
Becky Nicosia woke up to a very hot and windy day on Dec. 30, 2024, so she and her fellow club members were not too excited about going deer hunting. Nicosia was hesitant to go that afternoon, but she finally decided to leave and go to the stand about 3:15 p.m., which is much later than she usually leaves to get there. Although they had been watching one buck they called “Romeo” for three years, he hadn’t been frequenting her hunting area this year. Some others were getting him on camera, although nobody had seen him.
“I knew that there was a hot doe coming into my plot, so I was hopeful she might attract a rutting buck into the field and I might get a shot,” Nicosia said. “We had nicknamed one particular buck Romeo because he really roamed everywhere and was not sticking to one area.”
It didn’t take long for the action to begin as several does came into the field followed by a nice 8-point buck. The buck chased the does back and forth and finally ran them all out of the food plot.
“After things settled down, I pulled out a Primos Can Call and hit it a couple times hoping to pull in Romeo,” Nicosia said. “Suddenly, a huge buck came out and made a beeline to the middle of the patch. I first thought to get my binoculars to look at him, but I knew it was Romeo so I pulled up my rifle and got ready to shoot when the opportunity came up.”
A quick recovery
At 110 yards the buck presented a good shot, and Nicosia pulled the trigger.
“Click!” The gun misfired. But the game was not over yet.
“I waited until he turned, and I pulled the trigger again,” she said.
Ka-Boom! Nicosia’s .308 rifle fired and the buck bolted, but he didn’t get far as he fell about 10 yards outside of the patch!
“I was shooting a Christensen Arms .308 Rifle with a suppressor,” Nicosia said. “There was a lot of stuff going on that day and I just didn’t know why the rifle had misfired so I took it to the gunsmith, and he said that you need to keep the suppressor clean or there is a chance that all of that blowback of powder might prevent the rifle from firing.”
Nicosia had just started using the suppressor last year and it really helped with the doe harvest as they couldn’t tell were the shots were coming from.
The Romeo buck was a basic 8-point with a split brow tine and he scored 161+ and weighed 225 pounds, which is a trophy anywhere in the state.
Enticing the big buck
This modern-day Annie Oakley proved that she was up for the task at hand once again while hunting from her Redneck Bling Box stand. Her stand overlooked a food plot that had several species of clover, oats and turnips, which gives added flavor and nutrients for the bucks during late season.
The buck was at least 5 ½ to 6 ½ years old, which allowed it to reach maturity with a massive rack.
“I was just thrilled to harvest Romeo,” Nicosia said. “The wind was just totally wrong for the stand, so I had sprayed myself down with scent killer and used my Primos Can to entice him into the plot.”
Though this was her biggest buck taken with a rifle to date, Nicosia has harvested quite a few trophy bucks. One being a monster Adams County 13-point buck nicknamed Megatron that she shot in 2021 with her bow.
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