Upstate hunter kills 10-point, 151-inch buck after four year quest

Cody Lemere of Walhalla killed this impressive 151 inch buck on his family farm in Oconee County on November 29.

Buck sported 25 1/2-inch main beams

The father and son team of Andy and Cody Lemere managed to close the books on a four year quest for an Oconee County buck late last month. Back in 2013, the Lemeres captured several photos on game camera of a nice buck that had shown up on the family farm near Walhalla. Judging by the photos, the buck was a nice 10-point at only 2 ½-years-old. At the end of the season, Cody Lemere even managed to collect the deer’s antler sheds on their property, definitely placing the animal on the watch list.

Similar sightings, always on camera and always at night, occurred again in 2014 and 2015. The buck maintained it’s 10-point rack, which grew in size each year.

For a brief moment in 2016, Andy Lemere got a glimpse of the animal but without a clear shot, let him walk.

By this time, the big buck’s reputation had gotten around. He had also shown up on several neighboring properties, and the hunt was on from surrounding neighbors as well.

Cody Lemere ended the hunt on the night of Nov. 29 after he settled into his deer stand overlooking an old 5 or 6 acre pasture that had been interspersed with soybeans and winter wheat.

“All of the sudden, a doe comes busting out of the tree line straight into the field, headed for me,” said Lemere. “I knew something was chasing her and 10 seconds later, the deer we’d been waiting for so long busted out right behind her.”

Gaining his composure in the fading light, Lemere raised his Remington .308 rifle as the buck changed course and slowed to a slow walk, quartering away at 150 yards. Placing the crosshairs on the deer’s vital area, he squeezed the trigger.

“I didn’t see him drop, but I was pretty confident I’d hit him,” said Lemere. “Dad was hunting not far away and he came over and was actually the first one to see the deer, laying in the tall grass just 10 yards from where he was standing when I shot.”

The Lemere’s green scored the buck at 151 inches on the Boone & Crockett scale. The live weight of the deer was 180 pounds. The rack features a typical 10-point configuration with an additional point on the back. The inside spread is 18 ½ inches but the most impressive features are the 25 ½ inch main beams.

Lemere plans to have the deer mounted by Tony Chitwood of Chitwood Taxidermy in Lavonia, GA after which it will take it’s place of honor on his living room wall with the only other bucks he has taken from the family property – his first deer he killed as a child, and three others.

“We don’t have a lot of deer here compared to other places,” said Lemere. “We only have 2 – 3 does living on our farm, so we wait on the bucks and we let them grow.”

About Phillip Gentry 827 Articles
Phillip Gentry of Waterloo, S.C., is an avid outdoorsman and said if it swims, flies, hops or crawls, he's usually not too far behind.