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Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: PrimitivePete on February 27, 2024, 09:07:51 AM

Title: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: PrimitivePete on February 27, 2024, 09:07:51 AM
I was looking to plan an out of country hunt and was doing my research on where to go and what to hunt for when I was surprised to learn that there is a relative exotic hunt right here in the US. Sambar deer on St Vincent's Island, off the coast of Florida. It made me wonder what other hidden gems do we have here that we don't readily know about.
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: Terry Green on February 27, 2024, 09:20:22 AM
Exotics here are mostly canned hunts, and we have never allowed those.

Sorry, but I have to keep the site on target.

If anyone posts about exotics on an island or some other situation that is not canned, those are fine.

Thanks,

T
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: PrimitivePete on February 27, 2024, 09:43:02 AM
Terry my apology but this is not what I would call a canned hunt, it is by lottery and run by Florida Fish and Wildlife. It's not hunting on a preserve so respectfully do not agree this a canned hunt.
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: Terry Green on February 27, 2024, 09:47:12 AM
Pete, somehow you missed this sentence in my post above....

"If anyone posts about exotics on an island or some other situation that is not canned, those are fine."

I was just making it clear to others that exotics in a pen are not allowed.

No worries on your post Pete.  :campfire:
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: PrimitivePete on February 27, 2024, 10:02:11 AM
My bad Terry, thank you !!!
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: Zeebob on February 27, 2024, 10:51:34 AM
Pete there are Sika deer in the marshes around Chesapeake bay.  There are ibex in the Florida mountains in New Mexico.  Ibex tags are hard to come by..and the hunting is difficult even if you used a rifle.  Hunting access for the sika deer might be an issue.

I fish around St Vincent island…it’s a jungle!
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: supernaut on February 27, 2024, 12:17:58 PM
I have read a few articles regarding iguana hunting in South Florida and it looks like a pretty good time with a lot of potential shooting action. They are an invasive species and are supposedly pretty good table fare.


Anyone here ever hunted them?


 :campfire:
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: PrimitivePete on February 27, 2024, 04:28:49 PM
Zee that is part of the attraction, where do I get to experience a jungle hunt inside the US
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: Zeebob on February 27, 2024, 05:10:00 PM
Better have good snake boots! Not sure what you need for fending off the gators! :biglaugh:

 I also heard from a local there that there are monkeys running wild in the Box R WMA…just outside of Apalachicola…fair game according to him…it’s a jungle there too!
I’m guessing there aren’t too many so it would be tough hunting… :goldtooth:
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: Kyle85 on February 27, 2024, 05:38:45 PM
Pete,
    I'll second the Sika hunts around the Chesapeake, and there is public access in the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge and Assateague Island National Seashore.  I can't speak for Blackwater but I can assure you there are totally impenetrable parts of Assateague island.  It is a very cool environment though because it is also very diverse, besides the nasty thorn thickets, there are sandy pine flats, scrub sand dune hills, salty marshes and a kind of marshy savannah in places too.  It's a great adventure and an exceptionally challenging hunt too.  Their rut is a little earlier than the whitetails and starts in October, it overlaps the tail-end of archery and the beginning of muzzleloader in Assateague. -Kyle
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: JDinPA on February 27, 2024, 11:39:19 PM
The Sitka deer hunts in MD, you need a good bug suit. The mosquito's will eat every inch of you not covered up.
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: Kyle85 on February 28, 2024, 12:31:42 PM
Yup, bugs can be savage in the early season on Assateague, but they're not that bad come mid October except right after sunset, so yes, come prepared but don't let them scare you away!
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: Terry Green on February 28, 2024, 01:55:17 PM
Thermacell is a wise choice....
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: SOLDIERII on February 28, 2024, 03:44:36 PM
We have free range Nigal and Water buck on the Texas coast. I own unfenced property in the TX hill country and we have free range Axis, Black buck and Fallow. We also get random Elk and Sika. Free range hunts are totally doable in Texas.
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: Terry Green on February 28, 2024, 06:20:17 PM
Black Bucks are VERY wary and a tuff ambre!!!  They can see you from Alabama!!!
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: SOLDIERII on February 28, 2024, 08:09:28 PM
They don't stick around long!
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: Swamp Stick on February 29, 2024, 03:51:28 AM
The St Vincent Island hunt is a really cool experience. I've gone on it once before and have been applying to go again. It's low odds of success but the environment is something else. You camp out along the beaches and the fishing is great in the down time after hunting hours. Even if you don't go for a Sambar hunt there, I'd recommend looking into the whitetail hunts on the island. As a side note: if you do go, hire someone to take you too and from the island. Boats sink there every hunt while anchored off shore and get swamped if pulled on the beach.
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: stevem on February 29, 2024, 09:10:27 AM
To add onto Zeebob's New Mexico post.  In addition to Ibex in the Florida Mtns (tough to draw an either sex tag, not so hard to draw a female tag), the state also has barbary sheep (in several parts of the state) and oryx on White Sands Missile Range.  All require a draw run by the state game and fish department.  All can be found on public land.
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: Terry Green on February 29, 2024, 10:23:22 AM
supernaut, no, but experienced them on St Thomas.  Damn near could pick them up. Fish in a barrel there, no sport or challenge at all.

May be different where you are referring to.
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: supernaut on February 29, 2024, 01:25:20 PM
supernaut, no, but experienced them on St Thomas.  Damn near could pick them up. Fish in a barrel there, no sport or challenge at all.

May be different where you are referring to.



Thanks for he info. Terry. I have no direct experience with the iguanas. I wouldn't be interested in hunting any animal that I could pretty much catch by hand, like you said no sport or challenge.  I know some people hunt them with air rifles and blow guns and didn't know if going after them with a bow would be an option.
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: oldsledfoot on February 29, 2024, 08:51:20 PM
Nice thread with good info . Thanks for starting it .  :archer:
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: Wudstix on February 29, 2024, 09:10:58 PM
Some of the National parks along the border have hunting for exotics, but stalking/crawling across rocks and cactus ain't easy.
 :campfire: :coffee: :archer2: :campfire:
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: JW_Halverson on March 02, 2024, 09:38:29 PM
I have read a few articles regarding iguana hunting in South Florida and it looks like a pretty good time with a lot of potential shooting action. They are an invasive species and are supposedly pretty good table fare.


Anyone here ever hunted them?


 :campfire:

I am hoping to find someone that can harvest a few larger iggies for me! I'd love to have some raw skins from the torso...I think they'd make great handle wraps for wood bows.
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: Mint on March 03, 2024, 07:49:46 PM
We have some Sika deer on Long Island. Leftover from an old hunting preserve for the wealthy around the early 1900's. The problem is they very rarely ventured onto public land and are mostly in parks that don't allow hunting.
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: Wudstix on March 04, 2024, 05:07:01 PM
Jeff; Hunt the edges!!!
 :campfire: :coffee: :archer2: :campfire:
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: PrimitivePete on March 04, 2024, 06:20:22 PM
Wow you learn something new all the time here. I’ve lived on Long Island all my life and never knew we had Sika deer, wow
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: Terry Green on March 07, 2024, 08:08:46 PM
This turned out to be a great thread
  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: Mint on May 10, 2024, 06:15:00 PM
Jeff; Hunt the edges!!!
 :campfire: :coffee: :archer2: :campfire:

A member of my archery club took a hind one year and they next year took a beautiful stag. Both on private property.
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: Chuck Jones on May 10, 2024, 07:54:23 PM
The 3000 acre ranch I hunt pigs on in central Texas has axis deer and red deer occasionally. No high fences. I consider feral pigs exotic game myself.
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: Wudstix on May 11, 2024, 09:03:35 PM
Yeah, some of the ranches in Texas have fences, but around the 20K or 30K acres ranch.  Not really a canned hunt.  Even some of the small 5K to 10K acres ranches are fun.
 :campfire: :coffee: :archer2: :campfire:
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: Bamboozle on May 13, 2024, 05:16:45 PM
Hogs were brought over by the Europeans hundreds of years ago.  They are in how many states running amuck I have no idea. I can't find anything exotic about them.

Good thread though for sure. :readit:
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: Terry Green on May 14, 2024, 08:23:22 AM
There are wild hogs running the river 2 miles from the courthouse where I live.  Not exotic at all.  I just wish they weren't' running on private land where we could hunt them.  Nah, not exotic to me either, but I love to hunt them more than anything!
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: Wudstix on May 14, 2024, 10:36:40 AM
We have similar situation here in San Antonio.  Hogs running all through the green belt around and through town.  Population 2,454,000 people.  Can't hunt within city limits.  The golf courses even contract with folks to shoot them with suppressors at night.  There are some very impressive deer, as well.  One 14 point that is in the top three bucks I have seen in the wild.  I enjoy seeing them when I ride Mt Bike through the green belt.
 :campfire: :coffee: :archer2: :campfire: :dunno:
Title: Re: Exotic hunts you never knew about
Post by: Bamboozle on May 15, 2024, 11:09:44 AM
I also don't see how in the heck hogs are exotic.