Anyone give me the basics on Axis and Blackbuck?

I was fortunate enough to be invited to hunt a ranch in Kimble county and we are primarily looking for axis. It is low fence and they say they usually have good numbers on the property. They also see blackbuck occasionally. The place is just shy of a thousand acres with lots of terrain change. They have several feeders and box blinds set out at about a hundred yards. I will be rifle hunting with my custom 7mm-08 with fairly hot hand loads and feel like I can do an ethical shot inside 400 yards or so. I'm still above 2000 FPS at 500 yards so plenty of power. Much past that I feel like is more for a magnum caliber.

I'm headed down in a week and have never hunted axis or blackbuck before. Anyone have any tips or advice they would care to offer up? Thanks!!

Aim in center of shoulder on axis with broadside shot. Vitals are further forward than a whitetail.

Much appreciated. The 7-08 should be enough gun don't you think?

And lower. Not familiar with the 7mm08 loads but I have found it is hard to have much of a blood trail on an axis . Maybe because of location of vitals? Shot an axis doe yesterday. She ran about 50 yards and was down. Tried to back track her to where I shot her and couldn't. Hit her in front of shoulder angling in and came out opposite side behind shoulder. Gutted her and she was blowed up inside.
Very tough animals for their size. IMO

^^^^^^^^


This.


And your 7-08 would be nearly ideal I should think. We shot a couple with 7x57s and 150 NBTs...kinda the same ballistics....

Be ready, take aim and shoot fairly quickly..they tend to be real wary and don't like to stand around for long. +1 on the shoulder. If he runs, well, you know.

Excellent. Thanks for the tips folks

got a bacon wrapped axis backstrap in the oven now!!

Great eating, be sure to post pics after your hunt!!

Kimble Co is prime axis country. Where abouts will you be hunting? I center punch the front shoulder just about every time I shoot one. 7mm08 will work fine. Use whatever load you use on WT.

As far as tips. I would look at lots of pics of axis on the hoof to better help judge size if you are hunting alone and haven't hunted them before. A 25" axis looks HUGE if you haven't seen one before live. Also, groups of 3 or more are often led by a doe by several yards. If a loan doe walks out be patient. A big buck may be a few minutes behind her.

X2!!! Be ready for some of the best wild meat out there.

This is some good advise ^^^^^^^^ And your 7mm-08 will work just fine!

Very much appreciate the info guys. Don't recall the name of the ranch offhand but it's a buddies place and its I think about 15 miles to the east of Junction give or take. Hopefully if all goes well I'll have a picture or two to share next weekend.

I'd also set out a few bales of Alfalfa if your planning to sit in a blind.

Definitely on the alfalfa. They have a serious sweet tooth, so some sweet horse feed (with molasses) works great, too.

There went both of my best kept secrets...

The secret to good shot on axis isn't pick a spot...it's pick the right spot!

This is your friend when axis hunting.

Oh Yeah, chaffhaye, works wonders.

Shoot as stated above. Axis are some tough animals, but man are they good to eat.

Well hunt turned out great. Took a real nice axis doe with a head shot from about 150 yards out and also took a 3 year old white tail spike. Thanks for the tips on axis. They're certainly spooky but it all worked out.

Too late to this post for any tips, but congrats!