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    #91
    With all of the flooding going on across the state there is no telling what will show up or where. I'm sure that there have been some high fences taken down by the flooding and storms.

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      #92
      Sabine National Forest. They had some escape a High Fence operation just north of there.

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        #93
        I'd be pumped if I saw one on my place....

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          #94
          I keep waiting for a population to get established where I hunt in Graham. I hear that they shoot one or two every year that way but I've never seen one. Would really like to knock one down. I know our Sandhill Crane population went from non existent to thousands of them in a few years.

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            #95
            Please don't shoot me for this one. Just out of curiosity, do you believe they are that invasive? or is it more an issue with land owners being greedy and not allowing hunters to harvest them (in numbers to keep them manageable) unless you pay to harvest them?

            Lets be honest, a deer lease gets expensive real quick. Having to pay more money on top of that (to harvest an animal that is comparable to hogs) seems counter productive in managing a "white tail lease". On a fenced "Exotic ranch" i can understand the price because the hunter is hunting exotics.

            Pigs i realize would have always got out of hand due to their ability to have roughly 3 litters (or what ever they are called) a year, but game ranches importing them (pigs) from else where and charging to hunt them seems to have compounded the problem. It seems realistic to me Axis have fallen in to the same type of category or situation.

            I really don't mean to step on any toes here but it was just a thought.
            If herds were kept in check i don't see them being to much of a nuisance but Ive been known to be wrong before.

            Just my $.02

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              #96
              Originally posted by CURTIS250 View Post
              Please don't shoot me for this one. Just out of curiosity, do you believe they are that invasive? or is it more an issue with land owners being greedy and not allowing hunters to harvest them (in numbers to keep them manageable) unless you pay to harvest them?



              Lets be honest, a deer lease gets expensive real quick. Having to pay more money on top of that (to harvest an animal that is comparable to hogs) seems counter productive in managing a "white tail lease". On a fenced "Exotic ranch" i can understand the price because the hunter is hunting exotics.



              Pigs i realize would have always got out of hand due to their ability to have roughly 3 litters (or what ever they are called) a year, but game ranches importing them (pigs) from else where and charging to hunt them seems to have compounded the problem. It seems realistic to me Axis have fallen in to the same type of category or situation.



              I really don't mean to step on any toes here but it was just a thought.

              If herds were kept in check i don't see them being to much of a nuisance but Ive been known to be wrong before.



              Just my $.02

              Yes I do. They compete hard with whitetail. Killem all.

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                #97
                We see them all the time in the Brazos bottom, southern College Station/Wellborn

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                  #98
                  Originally posted by Ragin' View Post
                  Yes I do. They compete hard with whitetail. Killem all.
                  This is correct. Except once you eat axis, you will give all your whitetail meat away. And I think mature axis are harder to kill than whitetail. Very leery.

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                    #99
                    Originally posted by Sticks&Strings View Post
                    This is correct. Except once you eat axis, you will give all your whitetail meat away. And I think mature axis are harder to kill than whitetail. Very leery.

                    I've killed plenty Axis. Still don't give my whitetail away. And the bucks are sharp. But they got nothing on an East Texas Deer. Axis are beauty's and the taste is up there with moose to me. But they belong behind a fence. I'll Killem like hogs if they are free range if I can.

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                      They taste so good. I need to walk straight into my freezer, I am down to only a couple steaks.

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                        Originally posted by Ragin' View Post
                        I've killed plenty Axis. Still don't give my whitetail away. And the bucks are sharp. But they got nothing on an East Texas Deer. Axis are beauty's and the taste is up there with moose to me. But they belong behind a fence. I'll Killem like hogs if they are free range if I can.
                        I'd definitely kill a big whitetail over a big axis, and I'd rather kill a whitetail only if I had to choose between one, but with access to axis, I sure won't clean a whitetail to eat. I'll give it away.

                        Having hunted a low fence place for 12 year now though, I know for sure which one is more difficult to kill. But, I wasn't including east texas. I don't think that is a fair comparison due to the size of land parcels and pressure put on them. I've never hunted axis in East Texas so I can't say what they are like there. On our place, where we have both, axis are tougher. With that said, I've also hunted Leon County my whole life and only killed one mature buck. But there are lots of reasons for that in my opinion. Not as many, high pressure, smaller pieces of land. One day I'll connect on a big mature etx buck though.

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                          I did some research on axis last year when I got one. It turns out they don't follow the yearly birth cycle that whitetail do. They shed horns at any time and can be pregnant at any time. They have an insanely high rate of birthing twins. It is also highly common that a doe will be pregnant, they are highly fertile. I am looking for a small hunting property and axis are the main reason I'm looking in the Edwards plateau area. I think the horns are cool looking and I had the hide tanned for the top of my gun safe. For me, I hope they stick around

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                            I guess to me an exotic is just another invasive species. Non-native/invasive species are bad for ecosystems almost any way you cut it. I'm glad we don't have to contend with them up here, but I'm sure they're fun to hunt. I'd like to see the natural state stay as natural as possible.

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                              They are definitely invasive, they will overtake a place, and they are bigger than whitetail which means they browse higher which can put more stress on whitetail. They will also hold their own and even make room with hogs or anything else for that matter at a feeder. They are more dominant than whitetail. I've seen bulls lower their horns on hogs and make the hogs move over so he can get more corn. If you don't have them, you probably don't want them...Unless you just have males that won't reproduce. A blast to hunt, , and eat. But definitely hurts the whitetail herd.

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                                Originally posted by Sticks&Strings View Post
                                I'd definitely kill a big whitetail over a big axis, and I'd rather kill a whitetail only if I had to choose between one, but with access to axis, I sure won't clean a whitetail to eat. I'll give it away.

                                Having hunted a low fence place for 12 year now though, I know for sure which one is more difficult to kill. But, I wasn't including east texas. I don't think that is a fair comparison due to the size of land parcels and pressure put on them. I've never hunted axis in East Texas so I can't say what they are like there. On our place, where we have both, axis are tougher. With that said, I've also hunted Leon County my whole life and only killed one mature buck. But there are lots of reasons for that in my opinion. Not as many, high pressure, smaller pieces of land. One day I'll connect on a big mature etx buck though.

                                Oh it's fair. A mature Axis vs a Mature East Texas Whitetail, the Axis is dumb as a rock.

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