How to attract Axis deer

[Mike Miller]

I'm in the process of moving from Austin to Boerne. I purchased a beautifull piece of property (54 acres) with a nice home and guest home for a steal! I'm very excited to get back to country living after being in Austin for two years. Don't get me wrong I'll miss the lake but I'll be 2 miles from the Guadalupe.

Anyway to my inquiry. I setup my first corn feeder, I'm running a protein feeder and just started putting out alfalfa last weekend. I'm covered up with whitetail.

The property has no live water, only seasonal wet weather creeks and itis on one of the highest roughest hills in Boerne. Boerne is loaded with Axis deer and I have seen herds on two sides of my property about a 1/2 mile away. They seem to always be in the lower fields grazing.

What if anything can I do to incent them to migrate my way? I can easily add several water troughs if yal think water is the biggest factor and I'm planning on putting in a winter oat plot.

[hoytboy]

a huge bail of alfalfa!!!!!
the stuff is gold

[AggieHunter]

The property ...... it's on one of the highest roughest hills in Boerne. ...... They seem to always be in the lower fields grazing.

Thats part of your problem. Axis deer aren't too fond of rough terrain. They need wooded areas to hide and seek shade on hot days and need easy access to water.

[Done'it]

Agree with AggieHunter on the rough terrain - in the Boerne area most will be seen out in the flater grasser areas

[bowhuntertex]

They use the draws to travel and like the lower areas.......They definitly don't like the rougher, higher terrain.....although i wouldn't put it past them to venture to your place every once in a while.....

[hntndawg]

I personally don't think the terrain has anything to do with it...its what grows there that brings them in. Axis are "grazers" like sheep. They tend to eat grass and small plants which tend to grow in the low areas. Whitetail like to eat on leaves and such like goats which is why you see them in the brush more, and the axis on the fields more. From what I have seen axis can run the rocky hills every bit as good, if not better than whitetails. Next time you get a huge axis buck, look at his hooves, they are about half the size of a whitetail, made for rocky terrain. If you still need proof look at all the axis herds running in Tappitillo Springs, very rough terrain for the most part, but the homeowners keep them very well fed.

And as was said before...Alfalfa tend to be a winner to get them started.

[AggieHunter]

I personally don't think the terrain has anything to do with it...Axis are "grazers" like sheep. They tend to eat grass and small plants which tend to grow in the low areas.

Sorry, not trying to be a smart *** but here's a couple clips from books...

" Axis avoid rugged terrain and high altitudes. Thus, their need for water and shade and their graziung preference link them with lovely sites - open deciduous forests w/ a generous understory of grasses and tender shoots, with meadows and glades, with brooks or springs."
----- Exotics on the Range: The Texas example. Elizabeth Cary Mungall and William J. Sheffield. Copyright 1994.

"... schaller (1967) states that axis deer essentially inhabit secondary forests or open forests with glades and an understory of grasses and forbs. He further characterizes the necissary habitat components as being drinking water, grass for forage, shade and an absence of high rugged country"
-----The Axis Deer in Texas. Ernest D. Ables, editor. Copyright 1977

Not saying you will never find them on rocky or rough country just saying they do not prefer it.

Also, they are classified as intermediate feeders. Between true grazers like cattle and concentrate-selectors like white-tailed deer. However, sometimes upwards of 80% of their time is spent grazing so I have to agree w/ you there.

As for the original question.... If you've got a feeder and alfalfa out, that is about all you can do... Just give them time to find it. May want to consider putting in a small trough close to the feeding area since there is no water on the property.

[trophy8]

i have seen axis in some steep terrain around mason and brady. im not sure what the boerne area looks like. get you some 55 gal drums and make some alfalfa feeders about midway up on the mountain. that will put yourself in good stalkin position and they will eventually find it and keep coming back. i doubt they will stay like others have said but they will eat. and i would also put water up there also. its a deer man. if there is food and water they will come. kinda like a fat kid i know because im a well experienced fat kid

[Longhorn]

My sister lives in Boerne, and that town is a freaking Zoo at night. Whitetails and Axis running all over the streets. I can't believe you don't have any on your place, but I would imagine they will come on your place to eat sooner or later. Good Luck Man!!

[hntndawg]

Sorry, not trying to be a smart *** but here's a couple clips from books...

Thats OK, you can be a smart ***, I am too. In the grand scheme of things, I see those passages as saying the same thing I am saying... it is the food source that dictates where they want to be. I see that as the sole reason they don't like rugged terrain. I am just going by many years of experience with Axis, not what I have read about them. I have worked with them when I was younger on various exotic ranches in the area, and probably taken more hunting than anyone else I know. I am just slightly obsessed with them to the point I no long hunt whitetail at all. The one thing I will tell you is I don't trust anything that was written about them in '77 (and maybe not even in '94) In the last 5-10 years, since they have become more of a free roaming group as opposed to couped up on exotic ranches, the Axis deer herds in Texas have changed greatly. From their general "calm" disposition to the willingness to jump fences, they are becoming more like whitetail all the time. Everything I knew about them 10 years ago is different today. If you feed them...they will come...

[JAV324]

Welcome to Boerne, If I ever pull you over for speeding I'll give you a pass! The axis deer will come onto your property soon enough.

[Jamesl]

JAV324, don't let him have a pass! He has no respect for traffic laws, he will not learn anything by you giving him a warning.

Mike, hurry up and get those Axis on your place so I can come out and kill one.

[az2tx]

Welcome to Boerne. Right now food is plentiful, wait until winter and start feeding close to your fence line and the will show up. Once they know the food source is there you might end up with more axis than you want. They breed like rats.

[sticknstring]

Our lease in Sonora/Junction area is "covered" with axis. I can say that I am obsessed with them these days. I "watch" for whitetail, but I'm hunting axis!

It took me a few years to figure out what's going on around our area. I will say that this time of year it very difficult to coax them into a corn feeder or alfalfa(theres too much fresh grass availible). They love to travel low areas on our ranch, grazing on grass as they go. I have stands set on high points-they don't seem to have problems running the higher/rougher points. In the evenings, when they start moving -I always see them moving through the low cuts/creeks etc.
We do protien feed in the off season-it's amazing how many will come in to a protien feeder in the evenings! I've sat over the protien feeders in the morning to "watch" potential whitetail and it's amazing how the axis aren't very responsive to morning feeds. I think this may be due to them feeding at night when its HOT out-they gorge themselves to the point that they don't feed at all in the morning. At this time of year-water source is where I kill all my axis. The hotter it is out the better.
In the late winter , you can't keep them out of the corn/alfalfa feeders!! Even the biggest/ most wary of them will be there! Axis on our lease make whitetail appear as dumb as box of rocks! They move more at sunup in winter months than summer months around here. But ,in general, I find axis definitely move later than whitetail-I encounter and kill more during midmorning than any other time.They like bankers hours.
Sorry for the long post -I hope this helps..G.L.-they are a blast to hunt!
And Grats on your new place!!

[Mike Miller]

Great feedback guys. Been out there working on the guest house all weekend and been away from the cpmputer.

Well the whitetail are killing the axis. I've got 300' of elevation transitions, with a big seasonal creek/draw in the middle of the property. about 1/2 of the property is thick brush, inlcuding quite a few liveoaks.

I think I can get them there. Cordillera Ranch (neighborhood near boerne) has similar terrain and in the past 4 years they went from not having any to becoming a nuissance.

JAV324, your going to catch me at some point. The speed limits around Boerne are below what my truck idles at. No but seriously I tend to catch myself on main street and the street that goes to the high school going a little to fast.