It was the first morning of buck season, Nov. 30, 1998. My son was going out
to the treestand at the back of our woods, where he has a good view of the
field beyond. I could only hunt for a couple hours, so I decided just to sit
on our back deck and watch the woods. At 7:45 am, a deer seemed to appear from
nowhere right in the middle of our woods, about 100 yards from me. He was
walking very slowly. I pulled up the gun and as he slowly came out from behind
a tree, I saw antlers and I took my shot. I was a little skeptical because I
was using a smaller caliber gun than I was used to. I had always hunted with a
.264 magnum or a .270, but this year I was using my new .243 that my husband
had bought me for Christmas last year. The gun cracked and the deer dropped
like a rock! My son came down out of the tree stand and walked over to the
deer. He was about 60 yards away from it. I started walking out and even
though I knew I saw antlers, I said, "It IS a buck, isn't it?" He laughed and
said, "Yes Mom, it's a 12 point. You got him right in the front shoulder" I
was stunned. It wasn't a huge rack. I thought maybe a 6 point. I asked him if
he saw the deer. He said he did and was just swinging his gun around the post
of the treestand to get a better angle, when I shot. He tells everyone I shot
his deer. Funny, I don't feel bad for him at all. I was too thrilled. It's not
the first deer I've gotten, but by far the biggest rack. Deer was taken in
Butler County, PA.

Sandi Wilson