NATCHEZ — Lawson Reyes killed his first deer last hunting season when he was 5 years old, but it was a doe, and his father, Roy, did most of the work.

But last weekend, a big buck happened by the stand that Roy and Lawson were hunting from, and Lawson handled everything himself this time.

“I was able to do it all,” Lawson, now 6, said. “We were in the stand, and dad saw it.”

“I just said, ‘There’s a big one,’” Roy said. “And he picked up his rifle, set it on the stand, and, ‘Take your time, and squeeze the trigger,’ was all I had to say.”

The big one ended up being a 238-pound, nine-point buck with a 19-inch inside spread, and Roy said it looked even bigger on the ground.

“I didn’t think it was quite that big,” Roy said.

The buck even topped Roy’s best trophy buck, he said.

“I had one that was that big, but I don’t think it was quite that big,” he said.

Roy stopped hunting for approximately 10 years, but picked it back up last year to get Lawson involved.

“I was really excited to pass it down to him,” Roy said.

Lawson used all the lessons his father taught him to bring down his buck.

“He said, ‘Always aim, squeeze the trigger and take your time,’” Lawson said.

Lawson said he is not much of a bragger and has not boasted about his buck to his friends, but his older sister, Ally, feels the need to try to top him now.

“She wants to go now,” Roy said. “She’s already killed two does last year, but she didn’t want to go until (Lawson) killed (his) deer.”

Lawson’s favorite part of hunting is shooting and having the opportunity to wear his camoflauge.

“I think it looks good,” he said.

Lawson plans to put his trophy in his room after it gets mounted, and he looks forward to eating the meat in a stew or in deer-meat tacos, he said. The mount will go in the room with his football, basketball, baseball and fishing trophies.

The 6-year-old said he thought having blood put on his face when he killed his doe was “pretty cool,” But he made sure his dad knew that he did not need to do it again this year.

“He made sure I knew he didn’t need it this year,” Roy said.