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Might be looking for a small BB herd soon #5640875 03/08/15 02:50 PM
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So a buddy of mine and myself are on the verge of leasing out about 9000 acres in Kent County which is about 1.5 hrs SE of Lubbock. We're toying with the idea of buying a small Blackbuck herd and just kind of seeing what happens if we turn them loose in the middle of the ranch. Its low Fence. Will be feeding protein and corn year round. What do you guys think? Will we be wasting out money? If not how many should we get to start with? Planning on maybe an initial investment of 5-7k. Are there any other exotics we might be able to get away with up there. Maybe Oryx?

Not looking to sell hunts or anything, we just think it would be cool to have a small population and in a few years, maybe a hunt able population juts to kind of make it interesting every time you go to the blind.


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Re: Might be looking for a small BB herd soon [Re: Matt1023] #5640928 03/08/15 03:14 PM
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Is the landowner or cattle lease on board with turning loose extra mouths on the grass to compete with their livestock? I would also make sure you have a long term lease since it takes a couple of years with any exotic to get a hunt-able herd. Cold temps might be a major issue with Blackbucks. Coyotes will love you for a while. If the Blackbucks survive them and take off you will be dealing with large numbers in no time. They birth twice per year and numbers get out of hand quickly.


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Re: Might be looking for a small BB herd soon [Re: Matt1023] #5640948 03/08/15 03:26 PM
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Yea they only keep 35 head of cattle. LO said it was fine if we wanted to release some. Its a 5 year lease. Theres already a few aoudad on the place. Didn't think about the coyotes, I'm betting they are pretty thick up there. Good advice on the cold. Might be a little too far north to make a significant investment in BB.


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Re: Might be looking for a small BB herd soon [Re: Matt1023] #5640956 03/08/15 03:32 PM
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Like Ranchman said they are like ribeyes to coyotes. That and the cold. I bought 3 females and one male about three years ago. I now have 2 females and one male. Good luck.

Re: Might be looking for a small BB herd soon [Re: Matt1023] #5641018 03/08/15 04:16 PM
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Yea, I just did some reading about blackbuck and the cold. Im convinced. Im not even going to bother. Maybe if the ranch was in the hill country I'd give it a shot. This place is too far north to risk it.


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Re: Might be looking for a small BB herd soon [Re: Matt1023] #5641120 03/08/15 05:22 PM
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Originally Posted By: Matt1023
Yea, I just did some reading about blackbuck and the cold. Im convinced. Im not even going to bother. Maybe if the ranch was in the hill country I'd give it a shot. This place is too far north to risk it.
probably a good call.

Re: Might be looking for a small BB herd soon [Re: Matt1023] #5641749 03/09/15 12:05 AM
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Stick some axis out there.


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Re: Might be looking for a small BB herd soon [Re: Matt1023] #5642024 03/09/15 01:58 AM
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We thought about that too, think they'll hang around though? Dont they have pretty large ranges?


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Re: Might be looking for a small BB herd soon [Re: Matt1023] #5642046 03/09/15 02:08 AM
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Axis do not do very well in extreme cold(ice or snow) weather also without really good thermal cover. To thin skinned. If you have a river or creek on the place they might would stay around longer but if you don't they will leave for that type of habitat. The coyotes will be really bad on the fawns and can be rough on the adults also.


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Re: Might be looking for a small BB herd soon [Re: Matt1023] #5642287 03/09/15 05:24 AM
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Ok, we have sold some BB to a guy outside of Childress. We sent him 10 does and 3 bucks. 8 does lived through this winter term so far. And all bucks are still alive. The same guy took 6 axis does and a spike buck. He says all the axis are living however he thinks two axis had fawns. He cannot 100% say they had fawns but we hauled them heavy bred. So they may have aborted the fawns during hauling them there. We were apprehensive on taking them that far north. But so far so good. However he runs a very tight coyote management program and has government trappers in the ranch. But he did say they are easy prey and he put a Anatolian shepard in the blackbuck pasture..

Re: Might be looking for a small BB herd soon [Re: Matt1023] #5642534 03/09/15 01:59 PM
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Well the plan is to keep a pretty hefty supply of groceries on property...protein, corn, and 3 food plots. My theory is that if the groceries are there, so will the animals. There are some large multi acre lakes on the property and nice creek during times of wet weather.

Myself and a buddy are co-managing the lease. The guys we are leasing too all seem to be on board with the feeding program, and it is required in the lease rules to have a protein feeder and to keep it stocked from Feb 1 to Sept 1 however I know that as soon as the protein bills start piling up, so does the resistance to keep it going. Thats what happened on my last lease anyway, and the first five years with the protein, we shot several in the 140's and a couple 150's. The last several years with no feeding program, the biggest deer killed has barely broken 140. We know all of the guys and have hunted with most of them in the past on our old lease, so while I always expect the worst, Im hoping these guys adhere to the rules. Everyone is "management minded" until the bills start rolling in seems, lol.

We are implementing some strict harvest rules as well as pertaining to what is a shootable deer. Im hoping no 3 year old deer will ever be shot on this place unless its just some sort of cull. We're going to do as much as we can with coyotes but with no one living on the property full time and an owner that is not local, we won't be able to actively control them.

So, with all that said, From the research I've done over the last few days, and the responses on here I think the chances of us being able to maintain a population of exotics would be difficult at best. It would be difficult anywhere I know, but I think we are just a bit too far north to invest any significant money.


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