So, I took my B-I-L from Nebraska hunting down in Duval during the Thanksgiving break. Goal was to shoot pigs, a cull buck, or a shooter buck. He came down 3 years ago for his first Texas hog hunt but was the only one in the group that didn't kill anything. Well, as thick as the pigs have been the porkers never came out to play. Weather was good and cold, even took him out stalking with the night vision but nada. The last 30 minutes of the last hunt these two fallow does come out. We have never seen exotics here before. I wanted him to kill something so gave the order for him to shoot the bigger one. He did, she went 15 yrds and crashed. The smaller doe kept prancing around and kept getting closer & closer to us. He wanted to smoke the second one pretty bad so I said why not, we need the meat for sausage anyway. So he rolled her at 25 yrds. Not the best shot placement but he had never shot my 243 either and he is from up North. These folks take me hunting in Nebraska every year at Christmas so I am glad I could return the favor.

We have a HF ranch 1 mile North of us but they only have Oryx. Was talking to the ranch foreman there and he said that about 6 months ago another HF ranch I didn't know about several miles to the West of us got robbed. Said they stole everything, lost all equipment and left the gates open. Makes me mad just thinking about it. Anyway that place had Fallow, Sika, Axis, and Red Deer I am told. Who knows where they went. The animals that he lost were considered a loss & of course fair game to others. No way he could recover them even if he wanted to. I've never eaten Fallow, have heard both good and bad about the meat. Guess I'm about to find out....

Way to put him on the deer!

Sweet

If i were u, id take this thread down

Do tell us why

We have played this out before and I am currently playing this out on the ranch I hunt.

Your a little ain't you? I'll play.
It's like shooting the neighbor's cow if it got out.
That's his means of income he just killed.
Just because they're on your property, don't make them your's.
If the owner has any means of identification and can prove ownership, your in trouble.


There that should do it, now lets see where this goes.....

(All tongue in cheek) by the way.

I would never

No need to take this thread down, there were no laws broken. There was no means of identifying who these animals belonged to, all one can do is assume. Assuming I did think I knew who they once belonged to (which I didn't), there is no way to prove it. There was a metal ear tag in the older doe's ear showing the name of the breeder of that deer (farm that was bought from), that breeder sells to many many people. The animals that got out from the HF ranch were written off as a loss. As stated before the rancher has no means of recovering these animals even if he wanted to, yes they are fare game according to the Game Wardens that I have talked to. They are not like someone's cows, you can catch someone's cow or horse that gets onto your property (done it) to identify and return to owner. Try that with exotics that escape, especially on a low budget and no permission to access a bunch of properties to run around and "hunt" for what you think is yours. It's unfortunate for the HF owner that lost everything, I do feel bad for him but will probably shoot another one if I see it.

Way to go

Not the conversation I had with the game warden in Jack County. They were in the middle of a court case involving the same situation. The owner of the exotic pressed charges and TPWD had to support him.

I suppose that is possible if the owner of the exotic could prove that those animals were his. In this case, there was no way to prove who the animals belonged to. I am now learning of even more HF ranches in my region so who knows where they came from? People shoot free range exotics in the hill country all the time without issue, just not used to seeing them down here.

My dad shot a whitetail buck several years ago in Erath County on a low fence ranch and when he got to the buck it had a tag in it's ear. It was definitely no monster but still a pretty nice buck. I guess my dad is in trouble for shooting someone elses buck? LOL

Getting in trouble for shooting a free range exotic is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard on this forum.

I didn't see the tag either until I loaded her up.

Nice job!!!

I understand this is the code for "breeder" deer, but why would it not apply in this case, is sounds to me the deer "escaped" and after 10/15 day become "free range" deer again.

Texas Administrative Code Next Rule>>

TITLE 31
NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION
PART 2
TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT
CHAPTER 65
WILDLIFE
SUBCHAPTER T
DEER BREEDER PERMITS
RULE §65.605 Holding Facility Standards and Care of Deer
________________________________________
(a) The entire perimeter fence of a facility shall be no less than seven feet in height, and shall be constructed of department-approved net mesh, chain link or welded wire that will retain breeder deer. An indoor facility is acceptable if it meets the standards described in this section and provides permanent access to an outdoor environment that is sufficient for keeping the breeder deer in captivity.

(b) Immediately upon discovering the escape of breeder deer from a facility, a permittee shall notify the department. The permittee shall have ten days from the date of such report to capture only those breeder deer that are marked in accordance with Parks and Wildlife Code, §43.3561. All recaptured breeder deer must be returned to the facility from which the breeder deer escaped. If after ten days the permittee is unable to capture escaped breeder deer that have been reported in accordance with this subsection, the department may grant an additional five-day period for capture efforts to continue, contingent upon the permittee proving to the department's satisfaction that reasonable efforts were made to effect the capture during the first ten-day period.

Cool to have roam onto your place

Pulling out of our place a few years ago I noticed an axis doe running right towards me. I got out, pulled my shotgun out with a slug and took aim. Almost pulled the trigger until I saw the very noticeable tag in her ear. Where that place is, there's no way for free range exotics to be there unless it escaped. There are a couple facilities within a 10 mile area. So I drove into town and let somebody at the feed store know.

But if you're in an area where there are free range and high fenced deer, then people could claim exotics came from their HF all day long. I say y'all did good by dropping the hammer and letting your BIL shoot something different

Aint no way they are gonna catch those & bring them back to that ranch. They would have both been in my freezer!

I guess that is the way all of the free range exotics got their start.

Exactly! Ten days is what it says.
Happy Hunting!