Kobus, it's next to impossible to get permits for the protected species on free range. I specifically asked Fish this question during the whole 3 species deal - so would be curious if the Elds you referenced above are legally huntable.


If you switched locations to the king ranch as you suggest, I think the larger African species could fare well though it may be a bit wet. You have a much larger predator problem down there, so think you'd really struggle with any of the gazelles or smaller animals. Rusa might work - know Sambar worked along the coast. Sheep and goats are out of the picture down there - too wet, grounds too soft, and no escape terrain.

IMO to really be successful, you'd still want to do a soft release, with a core breeder herd providing periodic injections of new stock till they establish.just dumping a bunch of pen/small pasture raised animals out is a recipe for failure.

So would the Nile Lechwe and Waterbuck do well?

Imagine waterbuck might do. Lechwe are pretty susceptible to predators, and know there are marshes there for them, but not sure how much freshwater marsh there is.

maybe on the coast, like Jackson, Lavaca and Aransas counties.


they would get slaughtered I bet unless they were on large ranches