My 15 year old daughter came to me 2 years ago and said she wanted to start deer hunting. She said that she wanted to kill a good one for her first deer. She kept after it and didn’t give up. On opening day of muzzleloader season, we got in the stand early. We were only sitting for about 2 minutes when we seen one of our target bucks chase a doe right in front of us full speed and never offered her a shot. She was heartbroken because she’d never seen a deer like that. I reassured her it was really early and everything has a way of working out. About 4 PM I could see horns coming through the woods. I said, “Baylee, here comes a buck”. She got her eyes on him and said that she was going to pass on the young 8 pointer and let him grow. As a dad, I was super proud she had patience to let one walk but I was also hating she passed up such a beautiful deer. Around 545, I heard her say, “there’s a deer. It’s a buck. It’s a big buck”. As the deer approached from our right, I couldn’t see him. When I saw her begin to raise the muzzleloader, I knew this deer was the one she’d waited so long for. As the deer came into my view, all the dad emotions and anxiety start to flow knowing this might be memories made for a lifetime. With my heart racing, I asked her if this was the deer she wanted to harvest. With her voice shaking, I was able to make out her saying yes 3 times, “Yes yes yes”. It felt like the deer took 20 minutes to offer her a clean broadside shot. The buck finally stood broadside at 20 yards and BOOM. When the smoke cleared, we saw the buck run 50 yards and fall over. Im surprised we didn’t fall out of the tree as we celebrated something I’ll never forget! We sat patiently for 30 mins. I’ll never forget the smile on her face when we got down and she was able to put her hands on her harvest. Moments like this are what every dad live for! -Kevin Rigsbee
Hunter’s name: Baylee Small
Stem North Carolina
Granville,NC
11/01/25
9-point buck