When 10-year-old Christian Lancaster ended deer season by killing a huge buck, he was unaware of the significance of his kill.
On Jan. 25, while enjoying a morning hunt on his family’s property with his stepfather Sonny Pell in Pattison, east of Port Gibson, a massive buck ran out in Lancaster’s sight in pursuit of a doe. Lancaster took careful aim and found his mark. The 10-point buck had a 17-inch spread, 231⁄4-inch main beam on one side and a 221⁄2-inch on the other. The antler bases measured 51⁄4-inches and it weighed 210 pounds, with an estimated age of more than five years.
Lancaster said that he kept calm as he pointed his 7 millimeter-08 at the buck, while his stepfather’s excitement got the best of him.
“I just saw the deer and I shot it in the shoulder. My stepdad made a noise that made the deer stop. He was so excited when I shot the deer that I had to tell him to calm down,” Lancaster said.
Lancaster has had a love for hunting since age four. To him, shooting deer isn’t the only thing that excites him about the sport.
“I enjoy blood-trailing the deer, skinning the deer and I like to walk through the woods whenever it’s muddy, Lancaster said. “I like to help my stepdad put out the feed for the deer. I also like helping him put up stands and bringing them back to the house. It’s really fun.”
Lancaster’s mother Ashley Pell was impressed with the size of her son’s trophy buck.
“The pictures of the deer don’t do it any justice,” Pell said. “When my father-in-law saw the pictures of it, he didn’t think it was that big. But when he saw it in person, he thought it was huge.”
Lancaster’s hunting season was on the downside before he nabbed the burly buck, the only deer that he killed this season.
“I had a rough season. I shot 18 times and didn’t kill anything before this,” Lancaster said, hopeful of another big trophy. “I hope that I can kill one that’s either the same size as this one or bigger.”