Tonya Telesz of Hermitage, Pennsylvania, was hunting with her husband in Columbiana County, Ohio, on the first day of shotgun season on Dec. 1, 2008.

"I'd been sitting in my tree stand since 6 a.m. and the weather was cold and frigid," Tonya said. "The wind was howling and my tree stand was swaying back and forth. At about 9 a.m., I saw two does about 220 yards away. I watched them eating and playing around, but they never came in close enough for a shot. At about 10 a.m., a 5-point buck came trotting by my stand. '

I watched him but decided against a shot because he was to small. An hour later I stood up and turned to look behind my stand. Off to the right, I saw my husband walking toward me. Then, for some reason, out of the corner of my left eye, I saw a white nose and an enormous rack. The buck seemed to be staring right at me so slowly grabbed my Remington 20-gauge slug gun and lifted the scope to my eye. I couldn't believe my luck! One heart shot and the buck went about 20 yards and down he went! My husband looked up and saw the two does and he said, 'Did you get a doe?' I said 'No, I just got a big buck. He's down over there by that tree.'

So I get off my stand and my husband and I walked to the deer and he gave me a big kiss and said, 'Nice job, he's a great deer!'"

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