Texotics....have ya seen 'em? (1 Viewer)

Have you seen any of these Texotics? I mean loose on the side of the road, not behind the wire.

I've seen two.....not counting the Aoudads running loose in Big Bend Ranch State Park.....but I didn't know it at the time and I still don't know what I saw.

On occasions I would drive from San Angelo to Big Bend National Park in the middle of the night, just so I could get to the trail head at day break.

I would do the same, heading out a few hours before dawn, when hiking and birding Lost Maples State Park.

More times than not I was up for the drive, rested, wide awake and excited to hit the trail......but two times I found myself questioning my state of mind; did I drink too much coffee or was I hallucinating from driving fatigue?

Coming down from Fort Stockton on 385, somewhere around the Prairie Dog town north of Marathon, I thought I saw a huge Elk or Elk like animal. It was on the west side of the road climbing out of the bar ditch heading for my lights.

That's a good stretch of road, straight, fenced in on both sides like all of Texas, speed limit 70 or 75, I'm sure I was goin' about 80. Startled, I swerved a little, jerking to the left, saying out loud “What the hell was that?” or dropping the H word for the F word.

I didn't stop, I didn't circle back, if it was real, the damn thing would be gone by the time I got there.

Another time I was on my way to Lost Maples State Park planning to arrive well before sunrise. Don't know where exactly, somewhere after the turn off from 39 on to 187, my lights caught some kinda antelope above the bar ditch near the fence line. I knew it wasn't a White Tail, other than that I didn't know what is was.

I put both of these sightings out of my mind till I came across this article - The Texotics.

Driving around West Texas and into the Hill County you see these ranches, you get glimpses of the exotics just inside the 8-foot fence. Other than that, I knew very little about 'em till I read this piece.

Anyway, it's a good read.....makes me wonder if anyone else had these hallucinations or came across known escapees?

That was an interesting piece, thanks!

Interesting.

I used to work with a guy who went to Texas regularly to hunt on one of these ranches. But I hadn't contemplated that they were running wild outside the ranches.

Didn't remember this till now.....

Three years ago I came across this Axis Deer antler while hiking in San Angelo State Park. I've hiked that park a lot, not once have I come across an Axis Deer. The park doesn't manage a herd or lay claim to any.

It was a single antler laying not far from the bank of the North Concho River. I looked around for it's mate but never found it. The antler was in good shape, not weathered or chewed on by critters. This was October, don't know when they drop.

The park entrance(s) is closed at night with a bar/pole gate 4 feet off the ground. The river is fenced at the north end with a 5-6 foot fence but that's to keep the Long Horn herd from getting out. The road/highway fence line is the same; 5-6 feet tall. I imagine a 5-6 foot fence wouldn't be a challenge for Axis Deer.

Anyway, it had to be an escapee. Guess there's more escapees out there than I thought, hopping fences from ranch to ranch.

Yep. In Bandera there is a pretty big (ca. 3 to 4 dozen) herd of axxis deer and up just north of El Paso, maybe just over the line in NM, we used to see oryx running around in the desert.


Down here you always know you're driving by a exotics farm - concentration camp style fencing.

I guess some folks just cannot go through the world without killing beauty instead of just looking at it or taking pictures.

I found a dead axis deer at the side of the road once. Size of an adult deer, but spotted like a fawn, with little stubby antlers that looked spiraled. I wanted to take the skull once it had rotted down, but couldn't find it again.

Forget the deer, though. I know a man who farms ostriches. They generally don't escape, they can't jump nearly as high as deer, but imagine if they did! And my brother has pictures of him taken at a place that has giraffes. Though I'm not sure giraffes can jump at all.

Last month, there was an article in our local paper about an early morning sighting of an unknown Texotic about 60 miles south of San Angelo. A large strong animal with curved horns like a ram. It scared the driver, of course, as any large animal on the road would in early morning light.

Milling it over with others, although without a positive ID, the driver thinks she saw an Aoudad.

Mid November, I drove out to Twin Buttes Reservoir before sunrise to bird and hike. Twin Buttes is on the west side of San Angelo, just past the city limits, at the start of ranch lands.

Shortly after I turned on to the lake road a Llama jumped a fence, ran in front of my car, and took off into the mesquite thicket of Texas Park and Wildlife land. The fence line was a 5 footer, not a Texotic ranch 8 footer. The lake butts up to private land, one of which is an Apaca and Llama Ranch. That ranch has an 8 foot fence, it's neighbor has the 5 footer on the frontage road.

Lot of this found on the Edwards Plateau, none of which surprises me anymore.