13-year-old stops cooking breakfast to shoot a 27-point buck in Tennessee

Bo Ezell, a 13-year-old eighth-grader who’s been hunting nearly as long as he’s been walking, shot a 27-point deer on Friday in Benton County, Tennessee, prompting local officials to share his story on social media.

The official count was made by Local Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency wardens, although Ezell says there have been others who have counted more.

Ezell had already gone hunting for squirrels on Friday morning and was making breakfast when a neighbor called to tip him off about buck.

“She said a buck had walked onto her property, and she asked if I wanted to come hunt it,” Ezell said. “So I stopped my cooking and went over.”

When he arrived, he couldn't see the animal at first.

“She had to point it out to me because his rack was so big I thought it was a bush in front of a tree,” Ezell said. “It was peeing in a scrape when I took a shot, and when I shot, his head jerked up and he looked at me.”

Ezell said he was shaking because he wanted to get the hit so badly.

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“He looked at me, and I started shaking even worse,” Ezell said. “I shot again, and he began to run off before I shot at him two more times and knocked him down.

“When I got close to him, he lifted his head at me, so I shot him again to put him down. I figured I’d wounded him enough to kill him, but I didn’t want him putting 30 antlers in my gut if he did get up.”

Ezell said the deer weighed 165 pounds before being field-dressed, and the green length scored 213 and seven-eighths inches, which is the total length of the antlers on a buck’s head.

Ezell said he nearly passed on going to his neighbor’s to shoot the deer.

“I’d already been out and was back and ready to eat, and it took me 20 minutes to get all my stuff and walk over there,” Ezell said. “But now that I got it, I’m glad I went.”

Ezell shot his first doe at the age of 4 before he was taught in Kindergarten how to tie his shoe.

“I guess I’ve been going out there with my daddy since I was big enough to go and they could let me run around,” Ezell said.

Follow Brandon Shields on Twitter @JSEditorBrandon

This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: 13-year-old stops cooking breakfast to shoot a 27-point buck in Tennessee