Rack Magazine

Truth in Advertising

Truth in Advertising

By Mike Handley

Oklahoman’s 2017 brute wears twice as many inches as the man’s previous best whitetail.

When Steven Everett purchased 130 acres in Logan County, Oklahoma, in 2015, the previous landowner told him the property held some big bucks.

Deer season had already started, so Steven didn’t have a lot of time to scout or erect stands. But he did set out some trail cameras and ground blinds.

It didn’t take long to validate the seller’s claim.

“We got a picture of a deer I named Goliath, which was the first name I thought of after seeing him,” he said. “I’d never seen a deer that wide.”

To learn more about the buck, the 37-year-old seller of spinal implants put out even more cameras. The extra eyes did little good, however.

“He was very nocturnal and only came out during the rut and late in the season,” Steven said. “I have hundreds of trail cam pics, almost all of them taken at night.”

Their first encounter came on the last day of the 2015 season.

“I was in a ground blind, and I looked up and saw a line of bucks coming in to feed. About third in line was a buck we were calling Capt. Hook (because of a curved tine), and behind him was Goliath,” he said.

“The youngest of the bunch must’ve winded me because it stopped abruptly and stared, and when it stopped, all the others stopped,” he continued. “I didn’t move. Barely breathed. Fortunately, I already had my bow in hand.”

Steven had ranged only one spot near Goliath, so he had to guess the distance when he got the chance to draw and release.

He was off by 5 yards, and the arrow sailed low.

“Goliath just glided past me. I’ll never forget the rack as he ran off into the woods,” he said. “I was sick, but also glad I didn’t wound him.”

Goliath was equally leery of sunlight during the 2016-17 season. Steven retrieved photos of him, carrying an even bigger rack, but hunter and hunted never crossed paths.

Steven wound up shooting Capt. Hook that year, which was his best buck to date.

“He might’ve gone 125,” he said.

Goliath’s only pattern was to show up on Steven’s farm in mid-October, and to leave in the middle of January. In between, the buck seemed to favor one particular field, which is why Steven set up four trail cameras on it.

He kept meticulous notes about days, times and weather on his computer, but he saw no rhyme or reason behind the deer’s movements. The animal had no discernible routine.

“He was tricky,” Steven said.

After his usual nine-month hiatus, the wide-racked whitetail returned to Steven’s property in October 2017, nocturnal as always. Only after the buck began shadowing a doe did Steven think he might have a real chance of a daytime encounter.

“I was so convinced I had him, I hunted one day 14 hours straight. The weather was perfect; a cold front had moved in,” he said.

“Eventually, a doe popped out of the woods, and Goliath was next. They came into the field and began walking toward me, stopping every 15 yards or so. It took between five and 10 minutes for them to reach 70 yards. I was videoing them with my phone.

“Just when I put down my phone, about 15 hogs came onto the field,” he continued. “I said, ‘Oh, God, no. Please no. I about cried.”

The deer left, and Steven shot one of the pigs.

“I had to let off a little steam,” he admitted.

Both Steven and his father, Johnny, gave the property a rest after that. They didn’t return for three days.

Steven really wanted to shoot Goliath with his bow, but each outing softened his resolve. He took his 7mm Mag into the Redneck Blind on Nov. 18, when the big deer ran out of lives.

He was in place by 3 p.m., and deer were everywhere by 4:30.

Just after 5:00, a doe ran out of the woods, Goliath on her heels. Steven squeezed the trigger 15 seconds later, as the buck passed within 45 yards.

“I’m glad I had the wherewithal to chamber another round,” he said. “I was able to take a second shot as Goliath was leaving. I heard a crash shortly thereafter.”

Johnny, who was hunting nearby, heard his son shoot twice, and he practically ran to join him.

“I told him, ‘I got him! I got him!’” Steven said. “But there was no blood. No hair. I mean NOTHING. I didn’t know how I could miss the deer from that distance.”

Steven and his dad walked to the tree line into which the buck had fled, but they retrieved their flashlights before plowing ahead. When they returned with lights, they searched for at least 25 fruitless minutes. There was no sign of the buck’s passing.

“I was nauseous,” Steven said.

Johnny finally suggested they start over, so they went back to where the deer had been when Steven shot. The next time they approached the tree line, Steven shone his light under the cedars and spotted a white patch, his buck.

“I’ll never forget walking up and touching the antlers,” he said. “I had dreamed about doing that a thousand times.”

Afterward, father and son hugged and swapped high-fives.

Johnny knew how much the deer meant to his son. He’d passed up a slam-dunk, 25-yard shot at it.

“He knew it was a big, big deal to me,” Steven said. “He videoed it instead and sent it to me. Goliath was chasing a doe, right before dark.

“He’s a good dad,” Steven added.

The guys knew nothing about measuring antlers, so they bought some scoring tape and followed the directions.

“I was just hoping it would go 200 inches,” he said. “When we got to 246, being conservative, I said, ‘That’s too big. We did something wrong.’

“But we actually WERE conservative,” he added.

The old buck was later green-scored at 255 inches. Among the many trail camera photographs neighbors shared with Steven after he shot it were some from the 2008-09 season, when it wore a wide, clean 10-point rack.

One hunter begged Steven to let him drive over and touch the antlers of the deer he’d hunted so passionately.

“When he held the rack, it was like he was touching something as mystical as a unicorn,” Steven said.

This article was published in the March 2018 edition of Rack Magazine. Subscribe today to have Rack Magazine delivered to your home.

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