I received a phone call in late September from a very energetic and upbeat young lady who was interested in hunting Axis Deer. (Jeff was referred to us by another one of our hunters from the Beaumont, Texas area). Jennifer explained to me that both she and her husband, Jeff, have a lease in the Hill Country, where they hunt Whitetail. However, she thought she had been bitten by the “Exotic bug”. She explained to me that an Axis was the first exotic she wanted to harvest. Being an excellent shot with a rifle, Jennifer followed her husband’s passion and was going to attempt to take down a Trophy Axis with a bow. I explained to her that these are tough animals and taking one with a bow will be a challenge.

Jennifer and Jeff arrived the last week of September to begin their hunt. Due to the rainfall over the spring months, the acorns were in abundance, which made hunting from a bow blind hard. After two days of long hours sitting in a blind and no Axis, we decided we would try spot and stalk. The morning of the last day of their hunt, we set out to try and stalk her trophy. We had a few opportunities that morning, but the wind was never in our favor. At lunch that day, Jennifer told me she had a spot already picked out in her home for her Axis “shoulder mount”. The pressure was on.

Immediately after lunch, we headed out to some cedar thickets. Within a short walk, we spotted a small herd. After checking the wind direction, Jennifer quietly moved into position and drew back her Browning MicroAdrenaline at 50 pounds. Just as she released her arrow, the Axis buck turned and disappeared into the cedar. Heartbroken and exhausted, after a 3 day hunt, Jennifer declared she had “Axis in her Blood” and would be back to put an arrow in the over 36” wide Axis that gave her the slip. Jeff was along for support, as well as, to video the hunt. Unfortunately, he did not capture the harvest on video, but as Jeff put it, “lots and lots of great wildlife footage”.

-Jack Becker