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Article about the Axis die off in the Hill Country

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    #16
    Originally posted by jerp View Post
    As I had been wondering how exactly the cold kills them I found this quote interesting:

    "The dead axis were filled with undigested plant material and their fecal samples were also undigested, leading to speculation that hypothermia could rendered the deer unable to digest plants by changing the temperature of bacteria in their guts."

    So that theory is they starved even if they were finding something to eat. Not surprising I guess for an animal that evolved on the Indian subcontinent

    H20 - water in the digestive system helps break down food

    The game doctors needed to check hydration levels of these dead animals. It's hard to digest food without water in the gut to help that process. Axis need water - it's pretty simple.

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      #17
      Originally posted by Tony Pic View Post
      Rob...I value your opinion on the critters in the area more than anyone
      Didn't know you were a cat guy
      LOL

      They found me.......read they do seek out calm and caring humans. Guess I fit their profile now?

      Yeah - I'm getting soft but that's a good thing

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        #18
        Originally posted by Sika View Post
        I never realized how many folks, hunters and non-hunters alike, were anti-exotics until now. All these media outlets are weighing in on the impact of the freeze to our exotic game herds and the hunting opportunities they provide and based on the public response, it's a pretty polarizing issue. Growing up in the hill country, they were just always a part of the landscape. I never met a fellow hunter that said "I wish all those spotted deer would just die" until now.
        Same here.....
        This ordeal was an eye opener for me BIGTIME.. I can somewhat understand the disdain for some of the more physically destructive species like Aoudad but I will never understand the hate towards axis or Black buck.. Especially from a table fare stand point.. I guess we have extreme purists in everything these days..

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          #19
          Originally posted by ttaxidermy View Post
          Same here.....
          This ordeal was an eye opener for me BIGTIME.. I can somewhat understand the disdain for some of the more physically destructive species like Aoudad but I will never understand the hate towards axis or Black buck.. Especially from a table fare stand point.. I guess we have extreme purists in everything these days..
          I have worked on two different ranch’s that had a zero exotic policy, no black bucks, elk, aoudad or nilgai, they didn’t care about axis, but we never saw or had to kill them, the others not so, and were DRT if we got a chance

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            #20
            Axis Deer are awesome critters and very tasty.. I am sure a lot of them survived the storms and they will be back strong in a couple years.

            Mother nature just doing what mother nature does. She is a cruel old *****!!

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              #21
              I'm not a biologist, but I think they died due to lack of water too. Axis like to live close to water for a reason. We lost a bunch on our place. Live creek on the place, but no livestock. So nobody broke any ice.

              I don't understand the anti-axis deal either. I'd rather have them than whitetail any day.

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                #22
                I've got several herd that live right around my house. I'm not sure how many died, but there's not near as many.

                I hunt them near Mountain Home, but it will be awhile before I do. I'm pretty sure all of that stress has tainted the meat. I'll wait for them to get it out of their system.

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                  #23
                  Originally posted by pilar View Post
                  I have worked on two different ranch’s that had a zero exotic policy, no black bucks, elk, aoudad or nilgai, they didn’t care about axis, but we never saw or had to kill them, the others not so, and were DRT if we got a chance

                  When I was in high school we had a lease with free ranging b buck, sika, aoudad, and fallow. At first the landowner wanted all exotics eliminated because he feared the grazers would compete with his cattle. Then he realized he could make money off of them... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


                  Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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                    #24
                    We haven't seen any dead on our place north of Sonora. There are cattle and goats on the place and none of them were affected, some of the nannies even had kids with them and all were healthy. I have to assume that if the livestock made it, all of the Axis did too. I think ATW is on to something in regards to why certain areas were hit harder than others.

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                      #25
                      I think the bias against often comes down to some people's assumption that "ANY" human intervention in nature is automatically a negative. Personally I wish they'd expand a bit north. I've seen them in the area but never been able to hunt them on my place.

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                        #26
                        Originally posted by Sika View Post
                        When I was in high school we had a lease with free ranging b buck, sika, aoudad, and fallow. At first the landowner wanted all exotics eliminated because he feared the grazers would compete with his cattle. Then he realized he could make money off of them... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


                        Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
                        My two had them messing with the cattle, like chasing them around, mainly BB that escaped, the aoudad and nilgai destroyed the fences, I don’t think axis mess with livestock
                        The property’s weren’t in “ exotic “ territory, Webb , dimmit , zapata , lasall counties

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                          #27
                          Originally posted by SabineHunter View Post
                          There's a reason why foreign deer have trouble in Texas. I prefer a White tail over any foreign deer, it just seems right.
                          If I’m going for taste, an axis seems pretty **** right to me.

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                            #28
                            Originally posted by Sika View Post
                            I never realized how many folks, hunters and non-hunters alike, were anti-exotics until now. All these media outlets are weighing in on the impact of the freeze to our exotic game herds and the hunting opportunities they provide and based on the public response, it's a pretty polarizing issue. Growing up in the hill country, they were just always a part of the landscape. I never met a fellow hunter that said "I wish all those spotted deer would just die" until now.
                            I wouldn't say I'm against them but God didn't create the land with them in mind. While I do love having another animal tomhunt year round they do cause havoc on whitetail at my place in Eden. They are standing at protein or corn before WT even have a though of eating.

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                              #29
                              I saw plenty of axis on my drive out to Rocksprings last weekend. Aoudads too. Not a scientific survey, just thought I'd mention it.

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                                #30
                                Texas Monthly is just as much trash as CNN.

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