My First Deer With Cast

[2ndAmendmentNut]

I got my first deer with cast boolits this Sunday. Nice plump little Axis doe (very tasty). Rifle is a Sears M53 30-06 (Winchester M70), with a Leupold 3-9. Wind was on my side for once, I managed to sneak up a small hill, and inched on my belly at the top. Small heard of Axis not but 90 yards away. Shot this one right in the neck, dropping her on the spot. Load was a Lyman 311284 made from air cooled WW, on top of 26gr of RX7. (BTW the hole you see is from the pocket knife I used to let the blood out, the boolit entrance is hard to see just below it, exited right out the back of the spine leaving a nickel sized hole.)

[RugerFan]

Good job! Thats a neat looking animal.

[2ndAmendmentNut]

Thank you.

Axis are an exotic run a muck in my area, I swear the meat is some of the best you can eat health and flavor wise. They breed year round and eat everything, the bucks also grow huge racks for their size. Most dress out at about a 100lbs, with the biggest I have ever shot weighing in at 180lbs field dressed. Sense they are an exotic and a huge nuisance you can shoot them anytime of year anytime of day or night.

[home in oz]

Good hunt!

Are your axis deer moving north, like your wild hogs and dillos did?

[white eagle]

good job
nice hunt

[Hickory]

When I first saw the picture,
I thought you killed Bambie.
Good shootin'

[EMC45]

When I first saw the picture,
I thought you killed Bambie.
Good shootin'

Me too.

[Von Gruff]

Good shooting and even better eating. Now that you have one under the belt, ther will be no going back to j words.

Von Gruff.

[HollowPoint]

I was just about to write up a "Smart-Ass" reply about you killing Bambie as well, until I saw that someone beat me to it.

Good Shooting. That should be some real tender venison.

HollowPoint

[2ndAmendmentNut]

Yeah Axis don’t get real big compared to the “up north” deer, but there is no better eating. They do not even taste like deer, more like a buffalo or real lean beef.

Not killed with a cast boolit, but I just wanted to post this picture of an average Axis buck my son killed with a 22-250 so you all could see what sort of big racks these little deer grow. (Please excuse the censoring, I do not feel like posting pictures of my family on a public forum.)

[WildmanJack]

Holy Cow, what part of Texas do they roam in?? That might be an interesting hunt to set up...
Nice Buck, Nice Doe as well...
Jack

[2ndAmendmentNut]

Almost every high fence game ranch in Texas has Axis on them, but as far as I know they are loose and thriving in the Hill Country area.

[northmn]

I have become very addicted to cast bullets for deer sized game. However most of my shots are under 150 yards so they work very well for me. while I have not yet gotten any deer with the 311284 you are using I have gotten several with 30 cal cast bullets and they work very well. Your load is similar to what I use in other calibers, but I use an alloy that is about 1-1 WW pure lead and heat treat it and then place the bases in a pan of water an anneal the noses. Gotten excellent expansion and have yet to recover a bullet as they shoot through. Feels good to see the success and I envy those of you that can keep shooting as I have snow piles in my yard higher than my pickup truck from clearing snow. When I retire I hope to start doing some hunting in the South.

DP

[Blammer]

Great shooting!

[45-70 Chevroner]

Beautiful set of antlers. The antlers look more like Elk than deer. What does it cost for out of state hunters? Can out of staters hunt Axis with out a tag?

[missionary5155]

Greetings and Congradulations
Now you have no reason to shoot criters with anything else.
All my gun deer have been with my own cast and I cannot imagine why I need to change.

[swheeler]

Nice deer, congratulations on the cb kill! I can visualize a bull elk with a "minnie me"Axis standing beside him, funny!

[chaos]

2ndamendmentnut,
Where about do you fellers hunt?

I grew up hunting a place in Leakey Texas, right smack dab in the hill country. Axis are almost more numerous than the native whitetail down there and free ranging to boot. It was not uncommon to see 80 to 100 in a herd every time you got on the stand. We would take many Axis every year and rarely buy beef to eat. There is no better eating animal on the planet as far as I'm concerned.

My parents sold off the place and i've never taken another Axis since. Hunting is a VERY expensive game in the state of Texas, with 99% of hunting opportunity being on a leased place. Places that hold Axis will cost a man that much more.

High fenced places are in another prioce range yet. Axis deer will flat out dwarf the tiny bodied whitetail of the hill country that this state is known for.

We had Elk, Axis, Fallow ( Chocolate and white) , Sika and blackbuck on that place, with a high fence no where in sight. With the usual dosing of hogs (freral) and even a few Javelina.

The only downside to taking Axis Doe is that they do breed year round like was stated. Sometimes one finds fawns in the gut pile when cleaning the deer. I only ever took one doe for this reason. Maybe I was just unlucky.

Chaos

Edited, to add:

There is a State park down by Junction that does offer Axis hunts by a lottery or draw system. I'm not sure aobut out of state requirements. Axis deer are like any other exoctic species in this state with no tagging, or limits.

[2ndAmendmentNut]

2ndamendmentnut,
Where about do you fellers hunt?

I grew up hunting a place in Leakey Texas, right smack dab in the hill country. Axis are almost more numerous than the native whitetail down there and free ranging to boot. It was not uncommon to see 80 to 100 in a herd every time you got on the stand. We would take many Axis every year and rarely buy beef to eat. There is no better eating animal on the planet as far as I'm concerned.

My parents sold off the place and i've never taken another Axis since. Hunting is a VERY expensive game in the state of Texas, with 99% of hunting opportunity being on a leased place. Places that hold Axis will cost a man that much more.

High fenced places are in another prioce range yet. Axis deer will flat out dwarf the tiny bodied whitetail of the hill country that this state is known for.

We had Elk, Axis, Fallow ( Chocolate and white) , Sika and blackbuck on that place, with a high fence no where in sight. With the usual dosing of hogs (freral) and even a few Javelina.

The only downside to taking Axis Doe is that they do breed year round like was stated. Sometimes one finds fawns in the gut pile when cleaning the deer. I only ever took one doe for this reason. Maybe I was just unlucky.

Chaos

Edited, to add:

There is a State park down by Junction that does offer Axis hunts by a lottery or draw system. I'm not sure aobut out of state requirements. Axis deer are like any other exoctic species in this state with no tagging, or limits.

Sounds like you grew up close to where I am. PM sent....