I've whitetail hunted for years, but have recently been invited on an exotic hunt and MAY see audad, siki, and axis.

My problem is that... I don't know much about any of these species. What are the general "rule of thumbs" to classify a decent/trophy axis or sika buck? What about an audad (hold the jokes, just curious!)?

Spread? Antler height? Number of points? Can you age them similar to whitetails?

I'd like to at least kill an axis doe, as I've heard they are delicious.

Thanks for the help/advice and good luck this weekend, fellas! BTHO KSU!

Most Axis I've seen were limited to 6 points, though I did see one HUGE one in GSP of all places one night that had what looked more like 10-points

I've never heard of an Axis with more than 6 points. Axis deer are scored on length of the tines, and primarily, that means the one long main beam.

[This message has been edited by Buck Turgidson (edited 11/10/2011 11:51a).]

Done an Axis doe hunt, but Axis buck usually has 6 points as the previous poster said. Generally for a trophy you are looking for a rack that is 30"+ tall. My uncle has said that the general rule of thumb he lives by when hunting Axis bucks is he looks at the distance from the ground to the butt. If the rack is similar in height, it is usually 30+ inches. Someone feel free to correct me if I am wrong though.

They typically have 6 points. Can have fewer or can have more (see below). 30 inches was always the line between price ranges on the breeding ranch I worked on.

My dad shot one a couple years ago. 7.5 years old. It was only 26 inches tall but the mainbeams were bladed and it had split g1s, so 8 pts.

What about sika??

I know what they look like, but have NO CLUE if I see one whether it's a "shooter."

A mature sika should have 8 points. They're bodies are a lot bigger, so the antlers don't appear to be as impressive on them as they look on the axis. They also don't typically get as tall as axis.

I've taken two very nice Axis Bucks and theyt both had 6 points in the typical configuration. I was with a friend that shot obne that had 4 points on one side as the main beam had a fork near the end creating another 4" point.

What is a "good" spread for the antlers on a sika? What about an axis?