SBEII

Here's my contribution.
Not a bad afternoon!

jeep'n

The hunt on video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GADvtZKgZg

AK4Dave

Looks like you are feeding half the county...!!!

arasco85

Not in the jk but its my 8 point

GCM 2

This one is on the back of a Dodge mega-cab, so at least its a Chrysler product. Anyway, this Axis buck wasn't producing anymore, so he was culled from the heard. Now he is producing backstrap and sausage!!. He dressed out around 180-190lbs

Attachment 100552

Attachment 100553

AK4Dave

Interesting looking critter. Is this on your property? I ask because I'm wondering how you know he wasn't producing anymore? Even if it wasn't on your property, how does a landowner keep that close of an eye on an animal to know if he is or isn't producing anymore? Unless of course he's in a fenced in area. Is the meat like venison? Altho moose meat is fantastic, I sure do miss venison from time to time. I was raised on the stuff... Also wondering what make rifle that is?

Chew

My Rubicon gets plenty of work at the hunting lease in West Tx....

GCM 2

AK4Dave,
First off, Axis are much better tasting than White Tail deer. Have yet to meet someone that disagrees once they chow down on a cut of Axis.
Second, as for knowing how he wasn't producing, well it is easier than one might think. The ranch I was hunting on is my best friends property, it is an exotic game ranch in Texas comprised of around 40,000 acres. The entire place is fenced and within the 40K acreage there are plots broken down and fenced into different parcels of land, some are huge, some are not so big for segregating animals for different reasons. I think most importantly though I should mention this place is a business. People pay great sums of money to be guaranteed they get to shoot a trophy animal, some pay $1500, some pay $70,000+. Depends on the species of animal, the number of inches of bone the antlers measure, etc.
Anyway, because its a business it is well managed, lots of people work out there and tend to wild herds just like conservationist do in Nat'l Parks, Africa, and so on. In the end the client (read:hunter) is paying for a service. If you provide shitty animals, your business fails. You provide world class exotics for the taking, your business thrives. Texas is full of these ranches, and some do much better than others because of the time invested in managing the herds.
Bottom line, I get to hunt there for free only getting to shoot some of the lesser quality animals. When I guide for a client, sometimes I get to shoot a better scoring animal as form of payment. The Axis buck in the picture from my other posting was basically having his ass handed to him by younger more aggressive bucks who have realized they were now the superior male in the herd. Also, because he was not of the quality anymore to be mounted by a taxidermist, it was time to serve a greater purpose in my freezer and then my grill.
Lastly, the rifle.....well, thats is something I hand built. Basically it's just a 7mm WSM, but I do my own twist rate on the rifling for a custom load I use. Notice the SureFire Muzzle Brake, I also run a suppressor on it This thing is a laser death ray, 0-300m it's a point of aim=point of impact gun.

AK4Dave

Well I pretty much figured it was a hunting ranch. And I guess if a lot of people work it then I could see how the old buck got snitched on....lol. Yep, I know people pay crazy amounts to hunt those exotics. That's cool your buddy lets you hunt some of those critters. What else do they have on that ranch?

GCM 2

The ranch has Elk, Scimitar Oryx, Watusi, Red Stag, Fallow Deer, Axis, Eland, White Tail, Waterbuck, Kudu, Nile Lechwe, Lechwe, Nyala, Black Wildebeest, Blue Wildebeest, Impala, Sitatunga, Thompson Gazelle, Bokharan Markhor, Ibex, Nubian Ibex and quite a few more species. These are the ones that come to mind.

Depending on the client, here are a few examples of hunters I guide for-
1) some need no help other than to point them in the direction of thousands of acres of hill country and they get it done.
2) Others say they want to work for their animal, meaning they want a difficult hunt, but at the end of the day or week we usually have to take them to a feeder and point to whatever class animal they think they can afford, and stand by with a follow on shot from my gun because I don't like running down injured animals.

And then there are a whole bunch more that fit somewhere in between these two examples. Unfortunately, I don't get to hunt or go wheeling as much as I want because of my real job...which keeps me overseas in Afghanistan, Iraq or some other third world, war torn country using other skill sets. By the way, I see you are up in Alaska. You know in all my years in the military (20 active duty, 6 now as a Consultant to the military) I have never made it to your state for training or even for a hunt. One day......