During the last hour before daylight, the sounds of deer activity increased. And, not surprisingly, they were concentrated in the direction of the food plot.

"We had planted a couple of rows of turnips in the plot, and until the second or third frost, deer had totally ignored them. But from that point on, they literally began digging them up. While I assumed most of the deer activity I was listening to involved feeding on the turnips, I had also heard a couple of buck grunts."

At first light, Meredith stood up in the stand and used binoculars to check out the plot. But all he could make out were 8 to 10 dark shapes. Minutes later, a doe came running from the direction of the plot and passed under the hunter's stand.

Situated approximately 15 yards from the plot's edge, behind an old dozer pile grown up in briars, saplings, and vines, Meredith could hear another deer walking in the dense thicket just below the stand. Initially, no part of the whitetail was visible. But as he continued to watch, a quick glimpse of big antler tines identified the moving deer.

Fortunately, the buck was moving toward an open shooting lane that the hunter had cut through the undergrowth. As the deer approached the narrow opening, Meredith came to full draw and waited.

"The buck was only 18 yards away when it stepped out, and my first clear view of the rack nearly took my breath away," Meredith said. "But I immediately aimed and touched my release. The arrow passed all the way through the deer and stuck in the ground."

The big deer bolted forward, running over brush, small trees, anything in its path. After making a wide half-circle run through the woods, the buck began to stagger and finally fell in a small draw next to the food plot.

For Meredith, the long night had been worth every sleepless minute.

The buck's impressive 5x5 typical frame includes 25-inch main beams and four tines that tape between 11 4/8 and 10 3/8 inches. After grossing 162 4/8, the rack nets a final P&Y score of 155 4/8.

TYLER KILBURN'S GIANT LESLIE COUNTY TROPHY
By the end of December, 13-year- old Tyler Kilburn and his dad, Tom, had logged a number of days bow- and gun-hunting for whitetails in the hills and hollows of Leslie County. Unfortunately, most of their luck had been of the negative variety. Tom thought the state's special late-season two-day youth hunt would be a good opportunity for Tyler to take a buck. But after arising late on New Year's morning, the season's second day, his chances appeared to be slipping away.