Christmas comes early for 8-year-old hunter in form of 150-inch trophy deer

Montgomery County Boone & Crockett buck, nicknamed ‘Deuce,’ killed the day before Thanksgiving.

According to 8-year-old Dalton Currie, Christmas came early with a 150-inch buck taken the day before Thanksgiving.

Currie definitely has something to be thankful for: The massive 10-pointer’s antlers sailed out several inches beyond his ears, giving him a 19½-inch inside spread.

Two does led the buck into dangerous territory, right across his shooting lane just 90 yards away from his stand.

Even though Dalton Currie is only 8, his father, Kevin Currie, has taught his young deer slayer well. The 10-pointer was Dalton’s third buck brought to the ground in his first two years of hunting, and the youngster had already passed up a handful of small bucks this season before squeezing the trigger on the big buck.

According to Kevin Currie, Dalton passed up a nice 6-pointer the week before because he wanted to wait on the big 10, which had shown up in trail-camera photos.

“Many kids his age and older would not pass up some of the deer we have seen together, but he really wanted to wait on the big 10,” the elder Currie said. “I told him that that would be fine and I would be tickled to death if you got him.”

The Curries manage a 1,200-acre family farm in Montgomery County at the headwaters of the Lumber River. Trophy management plays into every trigger pull, with only mature bucks and does taken off the property.

Since 2009, Kevin Currie began compiling a library of trail-cam photos of many nice bucks on the property. But one deer attained a special distinction by expressing a unique antler configuration. Two years ago, the buck produced two main beams on his right side, earning him the nickname “Deuce.”

Dalton Currie really wanted to kill that particular deer, and was determined to hold out as long as he had to.

Neither the exceptionally windy conditions on their Nov. 23 afternoon hunt nor the height of their stand’s shooting rail discouraged the Curries from sitting in the box stand.

Dalton Currie swiped his mom’s stool to place him high enough to see well and take a shot in the surrounding loblolly pine grove.

While the 10-pointer had not showed up on this stand’s surveillance system in quite some time, it was appearing on the radar in random places from one end of the farm to the other — it was even spotted on an adjoining farm more than a mile away at the beginning of the month.

At 5:15 p.m., the buck poked its head out onto the edge of the corn pile, stopped for a brief moment, turned and backed away into the woods. It stayed out just long enough for father and son to get a good look.

“I told Dalton that (was) the biggest deer that has ever been in front of me, and Dalton followed, ‘Daddy that deer is huge!’” Kevin Currie said.

The Cuddeback trail camera attached to a tree adjacent to the corn pile had captured a quick shot, mildly spooking the deer back into the woods. Thirty seconds later, two does strolled across the shooting lane between the corn pile and their stand only 90 yards away.

“I told Dalton, ‘If you want to get a shot at him you better get ready.’ He was probably going to be trailing those two does, and he may walk out any minute,” said Kevin Currie, who helped Dalton cock his single-shot .243 CVA Savage and get ready for the shot.

As predicted, the buck showed up quickly.

“The deer popped right out into the lane,” Kevin Currie said. “I said, ‘You better shoot buddy; he (won’t) be there long.’ The does had already crossed over (the shooting lane).”

Dalton Currie placed the crosshairs on the deer’s vitals and fired off a lethal punch just in front of the shoulder.

“The deer dropped immediately, and Dalton and I started hollering and hugging each other in excitement,” Kevin Currie said.

Based on the trail-camera history of the deer and preliminary examination of the jawbone, Dalton’s buck was approximately 4½ years old and is one of the biggest bucks ever killed off the farm.

“It was the biggest deer that has ever walked out in front of me, and I am tickled to death that Dalton got the chance to take a deer of this caliber,” Kevin Currie said.

See more bucks killed this season – and enter photos of your own – in the North Carolina Sportsman Bag-a-Buck Contest, which offers great monthly and overall prizes!