ZEBRAS??? YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!!

Sitting in the stand and the young buck at the feeder comes to full alert looking to my right. Up goes the tail and he wheels around and hauls butt the other way. Seen that reaction a million times so I grab the rifle and stick it out the window ready to blast yet another hog. Well out steps 2 Zebras at 40 yards. One is hidden by the brush but I got video of both.

I know what you are thinking...."high fence". Nope these are free range! LOL!

I hear they are good eating

Myself, I think it's pretty cool as long as they don't mess any feeders or equipment up.

Rumor is They got out of a HF place during the White Hat fire of 2011 west of Blackwell. Heard they’ve been seen but never seen photo confirmation.

Why didn’t you light one up?

Never even crossed my mind. Cool animals for sure but no desire to shoot one.

Yup. I think they actually came off the Dbar ranch. I remember my cousin working on that ranch when I would spend summers in Blackwell and they had zebras on their ranch. I have had several on camera around the water trough in my area but never seen them in person!

If they are as clever as people say they are, they’d better stay down on your lease bc if they make it up to mine, they are gonna end up as rugs.

That would have been cool to see. I would of had a hard time not pulling the trigger.

They would be rugs if I saw them also.

Thats neat. I'd have a hard time deciding whether or not to shoot one if they show'd up out of the blue. Now if I knew they were around and more than a few I'd pop the 1st one I got a shot at and turn it into sausage....

That’s what I’ve heard. I would have had to find out, for myself. Pretty wild thing to see, I bet, when you aren’t expecting it.

That is a high dollar trophy right there! I would have put one on the ground fast.

We have a small place north of Leakey. We had one that would hang out at camp. Not sure what happened to it. I wouldn't let anyone shoot it. It was darn near tame.

Nice pics!

Same here....don't think I would pass that one up....

Freezer filler.

Their actually one of the better eating game in africa, they make incredbile rugs or pillows, let me lnow if you want to sell a hunt for one.

Oh man. Hope you don't regret that decision. Ultimate trophy for Texas free range!!!

Killing a Zebra ranks right up there with killing a Donkey for me. Heck they can even breed with each other. Never heard anyone talk about how great a Donkey taste and I'm sure those stripes don't add any extra flavor. LOL!

It's a trophy for a lot of people, I get that. It's just not for me. I enjoyed the heck out of watching them at such a close distance and would love to see them again. I kept looking for a pride of Lions and listening for the distant sound of a bull elephant but pretty sure I was on the wrong continent just like these 2 Zebras.

They are excellent! And as others have said, they are clever, and make a great trophy as well..

They sure are great eating. nyalubwe told me that before I started hunting Namibia and I wasn't so sure. Well, he was dead right....they are superb table fare.

^^ sign of a true sportsman right there. Respecting the wildlife and not for the sake of

Nevertheless, I’m happy to come dispatch them if they start tearing up your feeders.

I wouldn't shoot one either. Very cool experience.

I would trap them and sell them personally. I wouldn't have any desire to shoot one unless someone wanted them gone for some reason.

Who knew horse was sooo good.

Wasnt there a guy on the forum that shot a free range Sable a year or two back?? Zebra would be up there too.

Those striped donkeys might keep your coyotes in check

No kill for me here, would rather watch them.

I wonder why an animal with diet and shape so close to a horse or mule would be considered excellent eating when no one would drool over the thought of eating a horse or mule?

I wouldn't shoot it at our place for the same reason I wouldn't shoot the Audad or the camels that showed up at our place that one time. We're deer hunters. If it's not a deer or some sort of animal that negatively effects the deer (hog, Coyote, Bobcat), we're not going to shoot it.

People do eat horse meat in a lot of countries, just not her in the States.

Same for me if they were on my place.

I would have probably shot one, but I like to kill things.

To me I bet its just exotic and that is why people rave about it. Just like axis, fallow, black buck etc. etc. etc. Its not just a diet and shape, zebras are horses.

https://thetakeout.com/how-it-became-impossible-for-americans-to-buy-horse-mea-1798263202

Although I've never tried it. Horse meat is supposedly pretty good, and very good for you. Americans are just ninnies. I would try it if ever given the chance.

Build you a pen and catch them, then call the ranch they escaped from and swap them for a nice whitetail hunt.

You'd be wrong again.

That would be a terrific thing to see!

Not being familiar with their trophy status or how good they taste, I bet I would have had the same reaction so surprised you do not think about shooting it at first.
Now if I came out there again with that knowledge and they were ruining my feeder and chasing my deer off then into the freezer and hello new rug

Imagine that'd be a lot easier said than done. I hear those things are sharp, and not to mention Meaner than snot, even the tame ones..

The Spainish still eat them, I'm sure others do too. I'd try it, just another herbivore, right?

My cousin said it best. "I ain't about to eat a horse, hell I might have ridden him at one time or another" My parents lived in CT in the 60's, Mom said you could get horse meat at the grocery store. I'm not opposed to eating a horse, not going out of my way to do it though. I'd take the time to grind up a Zebra into sausage, would make great dinner conversation.

Even better if you could find black and white striped casings.....

Yep, but the video sure would be fun to watch.

Pretty cool for sure. I think I would have had me a new rug and some zebra steaks, sausage, and jerky.

That was an interesting article. And, I wonder if a person could actually tame one of these striped beasts? That would be cool to ride your own zebra in the local Christmas parade, or rodeo, lol.

My Dad was in a transport role , attached to an artillery unit during WWII . He said the guys in his unit ate lots of horse in France and Germany and were happy to get it.

Mo

jack in the box burger meat...

Just curious if any of you that say they would shoot have thought about how they were going to get that thing to a processor or back to camp..etc...

I've eaten them - pretty sure the piece I got had been high hung, because it was the rankest, nastiest thing I've ever put in my mouth. Rotten! And very yellow fat.
Having said that, the rugs are beautiful and I would have dropped both immediately.

Oh I agree its just funny how nobody wants to eat a horse but put some pretty white and black striped fur on it and send it from Africa and all of a sudden its this exotic saught after trophy for its beautiful hide and delicious meat.

Horse meat has a bad reputation because no one is going to kill and eat a healthy, fat, young filly. The horses that get sent to the killers are old swaybacks with ribs showing that aren’t good for anything anymore.Think about it.

They can destroy a feeder as will any other "horse." The meat is AMAZING, tastes a lot like beef with a bit of wild flair. Cooks up just like lean beef, needs bacon fat to keep from drying out. I have eaten it a few times and loved it. Ground checking one of those would have been on my list as well, but I respect your decision not to. Great pics and amazing experience I am sure.

Would have been a whole lot easier than the last two elk I’ve killed, and I managed that.

I would quarter it like an elk. Then I would call our friend the butcher and say "I need help.", he would say "what did you kill". I would say "A zebra", there would be moment of silence, and then he would say "WTF did you say?", I would answer "A zebra.".. More dead silence on the other end, then I would hear a lot of laughing from the guys at the butcher shop. Then he would say, "I need to put this on speaker phone, because I think we have a bad connection." Then I would repeat what I said and everybody at the butcher shop would be laughing...

Sorry, forgot commentary. This is what I saw across the street from my place. Pretty sure it's secure in his high fenced property, but come to think of it, I haven't seen him lately.

I would think about darting them and selling them for a nice profit.

Cool