A giant buck always seemed to be one step ahead of a teenage deer hunter in Mississippi , but time and persistence paid off with with a giant 150-class trophy.
“On Oct. 22, 2024, I killed the biggest deer that I may ever kill in my life,” said Emma Claire Starkey, 16, of Eudora . “It was one of the best days of my life. I thank Jesus for this day and experience constantly.”
Starkey said the story began in 2023 after she and her father, Adam Starkey, put out trail cameras before archery season began.
“One summer night my dad and I get a notification from the camera,” Starkey said. “It was two giant bucks wrapped in velvet.
“We couldn’t believe it. After seeing those bucks, we immediately start getting excited for the soon-to-begin bow season.”
One of the bucks disappeared, but one stayed.
Mississippi hunter names giant buck ‘Kicker’
“This deer was ginormous,” Starkey said. “On the left side of his rack, he had a kicker on his G2.
“After noticing this my dad and I decided to give this deer a name. That name was Kicker. After trying to hunt this deer for quite a while, we discovered that he was very difficult to hunt. He would only come out around midnight.”