NATCHEZ — Twelve-year-old Trinity Episcopal seventh-grader Marty Lewis is competitive. Whether it is on the basketball court, on the softball diamond or even in the woods, Lewis always wants to come out on top.

It was Lewis’ drive for competition that led her to bring down a 10-point buck that weighed in at 192 pounds on Nov. 26 at Beck’s Bay Hunting Lodge while hunting with her father, Todd.

“(My friend) McKenzie Smith had killed a 10-point, and I wanted to beat her,” Lewis said. “My deer was 192 (pounds) and McKenzie’s was 185.”

The 10-point buck that allowed Lewis to match Smith’s deer was also the first deer Lewis had ever killed, she said.

Lewis’ first deer did not exactly garner the original reaction of excitement that most would expect, however.

“I started crying,” she said. “I shot it and paralyzed it, but it was still kicking. Then dad shot at it and missed, and it was trying to get away with its front legs.”

Lewis said her father then went up closer to the deer and killed it.

Lewis eventually recovered from her sadness and celebrated her first buck, she said.

“We told mom I killed a 10-point and took pictures and put blood on my face,” she said.

Lewis said having the deer’s blood put on her face was kind of a surprise.

“Mom told me to hold the rack up, and (my brother, Tucker, and father) came behind me and put it on my face. I closed my eyes and held my breath.”

Lewis’ mother Lil was also at the hunting camp with the family, and said she was skeptical when she heard Marty killed a buck.

“I didn’t believe it,” Lil said. “I thought they were kidding. I thought she would have texted me. They ran in (the hunting camp) and said, ‘Marty killed a 10-point,’ and I didn’t even go outside at first.”

Lewis said it took patience on Nov. 26 to get the 10-point that she wanted.

At first her and Todd saw two doe, and they grunted to try to bring in the bucks. Marty said two seven-points came in, but when she got her gun ready to shoot they were startled by her father’s truck.

Another deer came in, but Marty said they didn’t shoot, because it looked too small. It was a little later that the 10-point came into view at approximately 60 yards away.

“Dad said, ‘you shoot it,’ and I shot and it fell,” Marty said.

Marty had close calls in years past as well, she said.

“In 2007, I was 7 or 8 years old, I had my crosshairs on a doe’s shoulder and was just about to pull the trigger,” she said.

Marty said she was always taught to take a deep breath and let some air out before she took her shot.

“I breathed, and she sprinted from the woods.”

Lil said Marty claimed she saved the deer’s life because of her breathing.

Two years later Marty said she had a shot at a buck but missed, and the bullet went under the deer’s stomach.

Marty said another reason she was excited to kill the buck was to contribute to her science teacher’s goal of collecting internal body parts of deer.

“She got a brain, kidney and heart and wanted lungs. I thought, ‘Yay, I finally got lungs,’ but dad threw them away,” Marty said.

“I guess I’ll have to kill another one just to get a lung.”

Marty said she enjoys hunting with her father, who works two weeks on and two weeks off in Pennsylvania.

“It’s great,” she said. “It’s usually him and I that always hunt together.”

Lil said hunting is something the entire family shares.

“We like it. It’s a fun family thing, and it keeps the family together,” Lil said.

Marty said she likes many aspects of hunting. She likes to wear her hunting camouflage; she really likes grunting and practices around the house and most of all she likes to compete.

“When we hunt, if my brother gets an 11-point, I’m going to get a 12,” she said.

Marty said she has been dove and turkey hunting as well as deer hunting. She said she has killed dove and her next goal is to get a turkey or a duck. She also wants to try bow hunting in the next year or two.

She’s not a bad shot either, she said.

“Me and dad went out during youth weekend and we had a Kellogg’s Special K box,” she said. “I was aiming for the ‘A’ but I hit the ‘I.’”

Marty also excels on the basketball court and softball diamond. She said she hopes to play at least one in college. She is also heavily involved with activities at the Jefferson Street Church.