“I told her she didn’t realize what she’d done”<\/p>\n
![\"ms](\"https:\/\/www.outdoorlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/ms_middle_schooler_first_buck_scores_big_1.jpg\")
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Hailey Hayward shows off her first buck. Courtesy Jeremy Hayward<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
On Nov. 5, Jeremy Hayward convinced his 13-year-old daughter Hailey to tag along hunting with him. He\u2019d been scouting for deer in the scattered timberlands and lush ag fields on their family farm in Grenada County, and he wanted to help Hailey get her first buck.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery morning for a week I had a pair of nice 8-point bucks on my trail camera that were working a food plot near a box blind of mine,\u201d Jeremy tells Outdoor Life<\/em>. \u201cShe\u2019d passed shooting a 7-pointer last year because it wasn\u2019t big enough. So, I wanted her to take one of those 8-pointers.\u201d<\/p>\n The father-daughter duo arrived at their elevated box blind well before daylight on Nov. 8. The blind overlooked a large food plot on their 400-acre piece near Holcomb.<\/p>\n \u201cIt slowly started getting daylight and a couple of does walked out near the food plot. I figured the 8-pointers would be following the does. But at 6:42 a.m., a giant buck stepped into the open 125 yards away,\u201d Jeremy says. \u201cIt was a huge buck I\u2019d seen trail cam photos of for years. I even hunted it during bow season but could never get a shot.\u201d<\/p>\n After Jeremy gave Hailey the nod, she looked through her scope and settled on the deer\u2019s shoulder. Then she pulled the trigger, and the gun went click<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cIn my rush to get to the blind early that morning I\u2019d forgotten to put cartridges in her rifle,\u201d Jeremy recalls. \u201cI left them back in my truck, and there\u2019s a massive buck looking at us after hearing the \u2018click\u2019 of her rifle firing pin NOT striking a cartridge.\u201d<\/p>\n Jeremy told Hailey not to move until the buck lowered its head to feed again. When it did, she slowly lowered her gun and swapped it for Jeremy\u2019s bolt-action rifle chambered in 6.5 Creedmor. This time, the gun fired when she squeezed the trigger, and the big buck dropped in its tracks.<\/p>\n![\"ms](\"https:\/\/www.outdoorlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/ms_middle_schooler_first_buck_scores_big_2.jpg?w=1700\")