We own a few acres a couple of miles from the house and near the Nueces River. After seeing a bit of Axis traffic in the area this past winter, we finally put a feeder up down there. Since I had the opportunity to harvest a trophy mule deer on our deer lease this past fall, once we started seeing the axis on our property, my wife's made it a mission to get one. We have a "north wind" tripod set up down there that we put in during the winter, but with the predominately south winds, she's had to adjust and put in a ground blind (basically just an easy-carry low folding chair and some camo-netting sticks) back in the cedars.

Basically, every day that we come in from work with enough day light left for her to head down there, she does. Today, she called me on the cell well before dark to ask me to bring the camera and the other truck down because she'd shot one.



Shot with her TC Encore, .358 Winchester (225 gr TSX) at 35-40 yards.

I think that there may be a bigger one around - we've seen 2-3 in this size class or better.

Troy

Excellent trophy! Way to go
Good Hunting,
Graham

Damn nice pelt on the axis. Love the contrast of the spots. Congrats to the huntress!!

Troy,
enjoyed meeting you and your wife at the big bore shoot in juliff. I'm surprised she wasn't shooting the cz 9.3 x 62. Any way you can't go wrong with the 358 win. Good looking axis.
Congrats, I know you'll enjoy the meat.
GWB

Congrats!!

That's a lovely buck. I'm looking forward to the day I can get an Axis, they really are a great deer.

Rgds,
FB

Troy,

Excellent Axis!!!
Kudos to your wife!!!!

Don

That is a dandy buck and some of the best eating game meat ever.

Very Nice

Did yall opt to preserve the velvet on the mount?

What a beautiful buck. Congratulations to her. That is one of the finest eating and looking exotic Deer we have in Texas.

An excellent trophy in anyones eyes. Well done!

Beautiful Axis!!!!!!

But I figured after the big bore shoot she would be hunting with a 458 Lott now.

We have the whole head currently in the freezer . . . haven't decided exactly what we're going to do on the mount.

We got her a M77 Hawkeye in .375 Ruger the weekend after the Big Bore Shoot . . . she wants me to take the wafer-thin recoil pad off of it and put on a decelerator before she hunts with it. Why Ruger insists on those thin red and hard pads on everything is beyond me LOL.

Anyway, that Encore in .358 has been her go-to gun. She's had a .260 barrell for it since 2002, and when I asked her what gun she'd want for Africa she said she wanted to take her Encore, so I got her the .358 barrell . . . Unless she's likely to shoot over 200 yards, she's been using the .358 for everything lately.

Troy

Very nice axis buck. They are truly an elegant deer.

Alan

I sure don't blame her on the recoil pad. I don't know why Ruger uses the things either.

I bet that 375 Ruger will be awsome Axis and Hog medicine.

Gorgeous animal, I hope to get one someday! Great trophy.