Giant axis buck

Continued from page 4 right opportunity never presented.

“All of sudden, something spooked them and all of the axis ran into the brush,” he said. “About 15 minutes later, they showed back up. Again, the herd was extremely skittish, and never stopped moving around. Before I could get a clear shot at the big one, they spooked a second time and ran off into the brush.”

Ebrom was sure he wouldn’t get another chance at the buck. However, to his disbelief, the same herd entered the sendero for a third time.

“The next thing I knew, they were all running away from the blind,” Ebrom said. “The monster axis I was trying to shoot stayed behind the others as they trotted to leave the sendero. He stopped for just a second to eat a bite of corn about 200 yards away, before leaving. When he did that, he turned broadside, and I took my shot. The buck immediately fell.”

Ebrom got out of the blind to finally put his hands on the animal.

“I was carrying a measuring tape in my blind bag,” Ebrom said. “As I approached, I knew I had to measure him to see how big he was. I quickly realized his beams were both over 38 inches long, and for a second, I thought I had measured him wrong, because I knew how rare an axis of that size was. I texted my son and told him that the buck’s beams were over 38 inches, and he asked me if I meant 28 inches. We had no idea this buck was that large.”

Ebrom’s taxidermist agreed, telling him that he had never seen an axis that big before.