I shot my first buck when I was 13. A 130 class 19" 5x5 whitey. My folks had it mounted, picture in the local paper, etc...
It was awesome when it happened, but it took a while for me to kill anything close to that again. Looking back on it now, (I am almost 40) I actually wish I would have started with a doe or a spike and worked my way up to a biggun. That first buck was a total fluke, I knew it, my friends knew it, everyone knew it; and for years I felt like I had "used up my luck all at once". I know it sounds silly, but I really felt like that until I was about 17 and killed one "on my own"...