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New HF Owner - Looking to pick brains, aging, exotics?

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    New HF Owner - Looking to pick brains, aging, exotics?

    Dad purchased a 940 acre HF place under MLD outside of Hebbronville summer 2019. Thankful and loving it, wanting to make the best of it. If there are any veterans that wouldn’t mind me asking a plethora of questions, let me know.

    As for this post, one big question I have is exotics. All of our WT are currently fat and happy, killed 1 200 and 1 220 lbs this season. Plenty of native brush, ponds, and corn/protein, no hogs. We don’t want any exotic that pushes WT off corn/protein which narrows it down a lot from what I understand. I believe blackbuck is a good candidate, any other similar recommendations? Preferably one that taste good!

    Second question is aging. Trying to get more accurate myself and would like to hear some age/score opinions on these pictures. Goal is to grow some prime mature 160+ inch deer. Culling criteria rec’d by MLD biologist - 2.5 less than 5 pt, 3.5 small 8s or less, 4.5 under 120BC, 5.5 under 140BC. Still a long way from scoring accurate on hoof.

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    Last edited by Deft; 12-21-2020, 01:01 PM.

    #2
    Sent you a personal message

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      #3
      By all means feel free to PM me. We have a similar sized ranch outside of Tilden. Been there since 2004. If you have anything in mind, shoot me a question. I am happy to help if you need anything. We have tried a ton of different things. Some worked, some didn't!

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        #4


        Would love to hear age on this top one, age and score on the drop tine beast.


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          #5
          Originally posted by Deft View Post


          Would love to hear age on this top one, age and score on the drop tine beast.


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          Top one age, looks like 8+.

          Drop tine, can't really age from that picture but he is a hell of a buck.

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            #6
            you have "mature" bucks for sure some 5-7 yrs olds in pics.

            If you have any coyotes at all (and who doesn't in S Tx), they are wrecking crews on blackbuck in S Tx for some reason. You can eliminate aoudad as they will take over feeders. Axis are also known to be aggressive over whitetail. Fallow and sika don't seem to dominate and are basically equals. The Texas sheep "species" (really all domestic line of sheep in different colors other than pure mouflon) won't cause deer any issues but again coyotes can be lethal on sheep pops. After those you are into the Super Exotics such as scimitar oryx and others.

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              #7
              Blackbucks wont really push whitetail off, as for coyotes down there, I dont know. That second pic you posted looks half brahmer bull and half whitetail!

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                #8
                That buck in the second pic looks like a Brahma bull

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by Calrob View Post
                  Blackbucks wont really push whitetail off, as for coyotes down there, I dont know. That second pic you posted looks half brahmer bull and half whitetail!

                  Kicking myself for not flinging an arrow at him lol


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                    #10
                    Originally posted by buck_wild View Post
                    you have "mature" bucks for sure some 5-7 yrs olds in pics.

                    If you have any coyotes at all (and who doesn't in S Tx), they are wrecking crews on blackbuck in S Tx for some reason. You can eliminate aoudad as they will take over feeders. Axis are also known to be aggressive over whitetail. Fallow and sika don't seem to dominate and are basically equals. The Texas sheep "species" (really all domestic line of sheep in different colors other than pure mouflon) won't cause deer any issues but again coyotes can be lethal on sheep pops. After those you are into the Super Exotics such as scimitar oryx and others.

                    We had the previous owner come down and he told us same thing - coyotes would put a hurting on them. May try and put a hurting on them and snare the places they dig under the fence. Interesting on fallow and sika. Why do you refer to those as “super exotics”. Scimitar oryx seem popular, know anything about how they are around feeders?


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                      #11
                      Congratulations! Great looking deer, some nice mature deer and looks like some age structure. If you haven’t I would do some surveys. Either Camera, helicopter and deer blind or all three to get a better understanding of total numbers and age structure. From there you can come up with habitat carrying capacity, culling criteria for does and bucks, total culling numbers and a feeding program that’s predictable from the information gathered. This will better help you budget for getting the most from your feed budget. Property that size I have seen success with culling hard through each age class and feeding the remain cohort really well. So quality over quantity with a smaller feed bill. Time spent in the blind culling each age group is the offset.
                      And the other side carrying lots of young bucks and playing the numbers game. Hunting only mature bucks. Costly feeding the large amount of deer but much less thought and blind time trying to kill all the younger bucks.

                      Exotics first thought came to mind is stocking only mature and middle aged males in the beginning. No reproduction to worry about but something to hunt and look at. Few axis sika and fallow on a property of that size wouldn’t hurt or compete with the Whitetails. Black buck being more mature would at least stand a chance. From there you can get the coyotes under control or find out if you can. Might take a shotgun up on that survey in case you see any. Good luck and keep some updates coming. The ranch threads are among my favorite.

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by Deft View Post
                        We had the previous owner come down and he told us same thing - coyotes would put a hurting on them. May try and put a hurting on them and snare the places they dig under the fence. Interesting on fallow and sika. Why do you refer to those as “super exotics”. Scimitar oryx seem popular, know anything about how they are around feeders?


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                        I wouldn’t call Oryx a super exotic, and I don’t think they’ll hit feeders to much. One I would look at that aren’t big on feeders but are a little more expensive are Gemsbok, they are for the most part grazers. A buddy of mine has 7 on his ranch in Mountain Home and he never sees them on a feeder, another friend of mine has a heard he has raised on his ranch in STX and they don’t do much damage to the feeders I don’t think.

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by Deft View Post
                          We had the previous owner come down and he told us same thing - coyotes would put a hurting on them. May try and put a hurting on them and snare the places they dig under the fence. Interesting on fallow and sika. Why do you refer to those as “super exotics”. Scimitar oryx seem popular, know anything about how they are around feeders?


                          Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
                          I wasnt referring to axis and fallow as "Super Exotics" I guess that's a term that was thrown around in the 90s, early 2000s and meaning anything other than the basic exotics that were around in the Hill Country. The term was used for scimitar before they really caught on, addax, gemsbok, barrisanga, pierre david etc It was probably a marketing tool for ranches that had them but the prices were "super exotic" also

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                            #14
                            Blackbuck are a great inexpensive starter and won’t compete with whitetail at all. Axis, fallow and sika are good too. They will be more active at the feeders than the blackbuck. Red stag are a cool animal to get started as well as any of the Africa stuff. Scimitar oryx and gemsbok are both really cool to have around. Nilgai are a really good one too and dang good to eat. Aoudad are one of my favorites, but they do hammer the feed and will beat up your feeders. I would stay away from the “cheap sheep”. They are all pretty much tame and will just stand around at a feeder and **** everywhere.

                            I would definitely get males and females of anything you plan to keep for a while. There is no sense in not having them reproduce right away. If you buy young stickers to grow into shooting size, they may as well be breeding and growing your numbers. It’s easy to cull out if you get too many and they all taste pretty good.

                            I’ve been raising/hunting exotics for quite a while and would be glad to answer any questions you may have and can also help you get your place stocked when you are ready. Feel free to give me a shout any time. 806 206 3289.

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                              #15
                              axis and fallow. great eating, nice racks and not very destructive. red stag and bigger exotics are feeder. fence and land busters. add a few more feeders to give the WT an option if axis are at feeders as well. HF axis will MOST LIKELY all feed around the same time and together. at least they do on my place. WT will trickle in. no on pierre david - wrecks feeders and game cameras. and BB will get crushed by coyotes - females for sure. axis and fallow are so good to eat... u wont eat WT anymore... lol

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