We had lots of Axis in Rock Springs, a few Sika and Fallow deer. They are fun to hunt, Axis really fine to eat. The lease I’m on now in Burnet has a Sika or two, an elk or two, lots of sorry ass Aoudads. I think they take away from your deer hunting. They compete with the deer. I think there would be better deer hunting if the exotics were gone. We have a pig or two also.
There is no doubt the deer hunting for the native Whitetail deer would be much better if the exotics were gone. The exotics eat the same things the native deer eat plus they eat things the native deer will not eat. The exotics way out compete the native deer. When you combine this with the fact that most land owners way over protect the exotics it does not take long to see a dramatic decline in the native deer herd both in numbers and in antler quality. I have seen a number of low fenced ranches get quickly over populated with exotics and the whitetail population crash. At that point is usually to late to kill enough or catch enough exotics to allow the native deer to rebound. I agree with you on the Aoudad as well. They are like feral hogs. They are very smart, they breed like rats, and they are extremely destructive. At least the pigs are good to eat. Aoudad are edible but not that great. My advice is if you have Aoudad's on your ranch to shoot every one you can just like feral hogs. You will never get rid of them and can't hardly kill enough of them to keep them in check.
Don't get me wrong. I love to hunt exotics but they are really impacting the native game in allot of areas. I especially like the Axis as they are so good to eat and very fun to hunt!
