Free-Ranging Axis Deer in Texas
By Richard McFalls

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.