I recently signed on with a hunting lease in the Texas Hill country that has a good population of exotic (non-native) game along with the standard fare. I would like to learn more about these deer cousins. When is their rut? How do you know when you are looking at a trophy? What unique habits might they have?

Anyone have experiene with these critters?

Anyone know of a good book?

Dear Mr Gun Collector

Fallow {Cervus Dama or Dama Dama} are French in origin, but that was a long time ago. Brought to this country (UK) by William the Conquerors lot about 1000 years ago. Good eating and don't smell that bad. You get a lot of meat off a carcase, lots of fat on them by the end of summer – they eat a lot! They are transient, herding deer that keep to themselves – they don’t like to mix with any other deer, horses, cattle etc. The big bucks are impressive and the herd is typically led by the dominant doe. They are happy out in the open fields and usually go to the woods for the night. Very rarely fall where shot – unless you do a head shot. They run like a headless chicken and then drop which always brings that “Where the hell did that go?” and makes you wish you owned a good dog. They really benefit from being bled straight away and good handling of the meat makes all the difference. I hang them with the skins off for about 2 weeks. There are pictures of fallow deer on this site.

Sika (Cervus Nippon} come from Japan and are related to Red deer. They can interbreed. Difference is a gland on the hind leg. Big, spiky, forward pointing antlers and quite an aggressive deer. There are stories of them having a go at people in the rut (or the roar, depending on where you come from). They prefer to live in woodlands, quite shy, very hard to stalk and a tendency to run in the general direction of 'away' very quickly. Wouldn't want to carry a big buck out of the scrub - they are big and heavy.

As for the others, we don’t have them here so I can’t help you. Sorry!

D

Dear Mr. Daveyboy:

Thanks for the info. BTW, you can call me gunny for short. Mr. Guncollector is a bit over the top.

G'Day Gunny and Daveyboy. How are ya guys?

Don't know anything about any but the fallow, which is the deer I hunt.

Here in Australia I find that the fallow are active at night and tend to come out of the scrub into the open country to feed.....opposite to what they obviously do in the Old Country (UK). They are not a particularly large deer and once bedded down are very difficult to see, especially if the bush is thick. The meat is very nice and as Daveyboy says there is no shortage of it on the carcass.

I am not in a position to hang the carcass for a couple of weeks, we hang them overnight and butcher in the morning. Doesn't seem to affect the flavour of the meat, its a little gamey, but I rather like that anyway.

I'm sure that there are a number of people on this website that can give you more info, especially about the other species of deer and the habits of those in the US.

Cheers, Vince

Vince.

Go to www.trademe.com and find one of those display drinks fridges with a glass door - the ones you find in the gas station full of coke and other rubbish.

Strip out the shelves and punch holes on either side at the top. Pass a steel bar through it and attach to two verticles. You're making a frame to hang a deer on - you can figure out the rest. Squirt the builders type foam into the holes that you made for the horizontal bar to insulate it and lo and behold, you've got a larder.

Re-gas the fridge and set it to about 3 degrees above freezing. Shoot deer, bleed gut and skin the little fella. Put the legs in a gambrel, hang on an S hook and pop him into your cold store.

Leave it for 2 weeks with a tray at the bottom for the drips and you've got well hung venison. Go on, treat yourself - you kow you're worth it!

Daveyboy

sika are of siomalar size to white tails and fallow they whistle at you when spooked and taste fantazmalastic have great spotted coat and a head with 8 points is considered good.

Gunny

You received good info on the Sika and Fallow deer. I used to guide in TX and have some knowledge of Axis and Blackbuck.

The Axis deer is originally native to central Asia and is also known as the Chital. Quite a fun animal to hunt and probably one of the best eating of the exotic deer (truth be told, most all of the exotic deer/antelope are tasty, with the exception of Waterbuck). The Axis normally have 3 points each side and you want to look for heavy main beams, long and heavy brow tines and long secondary points. The trophy size starts at about 30" on the main beam and you really want the whole package with good brows and secondary points. Remember, mass counts for alot with these deer. Pretty much hunted the same as you would whitetail but also can make a great spot and stalk animal depending on the terrain. Probably the best time to hunt these critters is May to June, maybe early July...great to fix the summertime hunting itch.

The Blackbuck antelope is originally from India/Pakistan and are prolific breeders...can drop fawns twice a year. Also another fun one to hunt. The trophy length starts at 18" and you want good deep curls. It is not unusual to see ones beating 22". They can be difficult to judge but if you remember that their ears are about 3" long, you can make a good estimate. During the summer the Blackbuck are not black but pretty much the same fawn color as the does. In the fall and winter is when they turn black. The blacker they are, usually, the more mature they are (they usually get black when about 3 yrs. old). When you start seeing more of them you will know what I'm talking about. I love their black color with the white markings but also find the summertime coat handsome as well. The biggest one I've seen shot was by my buddy and his went 25" with broomed off tips! Absolute monster. These are good eating as well but you will notice that the meat is really dark red...lots of blood in it. Not a bad thing and it doesn't taste bad (might be a little stronger smelling than whitetail when you cook it but tastes good). One way to mitigate the really bloody steaks is to soak them in milk overnight...the bloody steaks don't bother me but might someone else. If you want to marinate them then just do it. As for hunitng them, I think the best way is spot and stalk (depending on terrain). Can be quite challenging if there is a good population of them...lots of eyes. I have found that if you "bump" them when hunting they will normally run off to about 200-300 yards and then stop to look back. If they can still see you they seem to always try to keep about 300 yards between you and them. Also, if the lease has a large population of these make sure you are harvesting plenty of does or they will overrun and overpopulate the place in pretty short order unless the lease is of very substantial acreage.

Well that's just about the most important stuff to know about the animals...you will have a great time hunting these.

Brad

Gunny,

I have been hunting Axis deer here in Hawaii for a few years now. I get to go a few times each year and these deer are very hard to sneek up on until you find out where they are hanging out. The one thing that I can tell you is that the big Bucks will be the last ones in a herd of Axis deer. They seem to send all of the rest ahead to see if the coast is clear for them to come out or not. When you meet a herd, watch them for a while (if they don't see you first) and look into the cover around the main herd that is where the buck will usualy be.

Frontier