In the waning months of 2019, 18-year-old Guner Womack’s first bowkill might’ve been the most recognizable whitetail on the planet. He and the animal were plastered all over social media, and web stories soon followed.
He told one of his interviewers that he woke up to almost 300 Facebook friend requests the day after his buck was posted. My request was among them.
Guner, a student at Oklahoma State University, had no idea how things were going to play out when he headed afield on a Tuesday, Oct. 22. His destination was land his family had bought about seven years earlier.
He knew only that a picket-fence Typical called the Pawnee County tract home.
“We had this buck on camera for three years,” he told Josh Honeycutt, who’s writing the story for Rack magazine. “It grew exponentially in size every year, an estimated 50 inches from 2018 to 2019.”
Because he wanted to hunt a food plot, Guner had the choice of three stands on that 70-degree day.
“The terrain at our farm is actually pretty neat,” he said. “A lake sits right in the middle of the property and acts as a divider. We have three food plots. I just happened to choose the right one.”
Three immature bucks were the first to visit the field Guner was watching. They were followed by four does and a stocky 8-pointer. The ninth deer of the day was the clean 8x8, which emerged from the timber a mere 40 yards distant.
Before the young hunter could fully process the scene, the buck turned back into the trees, taking a little bit of Guner’s soul with it.
It came back, though. And when it stopped broadside at 25 yards, Guner wasted no time letting his Mathews bow sing. The buck rocketed away, but its run was short.
The incredible Okie buck hasn’t been taped for the BTR yet. Its B&C gross score is 201 5/8 inches, a new No. 1 Typical for the state-run records program.
The buck is thought to be just 4 1/2 years old.
— Read Recent Blog! And the Duck Goes Urrrppp? At 179 4/8 inches, the 18-pointer is the second-largest whitetail ever recorded from Madison County.