Kipp Newton of Coward, SC killed an 8-point buck in Florence County, SC on Sept. 29, 2026.
He shot the buck with a Remington .243 bolt action rifle during an evening hunt while sitting in an elevated stand from 160 yards away.
Newton’s dad summed up the hunt with these words:
“There is no greater feeling than watching your son kill his 1st deer, except maybe when his 2nd deer is his 1st buck.
Kipp, Tater as I call him, was able to bag a doe late in the season last year in Georgetown, SC, and although he was extremely happy and excited he was also disappointed he was not able to bag his 1st buck.
As the 2026 season began it was the 1st season I can ever recall that we were nowhere close to being ready to hunt. We had just sold our house and were in the middle of moving, just purchased some land and put up our cameras, no stands, no time to scout and Tater worried it would be another year before he got a chance to bag his 1st buck. After a couple weeks we found some time to put up a stand, plow up a little food plot to plant, and decided if nothing else we would start thinning out the herd of does we were seeing on camera.
Kipp had signed up for the Big Doe contest at McBrayer Deer Processing in Scranton and was itching to get one of our big does entered. I picked Tater up from school that Thursday afternoon and he asked “feel like going to sit, I’m ready to get a doe in the contest.” So we headed out to the farm.
We watched the herd feed for a while and Kipp finally picked out what he felt was the biggest doe in the group, I started my “Lamaze Coaching” LOL, telling him to control his breathing, ease the safety off, hold the gun steady, then for some reason I sat back to take a look at him and something caught my eye out of the side window of the stand and I yelled quietly, “TATER, don’t shoot – don’t shoot – OMG – don’t shoot – he’s right there – don’t move – don’t shoot look look, move, get your gun put the safety on – take the safety off breath.” (IYKYK) Kipp said “dad that’s further than I normally shoot,” so I told him to aim a little higher towards the top of his back right above the shoulder then, after what seemed to be an eternity, Kipp squeezed the trigger and I watched that deer jump straight up and kick his back legs out as he ran into the edge of the woods.
Tater leaned his gun up in the corner still shaking, fingers trembling, turned towards me and with a rattled voice “OMG DAD I JUST SHOT MY 1st BUCK!”
We waited a few minutes, gathered everything and headed to get the truck and start tracking. We found good blood right away and after a few minutes we found him about 50 yards from where Kipp shot him.
After the photo shoot was over we got to looking at the shot placement and thank God Kipp aimed high, 1/2 inch lower and he would have shot under him.
The next day we went out to the stand because Kipp had been shooting anything from 75 to 100 yards easy and he couldn’t understand how he hit so low. After measuring, he now knows why, the distance was 160 yards.
Not only was this Kipp’s 1st buck but it was also uniqe as it was a piebald buck.
Newton is now entered in our Bag-A-Buck Contest, and is eligible to win our monthly prize pack, which includes a set of Ultimate Eyes & Ears Combo from ShellShock Pro, a YETI Rambler bottle, a prize package from Buck Commander and Duck Commander, and a Carolina Sportsman hat, as well as our Grand Prize, a 2-day hunt for two to Cherokee Run Hunting Lodge in Chesterfield County, SC.
