3rd exotic I’ve seen in Leon co.
1red stag 1 black buck doe now her.

Which part of the county are you in?

Saw a dead axis doe on Hwy 79 a couple of months ago between Buffalo and Oakwood.

On the last place, I had a blackbuck doe walk up behind the house while I was walking to the pickup. I think we both had the exact same look of shock on our faces. 'Never saw any other black buck, and we owned it for over 20 years. They supposedly breed like rabbits, but they don't expand like axis. 'Guess it's 'cause they won't jump low fences.

Leon.
We aren’t shooting any of them

Be careful what you wish for.

Very true.
When we hunted in Gillespie co we started seeing a few in the early 70’s.
The land owners all around wouldn’t let hunters shoot any until the early 80’s by then they were everywhere.
Sometimes you would see more axis than whitetail.
Not being allowed to shoot many and when you did it was an extra charge I would get tired of looking at them.

I shot a blackbuck doe in Mills county back in the early 90s. No idea where she came from or how she got on our place. There was a game ranch about 6-7 miles (straightline) away but she'd have had to walk the country roads, which would have made it ~10 and several of our gates would have had to be open for her to get in that pasture. That's the only recorded exotic sighting in 44 years.

I would shoot everyone of them on site if it were me. They can be as invasive and as destructive to habitat as hogs. If you like whitetails then they can be in direct competition with them. More of the exotics mean less whitetails when a whitetail has more of a limited homerange. Exotics can and will eat the ice-cream plants and then move miles to greener pastures. For me the worst exotics are aoudads and elk for Texas due to their size, herd size and their home range size. Some exotics are worse than others when it comes to offspring numbers...some have them year round and some have them in the spring. Some can have triplets as offspring while many have singles.

After seeing how some things go with introduced species... im thinking hogs, tillapia, zebra muscles, and thinks like cichlids, peacock bass, snakeheads, iguanas, countless snakes etc. in florida etc. im not a big fan of bringing new stuff in.

Shoot every one of them you see. Here's a short list of some invasives we are dealing with.

http://www.tsusinvasives.org/home/database/birds-mammals.html

Birds

Cattle Egret - Bubulcus ibis
Common Myna - Acridotheres tristis
Common Sparrow - Passer domesticus
Eurasian Collared Dove - Streptopelia decaocto
European Starling - Sturnus vulgaris
Monk Parrots - Myiopsitta monachus
Mute Swan - Cygnus olor
Rock Pigeon - Columba livia

Mammals

Axis deer - Axis axis
Barbary Sheep - Ammotragus lervia
European Rabbit - Oryctolagus cuniculus
Feral Pig - Sus scrofa
Gambian Rat - Cricetomys gambianus
Norway rat - Rattus norvegicus
Nutria - Myocastor coypus
Sika Deer - Cervus nippon
Small Indian Mongoose - Herpestes javanicus

Yup, not a fan of free-range exotics. Anything that impacts our native whitetail and mule deer herds (or anything else for that matter) gets a thumbs down from me.

Sounds logical in a forum but I have NEVER seen an extermination hunt for ANY exotic; quite the contrary.

Unless the law has changed since March 2020, cattle egrets are protected under MBTA https://www.fws.gov/birds/management/managed-species/migratory-bird-treaty-act-protected-species.php You can get a special permit from the USDA to shoot them, but otherwise, they are covered under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. They are not an introduced species, but here naturally

What are the laws on exotics? I have always wondered if people can just buy them and turn them loose on their property or how that worked. If they get to a certain population where they are negatively impacting native species that is problem but I think it is cool to have a few weird species running around.

This is concerning as my place is on the Leon-Freestone line near Oakwood. I will certain very with TPWD but give me the Cliff Notes. Can I shoot exotics year round like I do hogs? Hogs are more than enough, I don't want our whitetail competing any more.

Yes, any non native species is fair game, no season, no bag limits, no restriction of methods.

Thanks

What about pheasant?

Pheasant has a season in those counties with huntable populations.

Right, but it is a non-native species and the claim was made that any non-native species is fair game, no season, no bag limits, no restriction of methods. So obviously, the claim isn't totally accurate just like it isn't for cattle egrets. The claim is mostly accurate, but there are some exceptions, particularly with birds, that can get you into some trouble.

True. I think it depends on what the department defines as a game animal, and obviously, that's not 100% along the non-native lines like you stated.

I wasn’t aware that Pheasant were non native. Please forgive me. I am sorry that I ruined your whole day.

Just because cattle ingrates are protected doesn't mean they aren't invasive.

http://www.tsusinvasives.org/home/database/bubulcus-ibis
Cattle Egret
Native Origin: Africa, Spain, Portugal, India and Southeast Asia

Current Location
U.S. Habitat: Pastures, ploughed fields and marshes; thrive in altered habitats.
U.S. Present: All states; but breeding populations in AL, AR, CA, GA, KS, KY, MS, OK, NC, PR, SC, TN, TX and VA

I know some people like having exotics around and I can completely understand. Personally, I dont like them around if they compete with WT, which many do. My BIL and sister have their own place outa Sonora(sectionish) and when they got it 15 years ago the biologist advised trying to shoot all you could because of the competition with WT. I think it was/is mostly Axis. They are completely overrun with them now and it has to be a big detriment to WT.

No doubt about it freerange. Most of them do compete against the WT for food source for sure.
But, I do love Axis as well and if I had a place would love having a nice sized huntable herd of them.
Meh.......what a few thousand more a year in protein and cottonseed anyway?! lol

IMHO there is nothing more beautiful than a WT buck but there are also very, very few game animals any more tasty than an axis. lol