Woman Shoots Buck of a Lifetime, Then Her Boyfriend Makes His Move

By The Associated Press November 26, 2023 at 11:44am

A Nebraska woman bagged a marriage proposal this month along with a big buck during a deer hunting trip.

Samantha Camenzind’s boyfriend not only gave her the first shot at the deer they had spotted on a trail camera south of Lincoln, but he then surprised her by popping the question in the middle of a photo shoot with the prized trophy — a giant buck with 11 tines on one side of its antlers and nine on the other.

“Everybody has been saying they would marry him, too, if he let them shoot this big of a deer,” Camenzind, 28, who lives in Omaha, told the Omaha World-Herald.

In three years of dating, one of the things the couple bonded over is their shared love of hunting. They process and eat the meat of what they kill.

Cole Bures said he didn’t have any problem letting Camenzind take the first shot at the buck.

“I was just as excited as she was when she got it,” the 32-year-old from Filley, Nebraska, said.

Cole Bures gave girlfriend Samantha Camenzind, an Omaha dental hygienist, first crack at a once-in-a-lifetime buck during firearm deer season and then surprised her by asking her to marry him.

Story from @mduceyOWH: https://t.co/fsWYiwnM0s

— Omaha World-Herald (@OWHnews) November 25, 2023

Then Bures told Camenzind he wanted a professional photographer to take some pictures to commemorate the big moment.

Partway through the pictures, he got down on one knee and asked her to marry him, allowing the photographer to capture exactly when she said yes.

Cole Bures proposes to Samatha Camenzind during a photo shoot of their successful hunt. — Cole Bures proposes to girlfriend Samatha Camenzind during a photo shoot of their successful hunt near Lincoln, Nebraska. (AP)

Bures said he got the idea after a friend made a similar proposal during a hunting trip to Alaska.

Their friends were amazed when they saw the photos.

“I don’t know if they were more shocked we got engaged or the size of the deer,” Camenzind said.

The two are aiming at a possible wedding date next fall — but she said it definitely won’t be during hunting season.

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Animals, Hunting, Marriage, Nebraska, Offbeat, WJ Wire

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