“But, but they are not a native species.”

[miket]

Nothing at all good about introducing an exotic into a system to which they didn't evolve. Fire ants, pigs, axis, aoudad, carp, they're all the same. Its all about competition for food and space requirements and the detrimental effects to native species and habitat. Some exotics gain more favor simply because they're pretty or they taste good. While having a few, controlled exotics is probably not a big deal (I like to eat axis as well), most people allow them to expand until there are too many. Everybody wants the hunting to be easy, so they protect them until there are so many that its easy to go out and shoot one, but now the population is excessive and putting to much pressure on the resources.

But if they thrive here, biologically dont they deserve to be here more than the "natives" they replace? Isnt that what its all about in the end? Survival of the fittest?

Maybe them coming here is just evolution at its finest?

[jnd1959]

Some of these exotics wouldn't exist at all if they were exterminated in Texas.

[TX_Hoghunter]

Tough question for sure but the facts are that native species would do better if there were not any non-native species present. That is a fact. The fact that axis taste good does not change that. The vast majority of exotic species do a ton of damage to the native environment whether you talk about hogs, "wild" horses, fire ants, etc. The fact that you do not notice the damage done by axis does not mean it does not exist. They do hurt the whitetail population in both numbers and quality. Why do food plots and supplemental feeding work to improve whitetail populations and quality? Because the more food you have the better they do. Axis cut into that food supply. Not saying they all need to be exterminated but thinking they do not hurt anything is foolish in my opinion.

-john

[AntlerCollector]

Not saying they all need to be exterminated but thinking they do not hurt anything is foolish in my opinion.

-john

Who said they don’t hurt anything?

You called that foolish, but I don’t see where anyone said it.



Lots of animals compete with other animals for food and water. Axis are not killing whitetails. They may directly compete in times of drought. In reality Axis compete with cattle more than deer. I don’t see the end of the whitetail species in Texas coming because of Axis.

Even if that did happen, we would all just eat better.



.

[muzzlebrake]

I'll take whole hog sausage or Axis meat over whitetail or muley anyday.
Nuttin better than medium rare bacon wrapped Axis backstrap.

[junior]

They introduced them on FT. Hood back when I was a little kid, late 70's I think. After several years of them being on the reservation the biologist wanted them gone. It didn't take long for the hunters out there to wipe them out. Back then the biologists said they were competing with the whitetail too much for the food, and in turn would hurt the whitetail population.

[Quackerbox]

Im not throwing anyone under the bus but let me post a screen shot of the post. With his name

remarkable.

[PondPopper]

Expensive boneyard

And full of stupidity.. Wow.. This also should be illegal..

[ThisLadyHunts]

From a conservation perspective I absolutely agree with the other poster on the other thread comparing Axis to wild hogs. While I agree they don’t do the same type of environmental damage to crops and the soil, They do absolutely outcompete native Whitetail deer in every faction of life. They are more productive at breeding and WILL NOT abandon a fawn, while whitetails will abandon fawn/s at the first signs of stress. Axis are absolutely more dominant when it comes to food sources and will run off whitetail. I have routinely seen axis deer run off whitetails over all of our supplemental feeding but I’ve never seen a Whitetail run off an axis. Axis deer also appear to be more resilient toward diseases. When anthrax hit our property several years ago it decimated 90% of our white tails but the axis population seem to take much less of a hit and have rebounded much more quickly.

Having said that I absolutely love having adis on the property that we hunt but the conservationist in me is concerned that they will outcompete whitetails and not allow their population to get to their potential for the area. For the record I think wild hogs are every bit as tasty as axis deer. It’s difficult to compare the two because one is a stinky animal that does do more crop damage and the other is an animal that has a beautiful coat and offers more of a comparison to hunting Whitetail. In reality, they are an invasive species just like zebra mussels grass carp tilapia and many many others.

I don’t know enough about the issues to have a knowledge opinion regarding the pros and cons of non-native species so am enjoying learning about them in this discussion.

I have a question related to your situation, though: After the anthrax plague that decimated the majority of your WT population, are the Axis proliferating to the point where the WT are struggling to re-establish themselves? If so, are you employing any interventions to alter outcomes?

[TX_Hoghunter]

Who said they don’t hurt anything?

You called that foolish, but I don’t see where anyone said it.



Lots of animals compete with other animals for food and water. Axis are not killing whitetails. They may directly compete in times of drought. In reality Axis compete with cattle more than deer. I don’t see the end of the whitetail species in Texas coming because of Axis.

Even if that did happen, we would all just eat better.



.

If you were to quote my entire post it would make more sense then just cherry picking one sentence but hey whatever............

[MASTERS]

And full of stupidity.. Wow.. This also should be illegal..

Stupid? Please explain.....

Should be illegal? Please explain.....

Telling another man, or landowner what he can do on his own property or lease within his law abiding rights sounds like something someone would do as they attempted to project their own intellectual shortcomings upon others. Please keep that nonsense to yourself next time, it adds nothing to the forum.

[MASTERS]

Expensive boneyard

In the grand scheme of things the expense is minimal.

[ThisLadyHunts]

Stupid? Please explain.....

Should be illegal? Please explain.....

Telling another man, or landowner what he can do on his own property or lease within his law abiding rights sounds like something someone would do as they attempted to project their own intellectual shortcomings upon others. Please keep that nonsense to yourself next time, it adds nothing to the forum.

“Intellectual shortcomings…” Hah! I like that!

[MASTERS]

“Intellectual shortcomings…” Hah! I like that!

That was as nice as i could put it! ��

[Dale Moser]

Gotta be room for both in this world. The problem is overpopulating, and I imagine that only takes place in very few, localized, areas. Aoudad are severely overpopulating west Texas, and using up habitat that should be reserved for bighorn sheep. Big horn sheep, however...are not a very hearty species...so what do you do? Nilgai have flourished along the southern coast right along side the native species, and climatology seems to be keeping their numbers and range in check. If you think axis is good eating, you aint never tried a young nilgai.

We're seeing a few aoudad on camera in Young County, and will shoot every one we see on site. I sure wouldn't mind a few prettier, tastier, exotics though...

Non native species introduction is nearly always a bad idea...but that doesn't mean it's not fun. It's a balance you have to strike with the axis in the hill country, I suppose. As long as the state doesn't interfere with landowners ability to remove them, I can't see a huge problem.