will that sucks can russain boar cross breed with feral boar from Texas? idk but i think there is some around these parts.

Don't see why they couldn't.

If anything, I'd love to see Giant Forest Hogs and Bushpigs

For a animal to become more popular they need to be relatively easy to be bred in captivity, make a good trophy, and have breeding stock available. If those conditions are met and the animal will fit into the ecosystem it's released into then you have a good candidate. If it's a good eating animal then you have a winner. CWD concerns may limit deer but Axis aren't known to get it and Fallow are highly resistant. Any animal subject to CITIES permits will have less interest then those that do not.

They seem like absolute giants. Would love to see some of those introduced into the Americas. I mainly would just like to see the feral hog gene pool in Texas produce some bigger boars, regardless of what kind of cross breeding it would take. Bigger hogs means harder hunts, at least if your using dogs. Having been on a dog hunt for a russain boar, and seeing what its like to have 5 pits on 1 boar (the owner of the ranch we were hunting on said it wasn't even the biggest he's seen) and have it still trying to RUN AWAY from the hunters as if there was only a little chihuahua on its back is quite something. But it truly is sad that there is so few of them out there.

Sorry, but anyone looking to make Feral Pigs in Texas any bigger and tougher, is looking for a long drop with a short rope.

They may be out of your comfort zone as far as price goes. haha. I don't have any exact numbers....but I'm sure the Blue Sheep, Siberian Ibex, and Tur are around $30k-$50k each.

I also have a friend who has a big Alpine Ibex billy sold for $30k to hunt later this winter.

k NVM. What other rare things is he rasing?

Bongo, Nyala, Sable, Roan, Black Wildebeest, Kudu, Nubian Ibex, Alpine Ibex, Arabian Oryx, Tahr, Markhor, Sitatunga, Transcaspian Urials, etc...

I'd like to see Sambar and Gaur more often. And Indian Gazelle(chinkara).

I cater to a lot of oil field company hunts and I'm running into a lot of folks wanting Sika. If you do a search on the web trying to buy them you don't come up with much. It could just be my situation but I'm curious to know if anyone else has noticed this.

Hearing the same thing, particularly the Dybowski's are in demand.

We are shooting more Sika this year too. There was a few that came through the auction last Fri.

Yes there was but they were high compared to the previous auctions this year and not very impressive IMO. The exotic market prices have sjy rocketed and its getting worse so far.

If you're talking about animals to compete in popularity with the commons (axis, fallow, sika, BB, aoudad, etc), ultimately price, trophy,'fit' for exotic ranches, and availability of founding stock is going to be the determining factor.

Price- There is much more of a market for $1500-2500 animals than $5-10K+ animals, you just have more hunters that can afford that range, and those that can afford more will still shoot 5 of the commons for every one of the supers. Plus, there are a lot more breeders who can play in that range. IMO, if some of the supers were half the price, you'd see a LOT more of them b/c ranches without breeding pens or multiple subdividsions would be more inclined to turn them loose.

Trophy - they have to have an impressive look horns/antlers/coloration, etc. without being so specialized that only the SCI crowd knows what they are. Fringe-eared or beisa oryx are a great example - to the average hunter, they look like a gemsbok - so why pay 2x the price? Hog deer or muntjac are others - cool critters, but the average joe hunter doesn't know what they are, and even if they did, may not value the premium paid for something that's not that impressive comparatively.

Fit - Basically, the popular exotics IMO are popular in part because they provide a challenging hunt. Some hunters don't care about this and just want to collect a critter, but most want a good experience, challenging chase, and to come home with a trophy. Some animals just don't fit well with our terrain, or don't fit well with the size and setup of most exotic ranches. Sitatunga and bongo for example are complete fish out of water here, and some species like sable (and bongo) are so rarely hunted that they become pretty tame. The 'fit' part also touches on size a bit - you can have a very challenging hunt for a 150lb sika on just about any ranch, but stick a 1500lb eland on a couple hundred acres, and not only will it tear up the browse, but won't be that challenging a hunt either.

Availability of founding stock - pretty self explanatory, but if you can't readily get new stock to refresh your genetics, then breeded interest will be low.

Txnrog hit the nail on the head.

If I ever hit the lottery, I would love to raise large herds of some of the more uncommon critters. For instance, I would love to own 5,000+ acres down by the coast near Corpus....with 1,000-1,500 acres of scattered wetlands that would offer a more natural habitat for animals like Lechwe, Sitatunga, Barasingha, Water Buffalo, etc...

However, until I have $15-$20 million to play around with...that likely won't happen. But I'm not giving up just yet!! Gotta dream big!!

Couple species I would think will become more popular

Impala - They're right on the edge now as it is - females are still pretty high, but I see them coming in line with the upper-end commons in the not too distant future - they meet all the criteria above - only downside is that they are a really common trophy in Africa.

Springbok - same story as impala

Hybrid Persian Ibex - pure breds have kept their price and too expensive, and difficult to keep in large pastures, but I do see wild-looking hybrids becoming much more common. They are actually not fish out of water in some of the more rugged hill country & west texas terrain.

Hybrid Urials - same story as Ibex. Pure breds are going to be more common, but I don't see the price coming down on them to the point of being 'common'. Buying a male and sticking it in with mouflon or red sheep ewes will be an economical option though. Would behoove breeders to keep some purebred stock however, b/c I think texas is soon going to be the only place you can realistically get them.

Nyala - Everyone I have talked to says they are hardy and reproduce well - may be a bit further out, but do think they'll become more common as established herds.

Mainland sika - dybowski & manchurian - this is already happening.

Couple others that may pop up - Rusa (tough to find today, but fit the mold), muntjac (b/c IMO the price will get low enough for people to try them as a novelty), kudu (I don't think they can hold their price long-term), sure there are a couple others I am missing. If something changes with the ESA restrictions, think there's a half-dozen species that will rebound in the market (lechwe, addax, scimitar, arabians, maybe barasingha).

Lord help us if someone tried to establish warthogs or bushpigs - T.G. I don't see it happening, but they are NOT a good animal to have around.

IMO, whatever fits in well with Texas's habitat should become more popular. Some species though arent worth what people ask. Sitatunga are so downgraded horn size and coat quality wise they aren't even worth half of what people want for them. Grants Gazelle, people just blast apart before they even reach reasonable shooting size. Hunting an Alpine Ibex in the low land brush country would be just awkward.

I see Impala, Nyala, Gemsbok, etc becoming more popular.

Just can't imagine why pure european mouflon have declined in popularity. They are one of the ovis and are quite a challenging hunt.

I'm not sure that they have decreased in popularity, we have a pretty large interest for them still - though I will say most of the interest is 'in-the-field' rather than at first call - i.e. hunters want them after they've encountered a few, but they aren't what you book a hunt specifically for. Don't think you can get the same price at auction for a decent one that you used to because there are more around, but exceptional trophies & lines are still up, just like fallow.

What's deceased in popularity ?

Have seen a couple references to Mouflon, as a breeder of World Class Pure European Mouflon, I have seen increased interest and selling price. In the last year I (along with fellow breeders that I know) have seen Trophy Rams increase by at least a third of what they were bringing the last 2-3 yrs.
www.hilonesomemouflon.com

I think the Corsican varieties have seen a big decrease in interest, with the some exceptions, for the very top end trophies.

I definitely agree with you on them being common fair and, thus, less desirable. When I was contemplating what plainsgame to add on to my buffalo hunt last year my outfitter told me to avoid shooting an impala as I'll eventually end up shooting one for bait or camp meat on a later trip (whenever that day may be).

Really hope you're right on Nyala. They're not a common animal in Africa and people often focus their hunt on them instead of taking them as a target of opportunity. This is the direction I really hope the exotics market goes; providing animals to hunt for less than the hunt or trophy fee costs in their native range. Not trying to take away from the experience of hunting the animal in its native land, but if you've pinched pennies for that once in a lifetime hunt in Zambia at $1200 a day plus trophy fees, it would be nice to not feel obligated to shoot a lechwe there because you can get one back in Texas for less and thus you could use your trophy fees on something you can't find in Texas.

... still day dreaming I guess.

On my Wish list to hunt is the Pere Davids deer

Pere David's deer and Barasingha have dropped quite a bit in price.

Waterbuck were coming down for a while. The downside of waterbuck is they taste like crap. So while you get big horns the meat isn't that good.