Black Powder Axis Buck

By Denny L. Vasquez

 

I lay under the overhanging brush and silently watched the cautious approach of the big Axis buck. He had been easy to spot, at over 500 yards, as he followed the trail of a doe in heat with his nose to the ground, because his unique reddish orange coloration made him stand out among the grays and browns of the drab wintertime landscape. The other outstanding feature, of this import from the Indian sub-continent, which caught my eye, was the graceful upward sweep of his lyre shaped horns, with 30+ inch main beams. This unique headgear reminded me of a smaller version of his distant cousin, our native elk. All in all, my first glance at one of these magnificent animals in the wild left me amazed at the beauty of their overall appearance. It made the grayish brown tones of our native whitetails seem drab by comparison. My guide motioned for me to remain still, as he mouthed the words, “He will probably come right to us if we are patient.”

Axis, or chital deer as they are called in their native homeland of India, are also called the hog deer or spotted deer. These animals have a beautiful overall reddish orange coloration that is dotted with white spots that are present through out life. These spots resemble those found on a whitetail fawn. They have a large white throat patch that extends to their underside as well as the insides of the legs. There is also a black “dorsal stripe” running down the entire length of the middle of their backside.

All four of the Axis deer subspecies are included in the non-tusked posterolateral monochotomous non-palmate antlered game family of which our native elk are also members. The lyre shaped antlers of the Axis deer possess a very well developed brow tyne, but normally lack the bez and trez tynes of most of the deer family. A single caudal tyne extends from the main beam near the midpoint along the medial margin. The caudal tyne grows from the main beam at an acute angle and then gently curves almost straight up. Main beams lengths for mature specimens will average 85 cm or 34 inches with 94 cm or 37 inches for record book animals. Brow tynes will average 35 cm or 14 inches. While caudal tynes will average 20 cm or 8 inches.

A mature Axis buck can weigh as much as 200 lbs while a doe will peak at around 140 lbs. That makes them larger than the average whitetail deer in most of their range in the southern US. Males will stand an average of about 3 feet at the shoulder, while females will average 2 1/2 feet.

The landscape of the ranch that we were hunting consisted of high, rolling hills that were interspersed with valleys of varying sizes and shapes. No two of the valleys were exactly alike as one would be narrow, almost canyon like in appearance and the next one would have a wide, expansive, almost flat floor. The terrain also varied greatly from one area to the next with some areas being covered with rocks and cactus while elsewhere, the ground was covered with soft, bare dirt and patches of long wavy grass .

The trees of the surrounding countryside mainly consisted of mesquite, cedar, scrub oak and pin oak. These were scattered haphazardly across the countryside in stands of varying sizes. Some parts of the ranch had a thick lower growth of leg catching bushes that can make walking very difficult. And every so often the good lord has seen fit to hide a cactus among the bushes to help keep the unwary hunter on his toes. The few feeble creeks that wind among the hills and the stock tanks that are strategically located provide the only sources of water. By the time of my late December hunt the prairie grass had already turned yellow, the short scrub brush had turned dull brown and the oak trees had taken on the dull grey ghostly look of winter.

Even among this cold, colorless winter landscape, the healthy characteristics of the animals that I had seen on the ranch were proof that quality game management programs do work, and I am not talking about “canned” hunt situations either. Rather, this was a ranch where the rancher had taken the time to work with both the local game biologist and his hunters to implement sound game management policies that were designed to insure that the animals on his ranch enjoyed a healthy environment which allowed them to reach their full potential as trophy animals. This has led to some outstanding trophies being taken from this area, several of them whitetails, which are in the Boone and Crocket 150+ class while traditionally in an area where 125 class bucks are considered big.

For this hunt I had chosen to hunt with one of the inline muzzleloading rifles from Gonic Arms, a GA-87. My chosen rifle is in .458 caliber and shoots 370 and 405 grain conicals from Gonic. I topped the rifle off with one of Burris’ 3.5-12×44 Signature Hi-Lume rifle scopes. After spending time at the range I had settled on a load for this hunt that consisted of 110 grains of Pyrodex RS, one of the 370 grain hollow point, solid base conicals from Gonic and Thompson Center’s Natural Bullet Lube. With this load I was able to print 3/4 inch groups 2 1/2 inches high at 100 yards. With the projectile penetration tests that I had completed during the sighting in process, I felt confident about taking game out to the 150 yard mark with this rig.

Now I know that there are those of you that are shaking your heads as you read this. Like you, for the fisrt 15 years of my blackpowder hunting experience, I was a primitive only muzzleloading hunter. My weapon of choice has been a custom .50 caliber percussion Hawken rifle with a 1 in 66 twist barrel. My hunting load was a .495 round ball, 85 grains of Pyrodex RS and .10 Ox-Yoke Original Pre-lubed patches.

However, at an offer from Dale Rodney of Gonic Arms, I decided to put one of his rifles through its paces. What I learned is that all muzzleloaders, regardless of the type of ignition or action, are still muzzleloaders. They have to be treated the same with the same shooting limitations as to range and power in accordance with the ability of the firearm and the shooter. But the ease of use, inherent accuracy and proven reliability of the Gonic design, make this rifle a joy to use. That said, let’s move forward.

My guide and I used the tried and true hunting methods of stalking and glassing trying to find the right buck that tickled my fancy. On this ranch, it has proven to be next to impossible to hunt these animals using the stand hunting method so commonly used for whitetails here in Texas. For glassing purposes I had brought along a Burris 24X60 spotting scope and a pair of Nikon 8X23 compact Mountaineer binoculars. After a likely candidate was found the spotting scope was left behind and the Nikon’s took over as we started our stalk.

So it was that the past three days had proven to be very educational when it came to learning how to hunt these beautiful deer. Some of the same techniques that one would employ in trying to outsmart a mature trophy whitetail holds true here as well. The hunter must prepare himself properly by employing a good set of camouflage hunting clothes and hunting boots that match the terrain to be hunted. This should include gloves and a mesh face covering or camouflage paint. These deer have eyes that are every bit as good as our native whitetails. Then care must be taken in your stalk if you intend to stalk close enough for a sure shot from a muzzleloader. As I have said before, the hunter who tries for shots that are beyond the ability of his firearm or himself is not really a hunter. He is just a shooter.

Several times during the past few days we had stalks ruined because of things like a change in wind direction or the sunlight catching a rifle barrel just right. A good hunter must be ready to take advantage of an opportunity when it is presented. Since these animals can move surprisingly fast, any opportunity that comes your way is often quickly lost.

Now after hiding under brush piles and crawling around cactus and Spanish daggers, we had finally gotten the break that we had been looking for. The game trail that crossed the draw in front of us had proven a likely spot to set up an ambush. Upon scouting the trail, we found fresh tracks a plenty of the several kinds deer that inhabit this part of the ranch. And since this trail led to a heavily used watering hole, we hoped to take advantage of the affinity for water that Axis deer have demonstrated time and time again.

We had set up at first light so that the sun would be to our backs and the first rays of sunlight would highlight anything moving along the trail. Now here on the fourth morning of my four day hunt, it seemed as if my goal was finally in reach as this perfect example of the type of buck I had come for continued following the trail, heading towards a small stand of trees that were about 110 yards away.

Maybe his excellent eyesight had caught some unnatural movement or possibly his acute hearing heard the rustle of cloth on a piece of brush. With the wind blowing in our faces, I didn’t think that his well developed sense of smell could have caught a whiff of our scent. But something had certainly made him stop and hide himself among the branches of the low limbed scrub oaks.

After an agonizing 15 minutes he finally took 2 steps forward and there it was. I could see the white patch at the base of his throat. As I looked through my riflescope I could tell that he was looking straight at our hiding spot so I knew that I would have to shoot now or miss my opportunity as there was a good chance that he would break back the way that he had come. I lined up the scope’s reticule, held my breath and slowly squeezed the trigger of the GA-87. Through the smoke I could see him rear up on his hind legs before he disappeared from sight. I jumped up to reload a secondary shot that would not be needed.

My first shot had cracked his sternum as it entered his chest cavity and traveled the entire length of his body. I later found the bullet under the skin near his rectum. My guide shook my hand and congratulated me on taking the biggest bodied Axis buck that he had ever seen. Though not the biggest horned buck ever killed, I was still proud of my hard won blackpowder Axis buck.

The meat of the Axis deer is regarded by many to be the best venison of all. The younger animals provide the best cuts, but even an old buck is highly palatable. Many hunters take surplus does just for their meat and beautiful hides. If you are looking to add an unusual trophy to your collection or are just looking to add a “new” taste to your table, give an Axis hunt a try. If your hunt is conducted in a true fair chase environment, you wont’ be disappointed by the challenge, the trophy or the fare.