This adventure started back about 3 years ago when I got on a lease in san angelo and we had alot of axis on it. My son LOVED to see them. He then started to want to shoot a big one.
The next year one of my vendors asked if we wanted to do a youth axis hunt in sonora and of course I said yes. When we showed up to the ranch all the kids ran off to play while my son just wanted to sit on the porch and look at the axis in the distance to see if we could spot a shooter. His quest was as determined as any grown man after a 160" buck. My son has been fortunate to harvest a nice whitetail already and not sure he was this excited then. In the past years I would go on hunts and bring back video of some of the axis I would encounter just for him to see and get excited about this moment. As we sat and looked over many axis on that trip in the stand and on that porch, we had 1 Golden opportunity at a really nice Axis buck, however, ranch rules were you could not shoot one in the velvet so we were forced to hold off as this one was carrying some fur
. I talked to him and he understood but was upset as our hunt came to an end. Well fast foward to this January, that same vendor had "promised" us another trip and as the hunt approached we were informed that due to some new "salestaff" our sales rep was not able to take any one this year, and I knew i was going to have an upset 8 yr old so my hunt for an Axis lease picked up a noch and I hunted hard. As luck would have it I came across an ad for one and was very fortunate to be able to get a spot on such a great lease. My son was super excited to have a place we can go when we wanted to chase the axis deer.. To my suprise he was ready to miss his baseball game and not think twice about it so after we recieved a great report from a fellow lease member and TBH member BrandonH we decided to go this past weekend for a shot at an axis. We arrived at the ranch Friday afternoon and needed to set up a blind at one of our locations. As we pulled up to the spot I notice the red tint of axis hide on the other side of the hill. Immeditatly my son's face lite up as we watched the some 20+ axis doe and fawn feed on the hillside to eventually wonder off. After setting up the blind and a quick trip to camp we returned to that exact stand. After sitting for about an 1hr we spot some axis and as we glance the hillside we spotted the buck. He was about 400yards across the canyon so we decide to put a stalk on him. This is where the hunt really begins. Down the mountain and up the other mountain and we edged to what we thought would be a great lane to catch them coming through. Well they did just that and as the axis started to file across and fill the lane and the buck of course was the last to show and he was at the back. With about 25 axis does in front, he stood there and finally gave what looked like a perfect opportunity, so I told my son to go ahead and take him only to hear the most exciting and dissapointed comment I could hear. "Dad I cant there is a bush in the way and I dont have a clear shot"
so we made a desperate move and why this buck is the "Cactus Axis". We then edged closer and had to belly crawl through cactus and stickers to get to him with my son having to stop and pull out cactus every 20 yards we got to within 100 yards of the axis and there was a small tree made just for him to put the gun but again he had to step through cactus and a large thorn bush to get to it so i sat back as he went in and got set up. With the axis all on alert now and it is just about dark, the big buck started barking and blowing for his doe to gather and move on, it was a great site to watch that close. After many cat and mouse moves and my son getting fustrated cause he couldn't move the gun just right and me telling him "patience" the axis made his move into the opening right in front. As he started to creep into the clearing, I had to hope my son would be on the right animal and hope all the hunting trips and lessons would pay off in this moment as he handled the weapon on his own for the first time on his first axis. The buck took 3-4 steps and i barked at him and he froze and looked right at us, I gave the signal. "Take him" BOOM POP
. The great journy for his axis buck just piled up and didnt move a step, as we high fived and picked out cactus we made our way up to the buck and the smile and happiness on his face will never be forgotten. The buck measured 25" wide and 31" tall. I am proud of the buck for Dylan(My son) but more then that I was proud of the way he handled his emotions and contolled the gun and made sure he made an ethical shot on such a great animal.
The next year one of my vendors asked if we wanted to do a youth axis hunt in sonora and of course I said yes. When we showed up to the ranch all the kids ran off to play while my son just wanted to sit on the porch and look at the axis in the distance to see if we could spot a shooter. His quest was as determined as any grown man after a 160" buck. My son has been fortunate to harvest a nice whitetail already and not sure he was this excited then. In the past years I would go on hunts and bring back video of some of the axis I would encounter just for him to see and get excited about this moment. As we sat and looked over many axis on that trip in the stand and on that porch, we had 1 Golden opportunity at a really nice Axis buck, however, ranch rules were you could not shoot one in the velvet so we were forced to hold off as this one was carrying some fur. I talked to him and he understood but was upset as our hunt came to an end. Well fast foward to this January, that same vendor had "promised" us another trip and as the hunt approached we were informed that due to some new "salestaff" our sales rep was not able to take any one this year, and I knew i was going to have an upset 8 yr old so my hunt for an Axis lease picked up a noch and I hunted hard. As luck would have it I came across an ad for one and was very fortunate to be able to get a spot on such a great lease. My son was super excited to have a place we can go when we wanted to chase the axis deer.. To my suprise he was ready to miss his baseball game and not think twice about it so after we recieved a great report from a fellow lease member and TBH member BrandonH we decided to go this past weekend for a shot at an axis. We arrived at the ranch Friday afternoon and needed to set up a blind at one of our locations. As we pulled up to the spot I notice the red tint of axis hide on the other side of the hill. Immeditatly my son's face lite up as we watched the some 20+ axis doe and fawn feed on the hillside to eventually wonder off. After setting up the blind and a quick trip to camp we returned to that exact stand. After sitting for about an 1hr we spot some axis and as we glance the hillside we spotted the buck. He was about 400yards across the canyon so we decide to put a stalk on him. This is where the hunt really begins. Down the mountain and up the other mountain and we edged to what we thought would be a great lane to catch them coming through. Well they did just that and as the axis started to file across and fill the lane and the buck of course was the last to show and he was at the back. With about 25 axis does in front, he stood there and finally gave what looked like a perfect opportunity, so I told my son to go ahead and take him only to hear the most exciting and dissapointed comment I could hear. "Dad I cant there is a bush in the way and I dont have a clear shot" so we made a desperate move and why this buck is the "Cactus Axis". We then edged closer and had to belly crawl through cactus and stickers to get to him with my son having to stop and pull out cactus every 20 yards we got to within 100 yards of the axis and there was a small tree made just for him to put the gun but again he had to step through cactus and a large thorn bush to get to it so i sat back as he went in and got set up. With the axis all on alert now and it is just about dark, the big buck started barking and blowing for his doe to gather and move on, it was a great site to watch that close. After many cat and mouse moves and my son getting fustrated cause he couldn't move the gun just right and me telling him "patience" the axis made his move into the opening right in front. As he started to creep into the clearing, I had to hope my son would be on the right animal and hope all the hunting trips and lessons would pay off in this moment as he handled the weapon on his own for the first time on his first axis. The buck took 3-4 steps and i barked at him and he froze and looked right at us, I gave the signal. "Take him" BOOM POP. The great journy for his axis buck just piled up and didnt move a step, as we high fived and picked out cactus we made our way up to the buck and the smile and happiness on his face will never be forgotten. The buck measured 25" wide and 31" tall. I am proud of the buck for Dylan(My son) but more then that I was proud of the way he handled his emotions and contolled the gun and made sure he made an ethical shot on such a great animal.
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