When most folks cross Indian Pass and look out toward St. Vincent Island, they see a quiet wilderness — an uninhabited barrier island where marshes breathe with the tide and pelicans drift overhead. But hidden in its palmetto thickets and tidal ponds is a story unlike any other in Florida: a tale of a doctor, a dream, and a herd of exotic deer from halfway around the world.
The Doctor Who Bought an Island
In 1907, Dr. Ray Vaughn Pierce, a wealthy physician and patent medicine magnate from Buffalo, New York, purchased St. Vincent Island for $12,500.
Pierce had made his fortune selling “Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Prescription” and other remedies, and like many Gilded Age tycoons, he craved a private retreat. But Pierce’s vision went far beyond building cottages or cattle fences. He wanted to create an exotic hunting preserve, the likes of which America had never seen.
Building a Private Preserve
Between 1908 and 1909, Dr. Pierce invested over $50,000 (an enormous sum at the time) into reshaping the island. He ordered:
- 30 miles of roads carved through dunes, pine ridges, and oak hammocks.
- Cottages and barns for caretakers and guests.
- Dams and sluice gates to create managed duck ponds.
- Exotic game introductions from pheasants to antelope, and most famously, the Asian sambar deer.
Pierce believed this marshy island would be the perfect backdrop for trophy hunts and elegant retreats. He was right — at least about the sambar.
The Man Behind the Legend: Dr. Raymond V. Pierce
Pierce was not your ordinary country doctor. Born in 1840, he rose to fame as a physician, entrepreneur, and showman. His remedies were marketed with flair, plastered across newspapers and early billboards, making him a household name.
Contemporaries described him as charismatic and ambitious, a man with the confidence to cure ailments and the audacity to buy a Florida island and fill it with creatures from Asia.
Though he passed away in 1914, his stamp on St. Vincent remains in the form of those massive, antlered ghosts that still wade through its marshes today.
The Exotic Experiment
While many of Pierce’s exotics faded away, the sambar deer adapted perfectly. Native to the swamps of India and Southeast Asia, they found St. Vincent’s tidal marshes nearly identical to their home range.
Other owners followed Pierce — including the Loomis brothers of New York in the 1940s, who added zebras, blackbuck, and jungle fowl — but in the end, only the sambar endured.
By the 1960s, the island was purchased by The Nature Conservancy and later transferred to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. In 1968, St. Vincent officially became a National Wildlife Refuge.
Most exotics were removed — but the sambar deer, now a self-sustaining herd, were allowed to stay.
Hunting Sambar Today
Today, the herd numbers around 70–100 animals. Each year, a limited number of permits are issued for the St. Vincent Island Sambar Hunt — one of the most unique hunts in the United States.
- Size: Mature stags can top 400 pounds.
- Challenge: The hunt is a wade-and-glass affair, more like elk hunting in Asia than deer hunting in Florida.
- Legacy: Each hunter who takes part becomes part of a story stretching back over a century.
Sambar Deer Facts
| Trait | Detail |
|---|---|
| Native Range | India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia |
| Average Weight | 350–600 lbs (stags) |
| Antlers | 3-tined, sweeping, can exceed 40 inches |
| Habitat | Marshes, swamps, tidal ponds |
| Local Population | ~70–100 (St. Vincent Island) |
| Hunt Access | Annual quota hunt, limited permits |
Maps & Memory
- Historical maps of Pierce’s roads and developments still linger in archives.
- Old cottages and ruins can still be found deep in the woods, reminders of his bold experiment.
- Today’s refuge maps show sambar habitat zones overlapping with tidal marshes where locals still hear their roar at dawn in the fog.
St. Vincent Island is more than just a patch of sand and pine. It’s a living chapter of Florida history, where ambition, folly, and nature collided. A man’s dream to build a private hunting estate gave us one of the Forgotten Coast’s most unique wildlife legacies.
When you step off a boat onto St. Vincent’s sandy shores, you’re not just walking into wilderness — you’re walking into a story that began over a century ago with Dr. Ray Vaughn Pierce.
At Williamson Outfitters, we celebrate the heritage of Florida’s Forgotten Coast. Whether you’re chasing redfish in the bay, ducks in the marsh, or simply soaking in the stories of places like St. Vincent, our mission is simple: to make the coast unforgettable.
Call or text: 850-251-8650
"Williamson Outfitters, Making The Forgotten Coast Unforgettable!"