Whitetail vs Exotics on 100ac

First of all Exotics animals are a waste of money !!!! Axis and Fallow are big bodied animals,they eat a lot !!! They do not let the Whitetails eat.That explains your problem !!! I have a 100 acre high fence ranch in Dimmit county and I have reduced the amount of exotics in my place, I had like 70 axis ,30 Blackbuck,and a couple of Fallows and Sika deer....trust me ....waste of money !!!. All axis are six pointers and blackbuck are 2 horned animals.....Whats the point ? I would get people to reduce your herd by half of your amount. Axis hunts in Texas are (does $200, Axis bucks 1,500 trophy includes lodging).You can go to Harper,Texas and buy them when you need them. Does run for like 200, males up to 600.00. Imagine how much food you have invested in them? I would give Whitetail Deer priority...by far .....Notice how Axis are always in the same spot of the ranch....and whitetails are in the opposite side of ranch. Good Luck !!!

No Money in exotics. I agree. Fallows will not let whitetails eat and whitetails will always be number 1 in A hunters eyes

I strongly disagree! There is much better money in exotics. The exotic market is steady, doesnt have the highs and lows that whitetails do. A shooter Fallow in alabama brings the same money here as it does in Texas. I have fallow and whitetail together in the same pen and they share the trough just fine. Exotics don't have the health concerns that whitetails do. You can move exotics across state borders with MUCH less hassle. Feed cost for exotics is far less as they can thrive on a lesser feed. I've never lost money on exotics, can't say the same for whitetails.

I agree they are very hearty. Tough as anything you will find. But if I had a choice to raise shooters. It would be whitetails. A 3 year old fallow shoots for 3500 tops. A 3 year old whitetail shoots for 10,000+. I'm just speaking for the hunting enclosure experience I have and the fallows run the whitetails away from the feeders everyday. Plus they lay around them all day so nothing else will come. This is the experience I have with them. Though they do only have a single fawn so they will not multiply as fast.

Consider that the true answer to your question is what do you prefer to raise?

Before answering next consider what species suits the terrain and native food supply. The species previously named are very different in thier preferred food source. You are experiencing a drought condition now and all bets are off unless you supplemental feed. Do you have the resources to supplemental feed all year round, then you can feed anything you wish as long as all species get along. The 100 acres is a small parcel when mixing species. Good luck and consider asking neighbors their experiences as they have similar conditions.

I have raised WT's and exotics together for years and although I have yet to get my first 300" WT, I'm getting close. That is no small feat for a WT in Louisiana and Mississippi, regardless of if they co-mingle with exotics or not. Careful managment of the various species and enough feeding stations (not necessicarily more feed) makes a great difference. The value of having exotics in an enclosure that sells hunts is variety and afordability. Yes a 300" WT will bring a nice trophy fee, but how many can you raise annually and will you have a demand for them each year?

I have the same issue this year. Our White tail deer look skinny and the Fallow are fat. They eat the same feed and Field Grass. I split them up last week to feed them a wormer feed with there regular feed. The fallow eat every bit of the food in a minute the Whitetail. came threw an only ate half the food and left the rest.

We had a hobby herd of Fallows and one thing I can recommend is, no matter what types you have, set a limit as to how many you will have and stick to that. You have 68 animals on 100 acres and they are high metabolism animals. (Our 2,000 lbs of Fallow ate three times what our 5,000 lbs of horses ate!) next year you'll have 68 + fawns. The year after, 68 + fawns + yearlings. The year after, 68 + fawns, + yearlings + 2 yr olds. At 2 you can harvest them for the freezer. Or sell them before they get that old. That will be a lot of deer to manage!



Since these animals are for fun and not profit, it doesn't matter what species you keep. I would keep all the species because they are fun to watch, just consider reducing the adult population in anticipation of the next year's fawn crop, and decide what you are going to do with the fawns. Fallows only have single fawns, but I have heard that whitetails can have up to 5 fawns at a time, and usually twins.



Perhaps keep a brood herd of 12 whitetails, 15 blackbuck, all 5 oryx, all 10 axis, and all 8 fallow. Divide the 100 acres into two 50 acre pastures and rotate for land maintenance. (Also good for seperating bucks from does during rut if you need to!) Space feeders far apart and supplement with round bales, orchard grass and peanut hay; something to mimic forbs and browse.



Spacing the feeders far apart not only facilitates inter-species peace, =-D, but it helps protect does and fawns from nasty bucks. They will have running away space. Bucks are evil and pushy, and could care less about a delicate fawn. Worming is good; we've used horse wormer that comes pre-mixed in a sweet feed base. It's a treat!



Also, despite these critters being for beauty and not hunting, do make sure you get all their testing and vacs done, and get all the necessary certs for things like CWD, TB, Brucellosis, and whatever else your state and other deer farmers need so you can sell fawns, just in case the thought of harvesting them is distasteful to you. Because there is no real birth control for deer except separation during rut, and I believe you can't neuter the bucks; messes with antler growth. And they will present you with crop after crop of fawns, =-)



Good luck!