for the first time ever he walked into the woods quietly and sat still the whole hunt without snacks or an iPad.

About two hours in, a spike steps out. I whispered, “There’s a deer,” and my nephew POPPED his head up from his phone like a prairie dog. I told him he can’t move like that even in a blind. “Yes sir.” A minute later a nice little 5-point walked out. Both deer were eating, giving us time to wait for a perfect broadside shot.

I told him to get up on the rifle just like we practiced. I asked if he had the deer in the scope and he said, “Target acquired,” which cracked me up. I clicked the safety off for him and he took his time—pulled the gun into his shoulder, eased into the trigger, and made a good controlled shot. The deer crouched at impact and bolted into the woods.

We waited 20 minutes so we wouldn’t have a bump-and-run situation (especially with the smaller round), then went looking. No blood in the field… no blood in the woods. The woods turned into a massive briar patch and both boys went crashing in like it didn’t hurt at all. My nephew spotted the deer first and we all went over to see the prize. I was so proud of him.

I made him drag it about 5 yards before sending my son to help—teaching them the “we help each other” rule. My son said, “I’m so happy at you,” which just about made the whole thing worth it.

I field dressed the deer (nephew almost puked), and when I opened him up, we saw he didn’t just kill the deer—he made a perfect shot. He literally cut the heart in half. Could not have been better.

We FaceTimed the women back at the camp and when we got back to the skinning rack they were whooping and hollering for him. It made for an awesome Thanksgiving. He’s more of a video-game kid, but hopefully this gave him another hobby and something he can be proud of.

"only one other kid in my grade has killed a deer"

I'll try to add pics later