What am I looking at? Are these spotted critters smarter than a whitetail?

thanks

Usually in a large group and ALOT of eyes looking. I think they are alot more challenging then the whitetail.

That should make it interesting

If they start "barking" your busted. At times it seems the does are a bit more on edge.

Yep. In my limited experience they are spookier than a WT. If you hear one bark at you, freeze. That could be general alarm, but also a noise they make between themselves. If you hear one scream, game over. They're generally running by that point.

great, sounds like this should be an adventure

They have much better noses and eyes than a whitetail...at least from my experiences and those of others. Very fun to hunt.

Lol I LOVE hunting axis. And how difficult the hunt is depends on their environment. If you hunted my sisters property, they aren't too hard because they're used to "traffic" persay. But one thing I've noticed about axis is they will spook, run like a horse and then stop. I don't often see them take off and just keep going like whitetails do. If you jump one, stand still (as long as you're downwind) and wait for them to stop. The bark doesn't always mean theyve spotted you, I've had a set of fawns sit and bark my ear off just calling their mother. I heavily rely on wind direction, and that makes the stalk fun IMHO

Free range axis are WAY more spookier than WT

How many axis have you shot? how many whitetail have you shot?

i would't say they are smarter, but way more wary.

an axis is an unpredictable critter, thats for sure.

thanks for the info, trying to figure out if I'm taking out the BP for this one, or one of my long range shooters.

Regardless, sounds like I'm in for some fun!

I'm open for any other tips ya'll may have

Again, based on limited experience, but I've never had much luck pattering them at feeders. Seems my best success has been catching them around water in the mornings, then moving out into semi-open fields in the evenings/last light.

The most successful strategy so far has been to just pick a tree in a known travel route and sit still. They seem to avoid feeders and established blinds, though we did catch one walking right into the rifle range once (but that's another story).

thanks TxAg. We won't be on feeders, and pretty much don't have any insight on their routes, just a general area they have been seen.

If you are hunting L.F. it might be tough. I have a L.F. place and you might go a month and never see one then all of a sudden they are everywhere. They migrate around a lot and don't just hang out at one place.

Buy a couple bales of alfalfa...

Tougher than whitetails.

It's rumored that 100lbs of corn and a spotlight makes them dumb.

I sure hope you give us a detailed report after this hunt...

Good luck on the spot and stalk. From what I have seen, the biggest problem is most of the time there is a large group of them and way too many eyes watching. I would agree with the prior post of finding a good travel area and being still. They love alfalfa and will find it quick! If one goes to barking, they are usually all on full alert and then just leave in a hurry. Another problem I have had on spot and stalk is if I am able to get close enough for a stalk, find one that I want, get a good opening to shoot through, I cant get a good clean shot because they mill around each other non stop.
GOOD LUCK!! Its a lot of fun even when it dont work out.

thats definately something to be concerned with

Dude, I now enough to know that axis are very spooky....

"Think before you speak" (or type in this case)