Hunting by Species

Hogs/Boars/Pigs/Sows: Boars are also known as wild swine or simply wild pig and are native to much of Eurasia, North Africa, and the Greater Sunda Islands. Now they inhabit and wreak havoc on farms, woodlands and swamps. They will eat just about anything. Each year they cause hundreds of thousands of dollars by damaging our farms and wetlands. Wild pigs or feral pigs are the second-most popular animal hunted in Florida. You can hunt on private property with landowner permission. Wild pigs may be trapped and hunted year round using any legal to own rifle, shotgun, crossbow, bow, pistol, spear or air gun. There is no size or bag limits and you can harvest both male and female. No hunting license is required. A gun and light at night permit is not required to harvest wild hogs with a gun and light on private lands with the landowner’s permission. Gator or Alligators are opportunistic feeders and some are very aggressive. Especially if they are feed by humans. Once they lose the natural fear of man they can become a nuisance gator and usually have to be relocated or harvested. A gators diet includes any prey species that is abundant and easily accessible for consumption. Baby gators or Juvenile alligators eat primarily insects, small fish, and other invertebrates. Mature Gators or adult alligators eat fish, deer, cats, dogs, snakes, turtles, small mammals, and birds. Florida law states that it is illegal to kill, injure, capture or possess an alligator or its eggs or to attempt to do any of those things without a permit. Axis Deer are also called the Indian Deer, Spotted Deer, and the Chital Deer, native to India and Sri Lanka. The male stands about 40 inches tall and can weigh between 150 to 250 lbs. They are considered by some to be the most beautiful deer in the world and some hunters say their venison is the best tasting of all deer. Osceola Turkey are similar to the eastern turkeys but smaller and darker in color. They are only found in the peninsula of Florida. They are praised by the turkey hunter looking for the grand slam. This species of turkey is named after Chief Osceola the famous Seminole Chief. Florida is the only place in the world with a wild Osceola Turkey population. It is estimated that 85,000 to 110,000 turkeys are believed to live throughout the Florida peninsula. With the density and thickness of the woods, swamps and other surrounding habitat that an accurate estimate of the population is impossible to calculate. Whitetail Deer are also call white-tailed deer or Virginia deer. They are a midsized deer that is native to the United States, Mexico, Central America, Canada and South America. In the summer they usually hang around fields or meadows. They use the forests for shade to cool down. In the cold of winter they will keep to forests or thick brush to get shelter from the cold. Males or bucks weigh about 150 pounds and the females or does around a hundred pounds. We have a large population of trophy whitetail that inhabits our ranch. Blackbuck Antelope are also called the Indian antelope because it is found in India, Nepal and Pakistan. Blackbuck Antelope are a beautiful antelope with a brown to a blackish brown upper body with a white coloration on the stomach underbelly, their rump and on the insides of their legs. Their face is dark with white circles around the eyes, ears and chin. The male antelope can weigh around 80-90 pounds with a top weight of around 125 pounds. The females usually around 65 pounds with a max weight of about 75 to 80 pounds. Fallow Deer is a medium size deer and has a coat that is usually yellow brown with white spots in summer and is more uniformly grayish brown in winter. The Fallow deer flee or elude predators by using a stiff legged jump and running technique called stotting. They are one of the few species of deer that do not lose their spots after birth. Full grown male Fallows can weigh from 135 to 205 pounds. The females are much smaller and weight about 6 to 95 pounds. They are extremely fast because of their powerful legs. Water Buffalo. The water buffalo is often called an Asian buffalo which is the largest member of the Bovini tribe or family. This includes the bison, Yak, African buffalo and multiple species of wild cattle. The male buffalo has large backward curving crescent-shaped horns with deep ridges on their surface that can be close to 5 feet long or longer. The females are much smaller in size but also have horns. In many parts of Asia they are used for transportation and plowing. These huge beasts can weigh from 600 to 1,300 pounds or more! Rams we have on are ranch are the Texas Doll, Barbados or Black Belly Ram and the Black Hawaiian Ram. The Texas Doll is a hybrid cross between Mouflon ewes and Rambouillet rams. They are a white Corsican sheep that was bred solely for hunting. The Barbados or Blackbelly is a breed of domestic sheep descending from the Caribbean island of Barbados. Island Goat is a type of domestic goat derived from feral goats that were isolated on San Clemente Island. This island is one of the Channel Islands off of the California coast. They were brought here by the Spanish missionaries around 1875. Both male and female are horned. Bison are huge animals with thick coats that allowed them to survive the ice age. They clear back snow and brush with their massive heads when grazing in the winter. They can weigh more than 2,000 pounds and their size is impressive. Believe it or not these huge beasts can reach a top running speed of over 40 miles per hour. They once numbered 30-60 million in North America. The Indians used them for found and shelter. Their numbers were decimated as expansion pressed westward almost bringing them to extinction. No other species on Earth had declined so quickly. Several Native American tribes are working to grow bison numbers on the vast grasslands they manage. Red Deer The red deer is one of the largest species of deer. The stags or males can weigh upwards of 700 pounds. Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) are the fourth largest species of deer and are often confused with elk due to their similarity in appearance. Only Red Deer males, referred to as Stags or Harts, have antlers which they begin growing in the spring shortly after they’ve shed their previous season’s antlers. The Stags grow a thicker darker grayer colored coat with short neck “Ruff” or mane in the fall. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, Caucasus Mountains and Asia. They have also been introduced to New Zealand, The United States (Florida), Canada, Peru, Uruguay, Chile, Argentina and Australia. Père David Deer is not your ordinary deer. They have giant antlers with a head that is shaped similar to a horse. They can weigh over 550 pounds. This animal has a donkey like tail with hooves similar to a cow with webbing between the toes for swimming in the swamps and marsh lands of their native China. They are great for eating pond vegetation. They were nearly hunted to extinction only to be saved on a Dukes estate. Squirrels: We have several species of squirrels in Florida. The Eastern Gray Squirrel, Southern Flying Squirrel, Common Fox Squirrel, Big Cypress Fox, Eastern Gray and the Mexican Grey squirrel. They are a very predatorily orientated critter.