What critter is this ?

[bmtshooter]

Here is a deer that just showed up at my feeder. He (or she) is approximately twice the body size of the native whitetails in my neck of the woods. My estimate is that it is about three feet ten inches to the shoulder. Looks like some exotic that escaped captivity, I guess. Can any of you folks identify this animal ? I have had differing opinions from the hunters at work.







In a nighttime picture, this critter is standing flat-footed with it's nose on the feeder cage. That cage is right at six feet off of the ground. The little whitetails in the area are MUCH smaller.

[vancelw]

Looks almost like a young cow elk. Got any exotic ranches nearby?

[Joel]

Red Deer

[iceman]

Joel beat me to it. Looks like a Red Deer to me too. Afellow not far from me raises them for meat and they look alot like that one.

[kimwcook]

Sure looks like it's from the elk/stag family. Where's Joe?

[Joel]

Sure looks like it's from the elk/stag family. Where's Joe?

Red deer is our elks Euro cousin.

In some States there is no season or tags needed to shoot non-native species. I'd eat that sucker ASAP if it were legal

[gyrhed]

I believe it is a Red Stag as well, even though I haven't seen many in their summer coat.

In TX it is legal anytime. I looked for a red stag hunt this fall it is suprising how many places there are in SE TX that have red stag. My guess is you are close to one of them. I looked at a place West of port A and another east of Austin.

Red Stag may be better suited to deep east TX than the dry west.

[bmtshooter]

Yes, there is an exotic ranch about 8 or 10 miles away, but I haven't noticed this type of deer there. Theses pictures are from close to Woodville, TX. Lots of interesting things in the woods around here.

[SFRanger7GP]

From the photo it looks like a red deer hind (cow).

[Old Time Hunter]

Female red deer:



Marsh or Swamp deer...you be the judge:

[Charles]

I vote red deer also.

[Joel]

The tail and rump is what sets it apart from a swamp deer IMO.

[gamekeeper]

Sure looks like a Red Deer to me.

[Joel]

scientific name "getinnus-myfreezer"

[wilko]

i personally would leave it alone and NOT shoot it.. guess i/m the oddball here

[Joel]

i personally would leave it alone and NOT shoot it.. guess i/m the oddball here

Just to clarify, I am not a sport hunter, I am a food hunter. Money is tight and meat is expensive, that thing would feed me and mine for a while.

Nonnative species not doing the natives any favors, though personally I would prefer to have a bunch of Red deer running through my place than scrawny southern whitetail.

[wilko]

Joel, what you do on your land is non of my business... just saying what i personally would do... but if one managed to escape, there might be more...

though personally I would prefer to have a bunch of Red deer running through my place than scrawny southern whitetail.

[bdhold]

and I was expecting a chupacabra

[brno602]

If I saw it I would think Calf elk I guess that = Red Deer as ain't no Red deer here even Red Deer does not have Red Deer you have to live here to know that. But at this time of year last years Calfs would be really a yearling and the cows are just very very pregnant now. In that pic it looks no bigger than a big WT but we grow em big here, it is taller though by the look of the pic. I have brought many a meat deer to the butcher scale that with no head or legs and skinned, still tipped the scale at 150lbs. Now add almost 35lbs of guts say 15 for the head and another 5 for the legs and 15 for the hide you got a big bodied Deer!I brought one mule Deer that made me take a double take in looking at him, to the butcher that went 170 on his scale he was a 4x4 but a big bugger. I am getting sore thinking about that drag back to camp!
My wifes brother always goes Red Deer hunting in Europe pay's like 2000+ Euro I keep telling him come here I can guide you for free all it takes is a non Resident Elk tag for about $150.00 and you don't have to pay for a place to stay,Brother in laws

[Nath]

It's legs look to black to me to be a red Not sure, put it in the freezer any way and say nowt'.

Nath.

[brno602]

It's legs look to black to me to be a red Not sure, put it in the freezer any way and say nowt'.

Nath.

It is so hard to tell with a pic afterall Red Deer are not supposed to live in Texas, animals adapt! I know for me I can see two WT bucks in a day and one will have a Red coat the other a more silver coat. But I love your put it in the Freezer idea! But I say keep feeding it till Fall

[bdhold]

we sure have a plague of Axis deer - of course the climate is right, but there are feral herds of Thompson's gazelles and black buck near Camp Wood.
gotta wonder when we're going to get cheetahs.

[bigbore442001]

That is a red deer hind. I shot one on a preserve in Maine with my muzzleloading handgun a while back. Bear in mind that Texas is repleate with exotics and they do from time to time escape or wander from their high fence habitat. That animal may or may not be legal to take on your land. I know in New Hampshire, wild boar escapees are fair game.

I remember many years ago traveling south on Rte 35 from San Antonio to around Kotula seeing what appeared to be some sort of ape crossing the highway. Sure enough there are some troops of feral primates in South Texas. So there are all kinds of strange things in Texas.

[gundownunder]

Ok, so let me get this straight.
You let it go?

I wish I was your neighbor, because after it left your place, I would Shoot it, Shove it in my freezer, and Shut the heck up about it.
"deer?, what deer?, don't know anything about it."
But hey, that's just me, and I couldn't keep a clear conscience if I just let several months worth of good meat walk away.

Who was it that said "If God didn't want me to eat it, he wouldn't have made it out of meat"?

[willygene]

bigbore i have lived in texas all my life my dad is from sa and we have hunted uvalde and cotula all our lives and i have never seen or heard of feral primates in south texas. the only thing feral down there that walks upright comes across the southern border illegally their not primates but they are primitive.

[bdhold]

I remember many years ago traveling south on Rte 35 from San Antonio to around Kotula seeing what appeared to be some sort of ape crossing the highway. Sure enough there are some troops of feral primates in South Texas. So there are all kinds of strange things in Texas.

timing was right, that was prolly Leslie Queen of Austin.

[rjohns94]

feral primates in texas:

http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase ... d%3A283057

saw some threads on other forums, texas bowhunters for one, that talk about these being loose and in the "wild" down in texas.

Just saying

[cubrock]

Looks like a red deer to me, too. As such, it should be perfectly legal to harvest any time in Texas. If it was my property, I'd be putting that deer in the freezer post haste.

I spent some time with John Wootters earlier this year and he showed me the huge herds of blackbuck and axis deer around his place. If I lived down there, I'd never buy meat from the grocery store. As few people as hunt them around his place, a family could easily live off them and not make a dent in the population.

[Joel]

Joel, what you do on your land is non of my business... just saying what i personally would do... but if one managed to escape, there might be more...

though personally I would prefer to have a bunch of Red deer running through my place than scrawny southern whitetail.

What if the only things emptier than your bank account was your freezer and your belly?

If you are vegetarian I completely understand.

[wilko]

In some States there is no season or tags needed to shoot non-native species. I'd eat that sucker ASAP if it were legal

nope.. not a vegetarian so determine if it is legal and have fun !

[Lawyer Daggit]

It looks like a Red. You would however be hard pushed to tell the difference between a Red, an Elk or a Red/Elk 'super red' hybrid from a photograph.

Interesting to note if it can interbreed with whitetail deer and if the off spring are fertile.

Is it socialising with whitetail or is it a loner?

[RIHMFIRE]

looks like dinner to me!

[FWiedner]

Hmm... appears to a mammalian specie related to "deer".

I believe I'd try to eat it given the opportunity.

I think Joe is entertaining himself by delaying his throw in with an expert opinion.

[bigbore442001]

A few years ago I shot a red deer hind like that at a preserve in Maine with a muzzleloading handgun. One of the things that surprised me was that even though it looks rather big, I did not get much more meat than off of an average whitetailed deer in our area. They seemed to be rather long and skinny. In a way like a giraffe.

Back to the Texas ape thing. I worked at a school for special needs students a short time ago. I was friends with a fellow teacher who was a native Texan. ( By the way, it seems Texas women get really ornery when you throw some snow down their back) Her brother worked for the Texas Parks and Wildlife and he stated that a number of ranches have raised primates for scientific purposes. Some have escaped and there are some wild troops of macaques in South Texas.

Like I said the two of us saw the thing sprint across highway 35 near Kotula. I wished I could have shot it.