Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/801177
132 • S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S whenever their hormones call for it, not during a set rut in the fall of each year. There is, however, a quasi rut from May to August when a slight majority of the animals mate, with the peak falling in June and July—precisely when I would be visiting the ranch. D irector of Outdoor Operations Craig Gaudlip met me before dawn the morning after the shooting competition ended. To avoid losing it between the various layovers, I had opted to leave my rifle at home and borrow Craig's .270 for this hunt. His go-to is a Sako 85 Synthetic Stainless topped with a Zeiss Terra 3-9x42, a gun he keeps with him as he makes his rounds at the ranch each day. A few hours later I would be glad he had allowed me the use of it. Joshua Creek makes it easy to get to your box stand before daybreak because there's a stand virtually every ten steps. With the thick brush of the Hill Country well represented here, the ranch could have cut large swaths through the vegetation to create the kind of shooting lanes other Texas ranches offer. Instead, box stands are placed at every promising overlook, field edge, and game trail that the staff has observed movement on. Feeders are set up to draw out the biggest bucks, then hunters are positioned for the perfect shot. It's the least-obtrusive way to do business, Texas Parks & Wildlife doesn't establish seasons or bag limits for hunting exotics on private land. Axis deer fall into that exotic category, as well. The Indian native, known there as a chital, is tiger fodder in its homeland, rarely living long enough to reach 165 pounds. In Texas, where their only true predator is man, they push past 200 pounds with ease. And like everything else in Texas, their antlers tend to be bigger in the Lone Star state, too. What makes year-round axis hunting possible is not just the state's leniency regarding exotics, but also the life cycle of the animals themselves. Axis bucks grow their antlers based on their birth date, not the season of the year. One buck might be carrying a hardened set of headgear well into summer when a fellow buck has just dropped its antlers. Axis deer also reproduce on their own individual cycles. Does and bucks mate N o part of Texas is, to my mind, more quintessentially Texan than San Antonio, the Hill Country, and the Alamo. You can visit Dallas, see the Rio Grande, or swim along the Gulf, but until you see the shadows of nearby buildings fall respectfully shy of the Shrine's walls, you can't truly appreciate Texas. Maybe not even America, for that matter. That's one reason I volunteered to work Joshua Creek Ranch's Texas Hill Country Shooting Classic & Sporting Expo in June 2016, flying west to man the booth for Sporting Classics. I had never visited the state, and having been raised on John Wayne's two-tape VHS version of The Alamo, it was a no-brainer to attend and explore the region. I wouldn't be able to shoot in the popular shotgun competition, but I planned to stay a couple days after the show to hunt the ranch's famed free-range axis deer herd— the other reason. One of the many things Texans are known for is their fondness for raising exotic animals on their game ranches. From the nilgai, native to India, to the fallow deer of Europe, if you want to hunt a t r o p h y - c a l i b e r something, it can probably be done in Texas. What's more, you can hunt them year-round and to your heart's content. GizmoPhoto/istockPhoto.com