December 26, 2000 Nikk Nicholson and myself, John Russo, headed to 
                     Texas.  The trip took 14 hours from Pensacola, Florida.
                    We drove my 96' Z71 GMC Sierra Extended Cab pick up.  The ride was great, with the
                    exception of cab fever after 14 hrs on the road.

                    The ranch was beautiful,  the Axis Deer hunting was excellent, not to mention the other
                    game on the ranch, sheep, whitetail....

                    Below are pictures of the trip and hunt.  It will take a while to load all the pictures, but
                    I am sure it is worth the wait.

                    Enjoy....

           
                        Inside the trailer we stayed at the ranch.  We each had our own room, and the owner
                                          cooked us breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday.  Great food, what a cook!!

                                The ranch is equipped with two Susuki 250 four wheelers and a 250 yamaha two stoke
                                    dirt bike.  When we weren't hunting we were having even more fun around the ranch!!

                                Sheep were all over the ranch, some of the rams would go Gold 12 in the books!!!

                                                                                                More sheep.

                                    This is a nice Axis Deer 3 x 3 that was killed by a poacher about 5 days before we arrived.
                                                                   Indeed  a fine specimen of an Axis, but what a waste!!!
 

                                I shot this nice 2x2 Axis buck around 1600 hrs.  He was with about 15 deer, one other buck and
                                the rest were does.  I made the 89 yard shot with my Knight Disk Muzzleloader, 100 grains of
                                powder and a 240grain XTP Sabot Hornaday Bullet.  The buck weighed 220lbs.
 

                               I shot these two Axis does the next day on an afternoon hunt with my muzzleloader.  I shot both does
                              within a minute of each other.  The bigger doe is 215 lbs, and I shot her at just over 70 yards, the
                                smaller doe is 150 lbs and I shot here at 125 yards.  Practicing reloading my muzzleloader quickly
                                paid off!!
 

                              Nikk got this nice 215lb Axis doe our last day of the hunt.  Nikk didn't feel much like hunting
                                the first two days due to a nasty cold, but I talked him into hunting the last day right before we
                                left.  The shot was over 200 yards, but Nikk's superior skill with a rifle worked to his advantage.
 

                            This is one of the shooting houses on the ranch, but this one beyond the fence was off limits to us.
 
 

                                The sunset each night was breath taking, indeed a great way to end a wonderful hunt for Axis Deer
                                in Texas!!

                                The Nueces River runs right through the ranch.  The Axis bed down during the day right
                                behind where Nikk is standing.  Unfortunately we found this out too late!!

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