When Jamie Warner and her then-fiancé, Zach, began looking for a homestead, they turned to an estate auction of 110 acres his family once leased to farm. Trail cameras revealed the property held lots of deer, including a pair of outstanding bucks.
Zach began calling the bigger one Goliath, and the other became Goof because of his wonky antlers.
“I tend to like weird, so Goof was my No. 1 goal,” Jamie told Ed Waite, who’s writing her story for Rack magazine. “Zach wanted Goliath.”
Jamie and Zach watched the sunrise from different stands on opening day of the 2017 bow season. They both saw the same buck that morning, but not clearly and not in range.
They left for lunch, but returned to their setups for the rest of the afternoon.
Just past 7:00, Jamie heard a deer – maybe two – walking in the thicket in front of her.
“When I was able to make out antlers, I grew more excited,” Jamie said. “The rack was large, and its wearer was moving toward an opening. I had my crossbow in hand, ready to raise it to my shoulder. I couldn’t shoot, but I knew the buck was going to be in the open very soon.
“The way it was coming in, I had to change my position in the stand and actually lift one leg over the railing in order to turn far enough to shoot,” she continued. “I knew I had to be quiet, that this guy didn’t get big by being dumb.”
Right before the buck stepped into the clear, she lifted her crossbow. As soon as its vitals weren’t obscured, she squeezed the trigger.
“It happened so fast, I wasn’t sure it had actually happened,” Jamie smiled.
“It was ginormous, the biggest buck I had ever shot. Dad and my husband were also very excited. Lots of hugs and high-fives were exchanged. After I tagged it, we dragged it out. It dressed out at 220 pounds,” she added.
Ed Waite scored the deer at 193 6/8 inches.
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