Morven, N.C. hunter kills trophy buck in Chesterfield County, S.C.

9-point buck has been green scored at more than 156 inches

Nov. 9 marked seven years since Blake Leviner of Morven, N.C. had killed his last buck. But the spell was broken that day, and Leviner killed the biggest buck of his life while hunting in Chesterfield County, S.C. The 9-point buck had a mainframe 8-point rack with a five-inch tine coming out of the base.

Leviner’s buck has been gross green-scored at just over 156 inches.

Leviner first saw the buck on camera on Oct. 17 after getting in on a new hunting lease. His trail camera sent him the photo, showing the big buck during daylight hours. But Leviner was in Nashville at the time. He made up his mind to hunt that buck every chance he got for the rest of the season.

But the hunter got concerned after the deer stopped showing up on his camera for a week. So he moved his lock-on stand to another location he thought the deer was hanging out in. The following Saturday, he hunted the stand but didn’t see anything. He went to check the camera, which was still in its original spot. The deer had been there at 6:30 p.m. that very day.

Persistence pays off

He hunted on Nov. 8 and saw six bucks, but he passed on shooting them, waiting for this buck, which he’d nicknamed Bruiser. Bruiser didn’t show up that day, so Leviner hunted again the next morning, Nov. 9. He saw only one buck, a small 7-pointer.

That afternoon, Leviner went back again, and felt like something good was going to happen. A series of 8-point bucks showed up one at a time.

“I told myself today was the day, and I ended up seeing a little 8-point at first, and then another 8-point decided to come in. Then another 8-point came in and was acting differently than all the other bucks. I got the feeling most hunters get when they know one is about to come out,” he said.

And he was right. Bruiser suddenly made an appearance. Leviner shot the buck with a .270 from about 80 yards away.

“In the blink of an eye, there he was jumping the creek. He came in and made a scrape, scaring off the other bucks. In a matter of about 3 minutes, it was all over. I shot the biggest buck of my life,” he said.