Shortly thereafter, Cullen was sitting on the stand with his father, Cody Edmonston. At 7:45 a.m. on their lease in Brookhaven, Miss., the very proud father’s dreams were about to come true - that of seeing his son shoot the deer of a lifetime.

A buck stepped out into an oak bottom to feed on some acorns. While sitting on his dad’s lap Cullen squeezed off the shot at 62 yards with his Rossi crack-barrel .243.

With its tail tucked, the buck took off into the thick brush. Still shocked that the young hunter was able to make a shot through the thick brush on his first hunting trip with his own gun, the duo started to make their way down their 15-foot ladder stand.

Shaking with excitement, they began to look for blood. When they found a good blood trail Cody and Cullen went back to the camp to get the dogs.

The Edmonston’s 2 ½-year-old black lab Boss and friend Dagan Fife's 6-year-old yellow lab Dixie were quickly on the trail. Within minutes, the two blood dogs had quickly found the 215-pound 9-point buck only 30 yards from where it had been shot.

Cody and family friends Fife and Eric Moody loaded the deer on the back of the 4-wheeler and headed back to the camp.

The rack measured 17 ½ inches on the inside spread, 20 ¼ inches outside spread, 7 ¼-inch brow tines, 9 ¼-inch G2s, 6 ½-inch bases and “green” scored 129 ½ inches.

Cullen’s description of the deer to step-mom Britné Edmonston was, “Né Né, it’s so big I can’t even hold it up. He’s huge!"

This will definitely be a Christmas that the Edmonston family will never forget.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This report was submitted by Splitlog.