Buddy bought some land down south in Val Verde Co and has a healthy herd of axis. Knowing the earliest I’ll make it down is mid to late spring, will they be hard horned by then? No horns?

Some will and some won't.

There will be some are hard horned year round unlike whitetails that all bucks are hard horned through a specific period, but it seems most are in the late Spring and Summer.

You will likely find axis in any stage of antler development at any time of the year.

Depends on when they were born. Very different from whitetail.

The large axis herd(over 1200 hd)we had on a ranch in Kendall County had about 70% of the bucks stripping velvet and hard horns from May to June. The target date to hunt them in the rut and hard horns was Fathers Day. They had the best antler color and in the rut. About 70% of the does we had fawned from Jan- March also. The rest of the bucks were in any stage of growth and hard horns the rest of the months. Same with does fawning. The bucks have the best antler color when they first strip the velvet off...so May and June. They are very vocal during the rut also. Really depends on numbers and what they have to eat on the place. The seem to be seasonal in one area and then move to another area after a while. Summer they liked river, creek or wet/spring areas the best. Low fence is best hunting them when they are there cause they may move. They seem to follow the same movement and feeding patterns year in and year out.

Good info.

Majority of the bucks will be in velvet, some will be hard horned, some with no horns.

In may about 75% of our herd was still in velvet, but some had stripped out already.

Thanks for always sharing, great info

Thanks for that info. He has the only watering hole within about 5000 acres, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. I’ll just have to keep an eye on his camera

May and June can get into the rainy season out west. Especially June, so they could scatter to water pockets in the drainages with preferred forage at that time. Good luck.

They have a rainy season out west?

He has an apparent endless surprise from the Edward Aquifer. Runs a pump 480 feet in the well and pumps 450 gallons an hour. His 3/4 acre pond is being opened to 2 acres right now, so he’s go water stations set up around the property.

Lots of variables.