VIDALIA — Eleven-year old Vidalia native Jacob Harrison Jr. showed patience and determination beyond his years this deer-hunting season.

The young hunter killed two deer early in the season — an eight-point buck and a doe — on his grandfather, Milton Garrett’s, land in Natchez. But, just two weeks into the season he spotted his main target for the year — a target that would take him the entire season to get a shot at.

On Jan. 14 Harrison Jr.’s patience paid off when he finally got the opportunity to take down the buck that eluded him for two months, and he took full advantage of that opportunity by harvesting the 10-point buck he had his eyes on.

“I was jumping around excited (when I killed the buck),” Harrison Jr. said. “It was the biggest deer horn wise I ever killed.”

Harrison Jr. said part of his excitement stemmed from passing up several opportunities to kill other deer earlier in the season.

“I passed up a nine-point after I saw (the 10-point) and another eight-point and about 400 does,” he said.

Harrison Jr. said the eight-point and nine-point were not big enough, and he did not want to ruin his chance of getting the deer he had his eyes on since the second week of the season.

“(The 10-point) was bigger than all the other ones,” he said. “I saw it (in November), but it was too dark to shoot. It was the biggest one out there.”

Harrison Jr. said he spends a lot of time hunting with his father, Jacob Harrison Sr., and Harrison Sr. said his son was determined to get the buck.

“We hunted hard every weekend,” Harrison Sr. said.

Football kept Harrison Sr. out of the woods with his son the morning of his big kill. Harrison Sr. stayed home to watch the Saints play the 49ers and his son called him with the news that Harrison Sr. did not believe at first, he said.

“I was cooking, and he called and said, ‘I got it,’” Harrison Sr. said. “I said, ‘no you didn’t,’ and he said, ‘I got it.’

“So I dropped everything and headed out.”

Harrison Sr. said they were able to get the deer cleaned before the football game started.

Harrison Jr. wanted a trophy from his big kill, but he also already had his sights set on bigger accomplishments next season, his father said.

“We brought it back, and I asked him if he wanted to mount it,” Harrison Sr. said. “He said, “well I don’t know. What if I kill a bigger one next year?’”

Harrison Jr. decided to just go with a skull mount, and he did the majority of the work himself.

“He did most of (the skull mounting),” Harrison Sr. said. “We just started doing it this year. He found a piece of drift wood and did most everything.”

“It hangs in my room,” Harrison Jr. added.

Harrison Jr. said he estimates that his latest deer was the 16th he has killed since he started hunting when he was 7 years old, and he can’t wait until next season to go after an even bigger target.

“There’s another big 10-point out there,” Harrison Jr. said. “It hasn’t been coming out.”

“Next year that’s what we’re looking at,” Harrison Sr. said.

Harrison Jr.’s 9-year-old brother Chandler is also a hunter, but he has a few kills to go to catch up with his older brother. Chandler killed his first deer in November.

Harrison Jr. said he enjoys duck, squirrel, raccoon and frog hunting in addition to deer hunting, and squirrel hunting is probably his favorite.

“The squirrels run around and trying to shoot them and seeing if you can sneak up on them is fun,” he said.

Harrison Jr. is a sixth grader at Vidalia Junior High School. He is the son of Shana and Jacob Harrison Sr. and the grandson of Kim and Milton Garrett.