It’s a deer …

[Buffalobwana]

Red Stag are deer, so I'll put this here. Not in the Elk forum, (even though they are genetically the same animal)

Here's the story. (I'll do this in a few posts to keep pics with the story).

1000 acre ranch, NW TX, used to be high fenced, but portions were removed to allow game to come and go. There are a few Red Deer still roaming around.

Last year, I used to see this stag on the neighbors property, across the river. Never saw him on my place.

This year he shows up on game camera and I told my nephew he could shoot him. Problem is that he never shows himself in daylight, so, gotta bait him in at night.

Since I'm not into torturing myself, I build the nicest most comfortable blind for us to hunt from. An S-250 military shelter in an M1101 military trailer. I bought RV windows on eBay and cut the holes and installed them.

 

[Buffalobwana]

He stayed in the blind for 4 days, only coming home if it got too cold or just lost patience.

Finally, I decided we were staying until he showed up. So we got sleeping bags, pillows and blankets and settled in.

 

[Buffalobwana]

We set the blind 100 yards from a bait pile. Since he would only come in at night, I used my Pulsar Thermion Pro XP50 on a 308.

On the second attempt, when the moon was dark, we discovered a problem with our plan. It wasn't practical to keep sticking the gun out of the window to see if there was anything at the bait. During a full moon, you could use binoculars.

So, I bought a wireless driveway alarm. I put the sensors on a pig trap next to the bait pile. The receiver was in the blind with us.

Still needed to see what was there. So, I used a LaRue detachable scope mount. The idea was to use the scope to glass and reattach to gun when ready to shoot. It's a hassle, but it worked. That mounts "return to zero" claim is true. Great mount.

After 4 days of sitting, he finally showed up. The shot was uneventful, nephew got buck fever for the first time, but powered through it! He's proven to be a very good shot on game out to 300 yards, but this one tested his abilities.

Perfect shot and Stag ran 50 yards and piled up in a juniper tree! Almost straight up!

 

[Buffalobwana]

He wanted to do all the gutting, skinning and quartering by himself. I did step in to help quarter, in the interest of time only.

He even boiled and cleaned the skull by himself. Once his peroxide arrives, He will bleach it.

I love these pictures. It's deer camp personified. Bunch of old dudes standing around watching a kid do all the work!

I'm proud of this kid for many reasons. So, I'm glad we could close the casket on this deer before the neighbors did.

 

[Elkeater]

That's awesome! I will say all the exotics running around Texas these days can make hunts interesting.

 

[Buffalobwana]

Video of the shot through the scope.

 

[26Reload]

Question for ya.....
Exotics obviously shouldn't be required to need 'a tag'....state may still require a license.....correct in thinking???
Knew a guy in oregon that released fallow deer..barbary sheep..axis deer and a few other things......as they escaped his property and were shot by others(sometimes 20+ miles away) he tried (successfully) taking people to court for killing his livestock....until the state took him to court for never putting his livestock back within his property(which they could easily get thru and over fences anywhere) and fined $10000 a month...
How does Texas appraise 'livestock' off of properties.....

 

[Buffalobwana]

If it's got an ear tag, it's got an owner and it's considered someone's livestock.

 

[TBell]

If it's got an ear tag, it's got an owner and it's considered someone's livestock.

I would suspect if the owner only has 4' fence (net or b wire) with anything that is considered a fence jumpers, pretty much everything but black buck, prong horn and some variety of goats. Even ear tag may not apply since original owner had not done their due diligents on controlling stock.

 

[Buffalobwana]

I would suspect if the owner only has 4' fence (net or b wire) with anything that is considered a fence jumpers, pretty much everything but black buck, prong horn and some variety of goats. Even ear tag may not apply since original owner had not done their due diligents on controlling stock.

Water gaps blow out, cars hit fences, gates get left open, coyotes and pigs make slides under the fence etc. There are plenty of ways stuff gets out.

Ear tags can be cut off easily. I doubt many people respect the tags.

I took parts of my fence down and populated the counties around me with Aoudad. There were none before as nobody has game ranches in this part of TX.

The ranchers and hunters all complain about the Aoudad until I offer to come and catch them for free. All of a sudden, people stop complaining.

 

[TBell]

Water gaps blow out, cars hit fences, gates get left open, coyotes and pigs make slides under the fence etc. There are plenty of ways stuff gets out.

Ear tags can be cut off easily. I doubt many people respect the tags.

I took parts of my fence down and populated the counties around me with Aoudad. There were none before as nobody has game ranches in this part of TX.

The ranchers and hunters all complain about the Aoudad until I offer to come and catch them for free. All of a sudden, people stop complaining.

Again if the original owner ONLY has 4' fence they have not protected escape, of fence jumpers. Axis, red stag, elk, pretty much any impala, oryx, ......... I can not see any of these standing up in court if owner failed to use proper fencing specific to the breed.

I know of an incident in north TX where a rancher bought and stocked his place with 130 head of elk, behind 4' bob wire fencing. Ya that did not work the first day. Neighbors all profited from his ignorance, very expensive lesson, on his part.

 

[Buffalobwana]

I know of an incident in north TX where a rancher bought and stocked his place with 130 head of elk, behind 4' bob wire fencing. Ya that did not work the first day. Neighbors all profited from his ignorance, very expensive lesson, on his part.

Wow. Unless he had a giant place … not a great idea unless his goal was to reintroduce elk into the area.

I do know some giant ranches where they released ibex and Stag. The Ibex stuck around bc of the terrain. Stag mostly stuck around bc of the size of the ranch. Eventually they just stop moving and settle in.

Most of my Stag were killed by neighboring ranches since they have a habit of standing around in the sunshine. Aoudad are firmly established now in this area.

 

[HRM Johnny]

Congratulations to you and your nephew. Thanks for the post. Thanks for the pictures.

 

[Highbrass]

It really is good to see the younger hunters coming up. No need to tell you guys but we are becoming an endangered species,,,