VIDALIA — The Golmons are a hunting family, and wherever Jim Golmon takes his 10-year-old daughter, Kelli, and 8-year-old son, Trey, success usually follows.

Last year, Kelli was ready to shoot her first deer, and the three-Golmon hunting party headed out to camp to give Kelli her chance. But, Kelli did not have a rifle of her own, and she ended up shooting a doe with her little brother’s rifle.

This year, it was Trey’s turn. And again the Golmons headed out as a family. It was early Saturday morning, Oct. 27, when the family started seeing deer,

and it was understood that Trey would get the first shot.

“Kelli had already killed hers on her first try, so Trey was first to shoot,” Jim said.

The family saw a doe come through followed by a big buck, but Trey was not able to get a good shot at either one. Soon after, a younger buck made his appearance and gave Trey his chance.

Trey took the shot, and hit the buck. He hit the ground to scamper after the buck with his proud father following close behind video taping his son’s reaction.

As Trey stumbled up to the buck, his excitement grew until he finally got to where it was lying.

“It’s dead daddy,” he said.

Trey then proudly held up the small, four-point rack for his father to take a picture.

Throughout the process, Kelli was at her brother’s side enjoying his first kill.

“I was excited for him,” she said.

But watching her brother get his first deer made her even more focused on achieving her next hunting goal of killing a buck.

The family went back to the stand and waited.

“She was adamant about getting one,” Jim said. “Trey’s got her excited, and we stayed in the stand that afternoon but didn’t see any bucks.”

The next day, Kelli did get her chance at a buck, and she did not miss that opportunity. She hit a 10-point, this time with her own rifle that she got for Christmas last year.

Again the family hit the ground, and Kelli tracked her buck, while her father video taped that action. She was a bit more reserved than her younger brother, but when she finally held up the rack for a photo and started counting the points the excitement hit her.

“10 daddy. I killed a 10-point. Oh my gosh,” Kelli said.

Although Kelli had killed a deer the year before and reluctantly had blood smeared on her face as the mark of a first kill, she wanted to share the experience of her first buck with her brother, so once again she allowed the blood of the buck to be put on her face.

“I was skittish (about the blood) the first time,” she said. “I didn’t know how it would feel or smell. This one was better than the first deer.”

Jim started taking Kelli hunting with him when she was 3 years old. It took Kelli a while to get used to the experience, however.

“She was too young to shoot, and she was scared,” he said. “I shot a deer, and when it started running off, I could tell it wasn’t her cup of tea. But now she loves it.”

Kelli now even helps her father clean the deer, the children’s mother Shelly Golmon said.

Kelli said she plans to put the skull mount in her room along with her other trophies. Not only is she a hunter and an angler who enjoys mud riding on the four wheeler, she also participates in pageants.

“She likes to play dress up too,” Shelly said. “She’s a girly-girl and a country-girl.”

“But mostly country,” Kelli added.

Kelli and Trey spend a lot of time doing target practice at home, and they are both very good shots. They are also starting to introduce their younger brother, Hunter, to hunting.

“They are very protective of him,” Shelly said. “They watch him and help him out.”

Hunter, 3, took his first hunting trip with his father recently and on that trip, he brought Jim a lot of luck.

“I killed my biggest deer ever on the weekend of his first trip,” Jim said. “He is definitely living up to his name.”

Jim said he will start teaching Hunter to shoot and hunt in a couple of years when he is old enough to learn. Then the Golmon hunting party will increase to four.