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Free-Ranging Axis Deer in Texas |
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After my first trip I decided to hunt a free-ranging axis.
A friend and co-worker....
A couple of years back, I started hunting on a ranch in
Texas called Valhalla with outfitter Clint Tuma and his
organization, Headhunters. His ranch is located about 3
miles "as the crow flies" from the old YO Ranch (one of
the first high-fenced ranches established in Texas). Valhalla
consists of 640 acres, 100 of which are high-fenced.
From my understanding there have been a large number of
animals that have escaped other ranches over the years and
multiplied. The species include axis, blackbuck, red stag,
fallow and sika. The first time I went to Valhalla, I noticed
that Clint feeds the animals bales of alfalfa and corn.
In the evenings when we scouted around I saw many different
species free-ranging and some good, quality trophies.
After my first trip I decided to hunt a free-ranging axis.
A friend and co-worker decided to go with me. Clint knew
of 2 ranches that had too many pigs and their owners wanted
them eliminated. We all know how pigs can devastate a ranch.
I talked to Clint the night before we left for Texas and
he told me that he hadn’t seen the big axis I hoped to harvest
in 2 full weeks.
My hunting buddy and I arrived in San Antonio at 11:30 PM
with a 2 1/2 hour drive ahead of us. Normally the ride is
exciting because of the animals that are sighted alongside
the road, but on this night all we see are a couple of deer.
The driveway to the house is about 2 miles long and about
halfway there I see the axis that has eluded Clint for the
past 2 weeks. He is standing with 5 others in velvet only
3 feet from the road.
The rain comes just as we get unloaded and continues the
entire next day. That country has the slickest mud you have
ever seen, in spite of the rocky terrain, you can get stuck
very easily. Even the ranches with the pigs wouldn’t let
us hunt in this wet weather because of the potential damage
to the roads, so we just had to wait it out.
There was no rain the following morning but it was still
too muddy to hunt, so we decided to sight in our rifles
and do some predator hunting. On the way to the spot where
we would sight in our rifles, we put out some corn to keep
the axis in the area. That very evening my friend took his
axis. He shot him in the shoulder and chased him down a
few minutes later for the final shot. What a great trophy
and great eating as well! Axis are fairly skittish animals
so I figured my deer had headed for the next county by now.
However, the next evening I was able to take mine with the
help of all available eyes. He was standing in a thick stand
of trees and I couldn’t pick him out of the crowd, all I
could see was his body. Clint and the other guides guaranteed
that was him. And I guess its better to be lucky than good!
It was a one-shot kill! If they allow the axis to go into
the free-ranging status it should be the new number one.
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