Big axis on ice - 24hourcampfire

I was finally able to get away from work for some long overdue social distancing and freezer filling. My stockpile of axis has been running dangerously low. I booked a guided axis hunt in June but we had talked about a particular deer for a few years

Two years ago he busted up pretty early in the rut. He was a giant last year but was a ghost. I got a few texts about a month ago saying the buck had been hitting a couple protein feeders a few times a week. As he kept growing and growing, we pushed up the date hoping he would still be in the general area and knowing the brows wouldn’t make it through the rut. There were some other nice bucks around that were already hard horned as well.

I left my house excited but with realistic expectations that even seeing this particular deer was going to be 50/50 at best. By this time, the buck was no longer showing up on camera . I asked for an extra day and hoped we would be lucky enough to get a glimpse of him. I planned on bringing home some meat and having a good time either way. On the second afternoon, we split up to cover more ground. About 7pm, I got a text that he’s here, he’s huge, and hurry. I ran about a mile, belly crawled a couple hundred yards and got set up. He was calmly feeding in a good size herd, which gave me a few minutes to catch my breath and settle down. A little while later, he and another buck happened to filter downhill in our direction. It was my first experience with 120 ballistic tips out of the 7mm-08 and performance couldn’t have been better. I’ll continue to hunt axis every chance I get but it’s unlikely I’ll ever come close to topping this one. An axis doe hunt the next morning turned into a stalk on a nice blackbuck. Every now and then, it just all works out

Giant ...

Great job.

Beautiful buck - congrats to you!

Congrats, what a buck

Awesome!

If I ever get close to a good location, I want one of each.

Edited for a question: Anyone know much about the blackbucks? What kind of age is needed to acquire the pictured stature?

congrats you earned that one.enjoy eating him

Holy smokes TX........awesome buck! congrats.

Awesome story and congrats on that giant!

Texas Giant!!!!

Damn fine, congrats

Nice...…..really nice!! Congrats! Thanks for sharing.

Wow. Love seeing an animal like that taken. Doesn’t get any better. Thanks for sharing.

I'm heading down there in 3 weeks. Your post doesn't make the wait any easier!

Fantastic, thanks for sharing.

He’s got some hellacious brow tines...! Really good inner tines, heavy horned, wide, great main beams and great shape to his antlers overall. And...the best venison there is.

Heard the meat of axis is delicious. Hav etc try it

Originally Posted by TxHunter80

I was finally able to get away from work for some long overdue social distancing and freezer filling. My stockpile of axis has been running dangerously low. I booked a guided axis hunt in June but we had talked about a particular deer for a few years

Two years ago he busted up pretty early in the rut. He was a giant last year but was a ghost. I got a few texts about a month ago saying the buck had been hitting a couple protein feeders a few times a week. As he kept growing and growing, we pushed up the date hoping he would still be in the general area and knowing the brows wouldn’t make it through the rut. There were some other nice bucks around that were already hard horned as well.

I left my house excited but with realistic expectations that even seeing this particular deer was going to be 50/50 at best. By this time, the buck was no longer showing up on camera . I asked for an extra day and hoped we would be lucky enough to get a glimpse of him. I planned on bringing home some meat and having a good time either way. On the second afternoon, we split up to cover more ground. About 7pm, I got a text that he’s here, he’s huge, and hurry. I ran about a mile, belly crawled a couple hundred yards and got set up. He was calmly feeding in a good size herd, which gave me a few minutes to catch my breath and settle down. A little while later, he and another buck happened to filter downhill in our direction. It was my first experience with 120 ballistic tips out of the 7mm-08 and performance couldn’t have been better. I’ll continue to hunt axis every chance I get but it’s unlikely I’ll ever come close to topping this one. An axis doe hunt the next morning turned into a stalk on a nice blackbuck. Every now and then, it just all works out

[quote=1minute]

Edited for a question: Anyone know much about the blackbucks? What kind of age is needed to acquire the pictured stature? [/quote

Very loose rule of thumb but one year for each full spiral. That one is 5+ judging by the dark face more than the number of curls.

Private land or did you hunt with an operation/guide?

We didn’t age him but the blackbuck above was definitely mature. He was probably a little past his prime. For some reason, he was a ram that never turned black. He stayed that blonde color year round, which probably extended his life.

As much as I would like to own that ranch or any ranch, I don’t think it’s in the cards. It was a guided hunt

WOW! Very nice!!! Congrats!

Boy they're pretty buggers. Grats

That axis is a dandy! They are very handsome critters, well done!

Nice Bucks, Congratulations on both of them.

Tejano:

Thanks for the response.

Originally Posted by TxHunter80

I was finally able to get away from work for some long overdue social distancing and freezer filling. My stockpile of axis has been running dangerously low. I booked a guided axis hunt in June but we had talked about a particular deer for a few years

Two years ago he busted up pretty early in the rut. He was a giant last year but was a ghost. I got a few texts about a month ago saying the buck had been hitting a couple protein feeders a few times a week. As he kept growing and growing, we pushed up the date hoping he would still be in the general area and knowing the brows wouldn’t make it through the rut. There were some other nice bucks around that were already hard horned as well.

I left my house excited but with realistic expectations that even seeing this particular deer was going to be 50/50 at best. By this time, the buck was no longer showing up on camera . I asked for an extra day and hoped we would be lucky enough to get a glimpse of him. I planned on bringing home some meat and having a good time either way. On the second afternoon, we split up to cover more ground. About 7pm, I got a text that he’s here, he’s huge, and hurry. I ran about a mile, belly crawled a couple hundred yards and got set up. He was calmly feeding in a good size herd, which gave me a few minutes to catch my breath and settle down. A little while later, he and another buck happened to filter downhill in our direction. It was my first experience with 120 ballistic tips out of the 7mm-08 and performance couldn’t have been better. I’ll continue to hunt axis every chance I get but it’s unlikely I’ll ever come close to topping this one. An axis doe hunt the next morning turned into a stalk on a nice blackbuck. Every now and then, it just all works out

Hey dude where you hunting? That looks like around these parts. Live oak, mesquite and salt grass.

Tx
Those are some amazing animals. You have every right to be proud of them. That Axis is a once in a lifetime trophy. Congrats.
GreggH

Filaman, it was a good ways off the coast. The closest town would probably be Lampasas. There was plenty of oaks and cedars. I didn’t see any mesquites. Lots of hills, just not real rocky like allot of areas. The pics do like it could be down in the Victoria/Beeville area

Thats a toad. Congratulations!

TXHunter,

Dude, you just killed the last living Irish elk! What a beautiful animal - Thanks for the pics!