I am hunting in the Eastern Cape in a few months and I wanted to ask if anyone has hunted fallow deer there.

I don't normally hunt "exotics" but from what I can tell the fallow deer was introduced to the Cape in 1870.

For those who have hunted them there how challenging was it? Would you do it again?

Thanks

In many parts of the East Cape they are truly free ranging, and as you mentioned were introduced in the late 1800's. I shot one last year in the Baviaans River Conservancy. It was as challenging as any other plains game hunt. We had several blown stalks before it all came together. We were actually stalking kudu when we spotted a few fallow bucks on an adjacent ridge, and one was nice enough we forgot about the kudu (temporarily). A couple hours later we were taking pictures.
I understand your reluctance to take "exotic" animals, and the fallow wasn't even on my agenda prior to the hunt. Realizing these were truly free ranging, however, changed my tune quickly. I felt like the hunt was fairly similar to a trophy whitetail deer hunt. The fallow can evaporate into nothing, but weren't hunted hard in this region, so were seen occasionally throughout the hunt. You'll have one of the best fallow hunts anywhere in the East Cape.
Bill

I also shot a fallow deer in the Eastern Cape on an unfenced property. We spent all morning chasing them around on foot, catching glimpses of females and young but no males. Eventually jumped 2 bucks, watched them bed down a mile away, and made a stalk. Walked past him once, but found him again on the way back through. Nice trophy and fun hunt.

Spotted another fallow buck later in the hunt (an all-white color phase) that I still wish I'd have had time to go after. Oh well - something else for next time.

Dan

Don't expect to see any particularly good fallow trophies over there...... most are very mediocre compared to British (etc) trophies.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm trying to decide which animals I would like to hunt there the primary criteria are:

Is the Eastern Cape a natural place to find them?

How challenging is the hunt going to be?

Steve, thanks for your input as always but I'm not a trophy hunter I just want it to be fun.

All the fallow deer I saw were on low fenced (cattle/sheep) ranches. They were usually in rugged terrain and made for a good hunt.

Hunting in the Eastern Cape can be as easy or challenging as you make it and greatly depends on your luck. I probably hiked an average of 5-6 miles each day because I prefer spot/stalk on foot. There is a lot of game, so you'll usually shoot a lot of animals per trip compared to hunting in the US. The animals are completely wild though, fenced or un-fenced. You might get lucky and shoot an animal a few hundred yards walk from the truck, or you might chase them around for hours without ever getting close enough.

I think I upset the last landowner that showed me an African fallow deer when I pointed out that I had given better heads to my dog to chew, once he had told me how much he charged for it.

I suppose I should book my space back at diplomats anonymous...

my name is kiri & It's been 3 hours since I put my foot in it and offended someone...

K

Where are Fallow deer originally from?

quote:

Originally posted by rxgremlin:
I am hunting in the Eastern Cape in a few months and I wanted to ask if anyone has hunted fallow deer there.

I don't normally hunt "exotics" but from what I can tell the fallow deer was introduced to the Cape in 1870.

For those who have hunted them there how challenging was it? Would you do it again?

Thanks

1. The hunt wasn't all that challenging.

2. I wouldn't do it again but don't particularly regret doing it.

Per my PH, it was supposedly "a very good one" but it didn't even make it into the SCI record book in the handgun category.

Grumulkin,

Thanks for the response. What was it about the hunt that you did not feel was challenging?

You're bringing up a topic that I've been thinking a lot about myself. The perfect setup is a native animal which is challenging to hunt.

But I think I've become less conservative about this. I took a very nice impala on my first hunt in EC a few years back. A little later I discovered that they're not native to EC. What?! Should this lower the value of the trophy that's hanging on my wall? I had to tell myself over and over again that I was being silly. And of course I was

Then to the aspect of challenging. Difficult, I think. I mean, some people struggle to get a decent buchbuck. For others it's a walk in the park to shoot a new world record.

Some animals are less shy than others. I don't neccesarily think they're less of a trophy.

As for the fallow, I think you'll have a challenging hunt for a nice animal. But if you're looking for a good trophy there's other places to go. On the other hand, a smaller head might be a "very big trophy" if it's got a good story to go with it The trophy value is more than inches and centimeters in my trophy room!

quote:

Originally posted by rxgremlin:
Grumulkin,

Thanks for the response. What was it about the hunt that you did not feel was challenging?

Several factors went into it not being that much of a challenge. The game farm wasn't as large as I would have liked. If the farm had been larger and a bit more rough in terrain the challenge might have been greater. The animal also didn't seem that wary. I did make it a bit more challenging by taking it with a handgun; a bow would have increased the challenge a lot.

There is another animal I wouldn't hunt in South Africa and that is the Nyala. By now I could have shot a truck load of them; they've all seemed just a bit too tame. I wouldn't shoot my pet and I don't want to shoot someone elses either (unless it was very cheap) but for anyone who wants to take a Nyala, I have no problem with that.

Fallow deer? Really? In Africa? Never felt the urge. Considered it in New Zealand, for about 10 seconds, before discarding the idea.

I guess I really do not understand hunters. Fallow in SA and Bongo in Texas? I'm obviously a hunter for the wrong or at least minority reason.