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Texas Sika Information #8140154 01/23/21 12:25 PM
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Uncle Nicky Offline OP
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Hello, looking for a little information on hunting in sika in Texas.

I'm just doing the research for now, but I'm trying to get a general idea on what I'd be getting into.

Are there any true free-range sika, or is it only high fence? (which would be fine)

Are most ranches in the Kerrville area?

I'd really like to get a representative Japanese stag, if that is possible (6 or 8 points). Do Texas ranches have Japanese sika or is it mostly different sub-species?

And, I guess the most important question, what would a hunt like this cost? I was hoping to keep it under $2,000 if possible.

Thanks in advance for any input you can give. up

Re: Texas Sika Information [Re: Uncle Nicky] #8140186 01/23/21 01:15 PM
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don k Offline
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Most places have gotten away from the Jap Sikas and have gone to the larger types. There are some free ranging around but I have never seen them in numbers like you do Axis. As for cost you just have to shop around. I would not think $2000 is very far off.

Re: Texas Sika Information [Re: Uncle Nicky] #8140314 01/23/21 03:06 PM
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Erny Offline
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West Texas Hunt Organization.....Mulie Mike on here, used to offer them free range in the Junction area.

Re: Texas Sika Information [Re: Uncle Nicky] #8140506 01/23/21 06:19 PM
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EddieWalker Offline
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I shot my sika with Mulie Mike a couple years ago. It was on a low fence cattle ranch that also has blackbuck and axis deer running around on it. We stayed in a hotel in Sonora Texas and drove to the ranch for the hunt.

[Linked Image]

Re: Texas Sika Information [Re: Uncle Nicky] #8140558 01/23/21 07:17 PM
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dirthawker Offline
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Your close to maryland why not save 2000 and go there. They have true free range sika, a cattle fence is a highfence to a sika keep that in mind.

Re: Texas Sika Information [Re: EddieWalker] #8140572 01/23/21 07:41 PM
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Originally Posted by EddieWalker
I shot my sika with Mulie Mike a couple years ago. It was on a low fence cattle ranch that also has blackbuck and axis deer running around on it. We stayed in a hotel in Sonora Texas and drove to the ranch for the hunt.

[Linked Image]



That is a good one


For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: Texas Sika Information [Re: dirthawker] #8140589 01/23/21 08:04 PM
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Uncle Nicky Offline OP
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Originally Posted by dirthawker
Your close to maryland why not save 2000 and go there. They have true free range sika, a cattle fence is a highfence to a sika keep that in mind.


I would love to. The competition to kill one of these creatures is fierce. Leases where sika live are ridiculously priced, guides are getting between $1,000-$1900 for 3-day hunts (low success), if you can even get a guide to return your call. There is the option of public land, nobody is friendly, it's a mile hike through the marsh in the dark, maybe an out-of-stater's tires will be flat when he trudges back through the marsh at night, maybe not. 2-Thermacell mosquito territory until January, and if you survive all of that, maybe 1 in 10 deer killed are worth mounting. The Maryland boys claim it all got ugly after Steve Rinella showed up to do a show on sika hunting.

I am getting too old (and admittedly, probably too lazy) to deal with that. I thought about a preserve in PA, but that's too much like shooting a deer in a pen. I've hunted high-fence in Texas before, while it's not hard, it wasn't something I felt ashamed of either. There are lottery hunts to hunt at Blackwater & limited hunting on Assateague Island, I plan to look into that more closely, but again, the odds on killing something worth mounting is going to be small.

Last edited by Uncle Nicky; 01/23/21 09:04 PM.
Re: Texas Sika Information [Re: EddieWalker] #8141244 01/24/21 12:21 PM
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Originally Posted by EddieWalker
I shot my sika with Mulie Mike a couple years ago. It was on a low fence cattle ranch that also has blackbuck and axis deer running around on it. We stayed in a hotel in Sonora Texas and drove to the ranch for the hunt.

[Linked Image]


Very nice! up A sika that looks like that is exactly what I am interested in.

Re: Texas Sika Information [Re: Uncle Nicky] #8141263 01/24/21 12:54 PM
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There are still lots of texas ranches with Japanese Sika I would think you will might be slightly under price at 2000

Re: Texas Sika Information [Re: Uncle Nicky] #8141350 01/24/21 03:06 PM
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Re: Texas Sika Information [Re: EddieWalker] #8141580 01/24/21 06:33 PM
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Originally Posted by EddieWalker
I shot my sika with Mulie Mike a couple years ago. It was on a low fence cattle ranch that also has blackbuck and axis deer running around on it. We stayed in a hotel in Sonora Texas and drove to the ranch for the hunt.

[Linked Image]


Very nice Sika Eddie!

Re: Texas Sika Information [Re: dirthawker] #8142012 01/24/21 11:49 PM
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Originally Posted by dirthawker
Your close to maryland why not save 2000 and go there. They have true free range sika, a cattle fence is a highfence to a sika keep that in mind.


That is absolutely 100% false. A cattle fence (4 strand barbwire) will not even slow down a Sika of any type. They will gladly jump it, go under it, or go through it with ease.

There are quite a few free-range Sika around Bandera, Kerrville, Junction, and Sonora....mostly along the major watersheds. They like thick cover.


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Re: Texas Sika Information [Re: Eland Slayer] #8142041 01/25/21 12:08 AM
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Originally Posted by Eland Slayer
Originally Posted by dirthawker
Your close to maryland why not save 2000 and go there. They have true free range sika, a cattle fence is a highfence to a sika keep that in mind.


That is absolutely 100% false. A cattle fence (4 strand barbwire) will not even slow down a Sika of any type. They will gladly jump it, go under it, or go through it with ease.

There are quite a few free-range Sika around Bandera, Kerrville, Junction, and Sonora....mostly along the major watersheds. They like thick cover.



We had them thick on a place I sold in Bandera south on 173.

I killed an absolute giant there


For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: Texas Sika Information [Re: Uncle Nicky] #8142181 01/25/21 01:31 AM
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Heres a couple from the last two years...one of our favorite things to eat...


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Re: Texas Sika Information [Re: Uncle Nicky] #8142796 01/25/21 04:23 PM
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For the Carnivores...how does Sika taste compared to Whitetail or Axis?

Just my .02,
LeonCarr


"Whitetail Deer are extinct because of rifles with telescopes mounted on them." - My 11th Grade English Teacher
Re: Texas Sika Information [Re: Uncle Nicky] #8142821 01/25/21 04:43 PM
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Sika is much tastier than WT, closer to Axis (although I still prefer Axis).

For what it's worth, my father in law is from the Eastern Shore of MD and when I learned of the free-range Sika population out there (admittedly, through the Meateater show) I asked him to look into it for me. He's a big time fishing guide on the Chesapeake and has a lot of friends out there. His feedback came back similar to Uncle Nicky's above. Seems like it was a nicely kept "secret" that local hunters really enjoyed until the shows came out (multiple episodes on different seasons), and then it blew up and a lot of out-of-staters started showing up, driving up the price of the hunts, making every other cat with access to land an "outfitter" and putting tremendous pressure on an already wily population of animals. According to my FIL, the terrain is brutal out there. I might still want to take a trip out east post-pandemic and hunt with one of his friends, but it sounds like this isn't nearly as easy a situation as coming to Texas and hunting here.


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Re: Texas Sika Information [Re: LeonCarr] #8143217 01/25/21 10:17 PM
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Originally Posted by LeonCarr
For the Carnivores...how does Sika taste compared to Whitetail or Axis?

Just my .02,
LeonCarr


I think easily better than Whitetail, and for me its a toss up between sika and axis...

Re: Texas Sika Information [Re: Uncle Nicky] #8143406 01/26/21 12:07 AM
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I just booked a hunt to the Ukraine for sika for 2022. They have monsters out there.


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Re: Texas Sika Information [Re: Uncle Nicky] #8144627 01/26/21 11:54 PM
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This is Jeremy and I am bicirous

Re: Texas Sika Information [Re: MR5Hunter] #8145095 01/27/21 11:47 AM
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Originally Posted by MR5Hunter
This is Jeremy and I am bicirous

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