A few weeks before Axel Sumrall celebrated his 5th birthday today, Axel pulled the trigger of a powerful .308-caliber rifle and missed his target, a doe, while deer hunting with his father on Nov. 12.

That miss failed to discourage Axel. The youngster “handled it well,” for sure, according to his dad, Caleb Sumrall of New Iberia, who has been enjoying the offseason following his fifth season on the Bassmaster Elite Series. The all-around outdoorsman and his son were deer hunting on one of his small leases near Magnolia, Arkansas.

Before the weekend of deer hunting, Sumrall said, “I didn’t know if he was actually ready to shoot but he told me he wanted to shoot. I let him shoot at one and he ended up missing. He shot my .308, a pretty big gun for a 4-year-old, but he handled it well. I shot an 8-point and a doe that day.”

Unbeknownst to them, Axel’s time was ticking down to dropping the first deer of his life. It didn’t happen that afternoon when they enjoyed another father-and-son deer hunt.

The two returned to the ground blind the following day, Nov. 13, with a small heater on to ward off the 28-degree temperature.

“The next day was pretty cold. We were sitting in a ground blind. Two does came out at 40 yards. I was able to get him up on my lap for a shot. He squeezed a shot off before she got in the woods,” he said.

The doe dropped right there.

Axel’s first-ever deer kindled a myriad of feelings.

“Oh, man, he was all pumped up, crying a little bit. He wasn’t sure why he was crying. I told him, ‘buck fever,’ ” Sumrall said. “Axel wears his heart on his sleeve. He’s an emotional kid. He lets his excitement pour out.”

Sumrall, who killed his first deer at age 13, admitted his own eyes were watering. He always wondered if his son would comprehend the significance before he ever put a rifle in the young boy’s hands.

“I wanted him to appreciate the moment and I really think he did,” Sumrall said. “It was a special moment. Seeing how excited he was made me happy.”

A Facebook poster commented on the memorable moment that Sunday: “He is probably a little too young to fully understand what you’re doing for him. You definitely are doing it right. Congratulations to both of you.”

Sumrall replied: “It’s crazy how well he does understand. You’ll see in the next couple posts.”

Axel takes deer hunting seriously enough to watch youtube.com to learn more about the sport, Sumrall said.

“He hunted four or five days, too, before he got the shot off,” he said.

Axel called his mother, Jacie Sumrall.

“She was pumped up and happy. He called everybody,” Sumrall said.

The boy’s sister, Clelie, killed her first deer when she was one month away from her 7th birthday. She shot the 3-point, 120-pound buck with an AK-style .223-caliber rifle at approximately 85 yards near Haynesville during Thanksgiving Week in 2018.

Sumrall, once again on Cloud 9 after the big day Nov. 13, planned to hunt again this past holiday week.

“I might bring sister up for Thanksgiving,” he said.

At the moment, he still was relishing the shot that downed the doe, the first deer for Axel.

“It was a proud daddy moment. I encourage everyone to take their kids hunting,” Sumrall said.