Here are some of the publications that are available from the Exotic Wildlife Association in Kerrville Texas:

1.) The Axis Deer In Texas - by the Kleberg Studies in Natural Resources - Department Of Wildlife and Fisheries Texas A&M
2.) The Nilgai antelope in Texas - Kleberg Studies in Natural Resources - Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Texas A&M
3.) The Indian Blackbuck Antelope: A Texas View - Kleberg Studies in Natural Resources - Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences -Texas A&M
4.) The Fallow Deer - by Norma Chapman
5.) Exotics in Texas - by Max Traweek and Roy Welch
6.) Livestock and Wildlife Management During Drought - Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute

Another great book on Whitetail deer management is: The King Of Deer by Rodney G. Marburger

Regardless of how some folks might feel about Dr. James Kroll he had/has wrote two books that are still considered standards of reference in Whitetail Deer management and are full of sound whitetail deer management and harvesting information. They are:

1.) A Practical Guide To Producing and Harvesting White-tailed Deer
2.) Aging and Judging Trophy Whitetails

There were some studies done back in the late 70's at the YO ranch by some biologist ( One of them my old room mate) on how deer behaved in smaller high fenced pastures. The research determined that deer in smaller acreages become so in tune with the habitat that they can become much more wary than deer in open range.
It was some pretty interesting research that dispelled a lot of thoughts about deer in smaller high fence pastures.
A good comparison my room mate shared was comparing a person knowing his living room and all the furniture and pictures on the wall....if you came home from work and your wife had moved a chair you would immediately know something was wrong and changed...where as if you walked into a large restaurant or meeting hall you would never miss the chair being moved.
The deer were the same....they were much more aware of that small environment than open range. It was very interesting findings.
I have helped some smaller high fence landowners manage Wt's and Exotics. It is amazing how wary the animals become and how well they can hide and disappear. We worked for 8 days to dart a male blackbuck on a 150 acre place. We went four days figuring he was either dead or had escaped.

I found blackbuck doe to be just as delicious as axis. I'd love to have a steady stream of great meat from that source. And they don't carry much meat, increasing the volume of times you get to hunt!

Yes sir! Blackbuck doe is delicious! Agree with you you 100%

Gunny456 said:

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There were some studies done back in the late 70's at the YO ranch by some biologist ( One of them my old room mate) on how deer behaved in smaller high fenced pastures. The research determined that deer in smaller acreages become so in tune with the habitat that they can become much more wary than deer in open range.
It was some pretty interesting research that dispelled a lot of thoughts about deer in smaller high fence pastures.
A good comparison my room mate shared was comparing a person knowing his living room and all the furniture and pictures on the wall....if you came home from work and your wife had moved a chair you would immediately know something was wrong and changed...where as if you walked into a large restaurant or meeting hall you would never miss the chair being moved.
The deer were the same....they were much more aware of that small environment than open range. It was very interesting findings.
I have helped some smaller high fence landowners manage Wt's and Exotics. It is amazing how wary the animals become and how well they can hide and disappear. We worked for 8 days to dart a male blackbuck on a 150 acre place. We went four days figuring he was either dead or had escaped.

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Without knowing how the study was conducted, or what was considered "smaller high fence pastures", I would think any supplemental feeding can be quite a factor, on deer behavior. No need to be wary, of your grocery source.

It does not involve high-fencing, but suburan deer, deer in state parks, other examples of deer becoming used to human interaction (Camp Creek, a long established rural development in Robertson county, has deer herds daily, in the yards between the houses and the lake), quite common for deer to "relax", regarding humans.

And deer can be spooky one day, and ignore you driving by, on another day. But the more they see/interact with you, the more complacent they seem to become. And we do not do any supplemental feeding, on our ranch.

The studies were on 200 and 150 acres. No feeders.
Very familiar with the behavior in Hollywood Park and Lakeway herds as we lived there. The difference is people aren't shooting and hunting them.

GSS said:

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Hopefully you procure, and enjoy, the 250-ish acres, but adding exotics to a place with 150-175 acres of woods seems more like livestock management, than anything "natural".
Deer and the exotics would become more of a dependent pet, than being wildlife, in my opinion (and experience where deer become very comfortable with human presence).

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Agree. But it is what it is, although with a single season of work I will probably change the habitat to a more balanced one. I would like to increase grazing browse and bedding before I do anything with animals

I agree with your point on the deer becoming more wary. My buddy has 640 acre high fenced place. We made a trade and he told my daughter she could shoot a trophy whitetail. We hunted for two days without finding a shooter. I asked him how many deer were in the pasture. He replied, 200 deer and probably 20 over 200". I did not believe him until we went driving around with a spotlight that night. They were everywhere and a bunch of jaw droppers. They were just really in tune to the hunting blinds. He shot out all of the native deer after he put up his high fence. Every one of them. Then he stocked his place with improved genetics and feeds free-choice protein year round.

I've read all the threads about breeders and know how every person on this board feels on that topic, but his place is impressive as hell. Dang sure not wanting to turn this thread into a debate.

Yes sir. They get real smart and aloof when they have been shot at … and they know every square inch of their habitat.

Maybe the key is to only hunt rarely, and rarely in same place.

I helped manage a large high fence operation that had a 250 acre pasture across the road from the main ranch.
It was typical Texas hill country terrain and cover. Landowner wanted to manage the native white tails that were in that pasture to maximize their potential but he wanted a few Exotics in there as well.
We put a protein feeder in a remote corner of the place and he did not allow any hunting anywhere around that end of the ranch. He did not put out any feeders with blinds by them and his hunters could spot and stalk or sit in stands.
His hunters would complain that they never saw anything and did not think there were any deer in that 250.

Maybe they were lousy hunters?
To not encounter deer, any deer, on a confined 250 acres is....... amazing.
Especially during any rutting activity.

Gunny456 said:

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I helped manage a large high fence operation that had a 250 acre pasture across the road from the main ranch.
It was typical Texas hill country terrain and cover. Landowner wanted to manage the native white tails that were in that pasture to maximize their potential but he wanted a few Exotics in there as well.
We put a protein feeder in a remote corner of the place and he did not allow any hunting anywhere around that end of the ranch. He did not put out any feeders with blinds by them and his hunters could spot and stalk or sit in stands.
His hunters would complain that they never saw anything and did not think there were any deer in that 250.

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I have heard of this happening before.
Unless I want to tear down a high fence, if I get this place it is what it is. First thing will be to see what lives there now.
Figure out what the land supports and what it WILL support when I rework it the way I want to, and go from there.

I have a neighbor down the road who just has 150 acres high fenced. His son is currently going to TAM. He loves his place and has a lot of fun on it. It has a lot of woods but he has him a couple of stands on it and just managed it for the native WT's on it. He never has imported any deer. Has him about 6 head of Blackbuck and a pair of Addax.
He got sick of trying to let bucks get older and bigger only to have his neighbors shoot them very young…. So he high fenced it and has a blast managing and improving the animals.

Main thing is to have fun with it and do what makes you happy on it. You are the one that owns it, pays taxes on it and works on it.
You deserve to have joy and happiness with it.

Another interesting tidbit. My buddy runs cameras at his protein feeders. Is on his ranch all the time. Almost every year they end up finding a buck that they did not know existed. And it will be a 200" plus deer. Definitely not a deer that was native and got into his place. I was always skeptical, but it isn't like shooting fish in a barrel.

The new version of the Exotic Animal Field Guide looks to be going out May 15th

https://www.amazon.com/Exotic-Animal-Field-Guide-Nonnative/dp/1648432069/

Gunny456 said:

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Here are some of the publications that are available from the Exotic Wildlife Association in Kerrville Texas:

1.) The Axis Deer In Texas - by the Kleberg Studies in Natural Resources - Department Of Wildlife and Fisheries Texas A&M
2.) The Nilgai antelope in Texas - Kleberg Studies in Natural Resources - Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Texas A&M
3.) The Indian Blackbuck Antelope: A Texas View - Kleberg Studies in Natural Resources - Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences -Texas A&M
4.) The Fallow Deer - by Norma Chapman
5.) Exotics in Texas - by Max Traweek and Roy Welch
6.) Livestock and Wildlife Management During Drought - Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute

Another great book on Whitetail deer management is: The King Of Deer by Rodney G. Marburger

Regardless of how some folks might feel about Dr. James Kroll he had/has wrote two books that are still considered standards of reference in Whitetail Deer management and are full of sound whitetail deer management and harvesting information. They are:

1.) A Practical Guide To Producing and Harvesting White-tailed Deer
2.) Aging and Judging Trophy Whitetails

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Is there a link to buy or a number/contact for those top 6?

I got my copies from the office of TWA in Kerrville. It has been quite a few years ago.
I attended one of their conventions some years back and they were selling most of them there.

I have about 10 red deer on 33 acres with about a dozen whitetail. It is about 60 percent wooded and I have to supplement with about 500lbs of protein per week. They get along fine.

rich1 said:

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I have about 10 red deer on 33 acres with about a dozen whitetail. It is about 60 percent wooded and I have to supplement with about 500lbs of protein per week. They get along fine.

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22 deer on 33 acres? Yikes for your habitat health and long-term genetic health unless you are bringing in new blood from time to time.

Definitely have to keep the freezer full and swap out the genetics. The hard part is paying the feed bill. If I had a do-over I would not have brought in the exotics but I am stuck with them for now since my wife thinks they look cool.