175-inch double-drop-tine killed.
Ricky Rogillio saw that huge buck the first time during an early season bow hunt, when he took a client to Giles Island Hunting Club. It was monstrous, with two drop tines dripping from the left main beam.
“I saw videos of it, and I knew I wanted to come back,” the Walker hunter said. “I worried it wouldn’t be there when I got back.”
He left the island last Wednesday (Nov. 30) with the 175-inch rack cooling in the back of his truck.
The kill, which is the second huge buck killed this season from the commercial hunting club, came after Rogillio and his guide drew a pipeline stand.
“It was the same stand that Jimmy (Riley) killed his 180-inch buck earlier this season,” Rogillio said.
This time it turned out to be the wrong spot.
“We saw a group of bucks down the pipeline at the next stand,” he said.
The next day, hunting club manager Riley agreed to put that stand in the daily drawing – and Rogillio pulled it.
He and guide Spike settled into a ground blind, full of hope that the deer would show up.
It was the perfect place to be on the afternoon of Nov. 30, but Rogillio initially thought he had missed a perfect opportunity.
“My wife texted me, and I was looking at her text,” he said. “When I looked up a buck was 175 to 200 yards down there, and he looked like a yearling calf. He was a man.”
Unfortunately, the huge buck stepped into the woods before Rogillio could react.
Both the hidden hunters were crushed, but 15 minutes later their spirits soared.
Rogillio looked up and a massive deer was approaching the pipeline about 60 yards from the ground blind.
And then disaster struck.
The guides are not in place only to ensure hunters shoot bucks that meet the standards of the operation – they also video each hunt. And that’s where the problem arose.
“When my guide moved the monopod (for the camera), it dragged through the leaves, and the buck looked straight at us,” Rogillio said. “I guess he figured something was up; he bolted back into the woods.”
Rogillio’s guide was devastated.
“He said, ‘That was that double-drop buck. We messed up,’” Rogillio said.
But the hunter wasn’t ready to give up that easily.
“I heard him run, and I heard him stop,” Rogillio said. “I told (the guide) to hold my chair, and I stood up. When I stood up I could see down in the woods a little bit.
“He had stopped about 150 yards in the woods with a doe.”
Rogillio whispered to Spike that he could see the deer.
“He said, ‘If you can see him, shoot him,’” the hunter said.
The .325 Magnum rifle was shouldered, and a round was sent at the deer that was quartering away from the ground blind.
“I was trying to hit him in the chest, but I hit him in the hind quarter,” Rogillio admitted.
The buck disappeared, and the guide took the gun and eased into the woods. He watched the deer bound away, unable to get a shot off.
Soon Rogillio was with him, and he took charge of the rifle again.
“We found a pretty good bit of blood,” he said. “I could smell him; he had already started to go into rut.”
The pair followed the blood trail a short way, and the deer was spotted again.
“He jumped up, and when he did I popped him behind the ribs,” Rogillio said.
The buck escaped, but soon was found again. This time it was laid up, although it was still alive. Rogillio quickly dispatched it.
The animal’s rack was huge, with 16 scorable points, including the two long drop tines. One of the kickers measured 8 inches, while the second one stretched 10 ½ inches. It had a 19 1/2-inch spread.
“I’ve never seen (a drop-tine buck) alive in the woods,” Rogillio said.
The only problem now is that he has to decide which of the deer already adorning his living-room wall will be moved to make room for the huge buck.
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