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!
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