I got a real surprise when I checked my game cam in Nemo the other day. Red Deer!!! Back in 07 a game ranch near us had a water gap that got knocked down in a flooded creek and we had been hearing tales of a herd of Red Deer that escaped and have been roaming our area and the Rancher even told me the morning before I checked my camera that they had been breeding and reproducing in the wild and asked if I had seen any. I hadn't, until I checked my camera later. No Bulls yet but a cow and her young are camping out at my feeder, and then there are 3 more that I am not sure if they are young Red Deer or Fallow Does. Mixed emotians, shoot or don't shoot? If they are breeding that means theres a Stag running around, there camping out at my protein feeder and if and when thay go into rut maybe just maybe they pull the Stag in. If they leave and cross a fence another hunter may not think like me and take one and me not get a chance at all at them. Man, decisions decisions!!!
Look at the pics and tell me if you think there all Red Deer or if the one pic is Fallow does. Also, what would you do? Keep in mind our lease is a 1500 acre low fence ranch. Thanks!




Not sure if these are Red Deer or Fallow?





[img]http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z304/HightechRedneck_01/AugustDeerpicsAtWhiteRanch092.jpg[/img]

I say shoot em if you want to and the landowner gives you permisson, better check your lease, if it is exclusive to deer you will need special permission from the Landowner, if I am not mistaken, read up on exotic regulations on tpwd website

Pics?

yeah post up that game camera picture

Thats a pretty big size place so unless there is a lot of hunting pressure I think I would wait a while and see if the stag comes in.

Sorry, fat fingered the post button before I was finished. As far as the lease, I ramrod the cattle operation as far as the ranch hands go for the rancher. Have done it for 15 years and it is not really a lease. The rancher gives me and the hands the hunting rights and has for years. They are like family to me and he doesn't care if we take them. I'll check on exotic laws. The landowner and outfitter where they escaped from doesn't want to try and get them back and our biologist said they are always losing animals due to poor fences and water gaps. Thanks.

That's waht I'm thinking too. There are 3 ranches that border us, 2 don't allow hunting and one only Duck hunts there huge man made lake. Then there are a few small tracts that border us also that have the mentality that if it's brown it's down. We are trying to manage the place especially with the age class of Bucks and Buck to Doe ratio, but when they cross those particular fences they end up getting shot! Still have a good chance of raising some nice Bucks though with the 3 other ranches next to us not huniting Deer at all. BTW, one of the smaller tracts has a feeder about 1000 yrads away from this one. They don't throw protein and these are really liking my protein.

Either you shot em or someone else will, rest assured

Let 'em walk. Maybe in a few years you will have more than a couple on the place. Plus, there is obviously a bull somewhere. he'll be looking for a cow at some point...maybe on your place.

I would wait for the male of the species to show.

I'd wait for the bull. And keep the protein FLOWING.

food...........

Those all appear to be Red Deer. The smaller ones look like yearling Red Deer. Have you seen Fallow there before?

They are definetly red deer. Wait until around mid to late October and you should start hearing a stag roar if he is in your area. That can go on until about mid December but usualy it's done on all our places by the second week of November. It could be a little different depending for the ones in your area.

No, never have seen Fallow or the Red Deer either. The younger Red Deer kind of favored a Fallow to me but then again I am not that familiar with either species. I just read this on TPWD web site.
(Quote)
EXOTIC ANIMALS AND FOWL
Exotic animal refers to grass-eating or plant-eating, single-hoofed or cloven-hoofed mammals that are not indigenous or native to Texas and are known as ungulates, including animals from the deer and antelope families that landowners have introduced into this state. Includes, but is not limited to feral hog, Aoudad sheep, Axis deer, Elk, Sika deer, Fallow deer, Blackbuck antelope, Nilgai antelope, and Russian boar. Exotic fowl refers to any avian species that is not indigenous to this state, including ratites (emu, ostrich, rhea, cassowary, etc.).
There are no state bag or possession limits or closed seasons on exotic animals or fowl on private property. It is against the law to:
•Hunt an exotic without a valid hunting license.
•Hunt an exotic on a public road or right-of-way.
•Hunt an exotic without the landowner's permission.
•Possess an exotic or the carcass of an exotic without the owner's consent.
Penalty: A person who violates these laws commits an offense that is a Class A Parks and Wildlife Code misdemeanor ($500-$4000 and/or up to one year in jail).
(Quote)

Yeah, as long as you're square with the landowner and there's not an original property owner (where they came from) trying to get them back you're good. They're definately good eating. Almost as good as Elk.

That's another mixed emotion. They will also compete for the same forage as the Whitetail. Plus, they eat an awefull lot of protein! There is word of a pretty large herd been seen around with more than one Bull. I had been taking the stories with a grain of salt untill now. In 2009 my brother had a tree by his feeder that had like a 5' tall rub on it. I knew that wasn't from a Whitetail but that had been the only sign we had seen.

Thanks Curtis. I will probably hold off for a while, especially through bow season and see what happens. They are regulars at the protein and don't seem to hit the corn that much. The older one's aren't spooked of vehicles or humans it seems. Watched a pair about 20 yards from my truck the other day that just moseyed across the ranch road in front of me and never even looked twice. The younger ones on the other hand are as spooky as a Whitetail, you can tell they where born in the wild. I came across 3 that where probably 2 year olds that went on full alert when I drove up (appx 300 yards) and stayed for a few minutes and watched me then slipped off in the woods.

As long as your landowner is cool with it, I say Pop ya One, One will go a long way, I've never eaten it, but hear it is AWESOME, helped butcher one and it made a lot of meat.

Just let them grow, I like varity. I think you would be happier in the long run. If not, dart them and sell them, or shoot them.

I'd let them grow, because you can shoot them at anytime of the year and don't have to wait until deer season since there is no season for them.

We got on a lease last year and were told there were axis and fallow and that we could each take an exotic, but they would just stand there and look at you, and really seemed tame so we left them alone the entire season.

They definately are dumb animals and it just wasn't any sport so we let them walk.

If it's red - it's dead !

If you pop one or two Axis or Fallow they will redefine spooky for you. The ones I've seen get spookier than whitetail if they are pressed at all.

We are talking about your Red Deer in a lot, as if you need to take them all or take none of them. You could probably take one and then lay off of them and it won't change their patterns that much. You're probably looking at about 75 pounds of meat each so you'll be eating for awhile.

I'm going to lay off for now. Leaving for Colorado in a few days for an archery Elk hunt. Hopefully they will still be around when I come back and crawl up a tree for Texas Bow Season. And 2, I hope I am having to buy another freezer because mine is full of Elk meat and I need room for Red Deer and Whitetail! Not to mention the Longhorn steer I recently had butchered. Nope not me, I'm not a meat eater!!! LOL. Thanks everyone, I'll keep ya posted on the outcome. Just cool seeing them show up if nothing else.

Isn't a great feeling to know you can just "lay off" and wait. Have fun in Colorado.