Archive for the ‘Trophy Room’ Category

Spotted Sonora Surprise

by Craig Ellwanger

When Dr. Ramsey Koschak of San Angelo, Texas took off on foot one fateful day, I can guarantee he wasn’t hunting for axis. Ramsey hunts the same Sonora ranch I do…and have for years, the T-Half Circle. This southwest Texas game ranch is owned and managed by the Mayer family, who are gracious enough to allow several friends and family members the opportunity to hunt their acreage each and every year.

Though the ranch has always been “known” for producing big, free range whitetails, the prime habitat and low hunting pressure has enticed “other” species onto the property as well. Over the past 10 years or so, sightings of white fallow deer and aoudad have increased. I was fortunate enough to take a nice aoudad ram last year while spot and stalking (read: “A Scripted Dream Becomes Reality”) and David Mayer took a giant fallow buck several years ago that would rank high in the record books. THIS year, however, another exotic species has shown up on the scene…axis deer!

Ramsey was still hunting through a large draw that runs through a portion of the ranch. As he sat quietly, waiting on a wall-hanger whitetail, he was startled by an unfamiliar sound behind him. That sound would prove to be the alarm “bark” of an axis doe. As Ramsey turned around to investigate the strange new noise, he saw an awe-inspiring sight…a BIG axis buck cruising straight toward him. Quickly shouldering his rifle, Ramsey put a perfectly placed shot into the swollen neck of the oncoming deer, dropping him in his tracks.

Taking the deer into a well known taxidermist in nearby San Angelo, Ramsey’s deer was officially scored and measured #59 in the Gold Medal category! Another great trophy from a great trophy hunting ranch!

WMX Trophy Room Sale & Exotic Auction

For more information about WMX auctions, visit their website @ www.WildlifeManagmentExchange.com or contact them directly: 713.594.1576 or mark@wildlifemx.com

“Rough Days in Three Rivers” by Jim Miller

Our good friend Jim Miller, host of Tex-Mex Outdoors on the Sportsman Channel, shared with us this story – recounting his hunt for a scimitar-horned oryx antelope near Three Rivers, Texas. Thanks Jim! Enjoy, everyone!

I know most of you people remember a western movie by the name of “Rough Night in Jericho” This is my story about rough days in Three Rivers, Texas.

Well I had a desire to take a Scimitar Horned Oryx in October of 2011 before the Feds shut down the hunting and after visiting with Jason Mims at Frijolio Ranch in Three Rivers, Texas he agreed to let me come down and hunt for Scimitar Horned Oryx.  Now I know a lot of you folks are asking yourself, “what in the heck is a Scimitar Horned Oryx?”

This is an Antelope that is native to the whole of North Africa.  The Scimitar horned Oryx has been classified as extinct in the wild by the IUCN. The Scimitar Oryx natively inhabit steppe and desert where they eat leaves, grass and fruit.  They form herds of mixed sex containing up to seventy animals. Formerly they would gather in groups of several thousand for migration.  Scimitar Oryx can survive without water for many weeks because their kidneys prevent loss of water from urination and they can modify their body temperature to avoid perspiration.  As you can see they are a very hardy animal living in the Sahara which is a very harsh environment.  The Scimitar Oryx were hunted for their horns, almost to extinction.

Scimitar Oryx are tough animals to hunt even though here in Texas we have large herds on numerous ranches because they have adapted so completely. The hot dry South Texas climes are excellent country for raising these beautiful animals and they have populated greatly.  Even though they have white bodies, you would think they would stand out like a proverbial sore thumb in the harsh brush country but they are very sneaky and lord can they see!  I’m here to tell you they can see a flea crawling across a caliche road at 200 yards.  (more…)

My “Crown of Thorns” Axis Buck

The author's super rare 11-point axis buck

by Wade Abadie

I was recently blessed to be able to take the Axis buck of a lifetime hunting with my good friend Curtis Schramm at his ranch near Gonzales, TX.

The hunt began Thursday afternoon and I had the opportunity to look at a number of great Axis bucks, but one in particular really caught my eye. I got a glimpse of an especially tall buck from about 300 yards away on that first evening and thought he possibly had 8 points, making him somewhat “non-typical” for an axis (which I was excited about). I spent the next several days trying to re-find and hopefully harvest him, only come up empty handed after each hunt.

Saturday evening and Sunday morning were uneventful, with no Axis being spotted…and not much activity out of the other animals either. Sunday evening, Curtis and I set up to watch over his front field and a sendero. No bucks worthy of shooting came out and I had pretty much accepted the fact that I was going home empty handed on this trip. With about 5-10 minutes of shooting light left, I suggested we take a quick spin around the ranch…hoping for a miracle…and that is exactly what happened.

As we came out of a thick wooded area and crossed a wide sendero I thought I spotted an Axis rack sticking out of the grass around 80 yards off the road. I abruptly told Curtis to stop the truck! One look through the binoculars and I verified it was a very good Axis buck. At this point, I was willing to take any decent buck over 30″, so I didn’t need to look at him long. I jumped out, chambered a round, threw down the legs of my bipod and took steady aim. The buck stood up and was quartering to me, but the grass was very tall and I couldn’t make out the buck’s shoulder. Curtis gave me the “OK” to shoot, and I put the cross hairs on the bottom of the white patch on the buck’s throat.  (more…)