Père David's Deer Hunt

[gizmo]

Here is a very rare oppurtunity to hunt one of the rarest deer on earth. Hunt is for a Père David's deer bull and we have some great ones.
Offer includes 2 full hunting days with 3 nights lodging, guides, meals, skinning, trophy prep, quartering, fishing, and free feral pig hunting after the target trophy animal is down. You may hunt with rifle, bow, muzzleloader, or handgun of appropriate caliber. This particular hunt is not overly physical and will be conducted via spot and stalk.
Day fee total/ deposit to hold dates: 625x2= $1250
Trophy Fee for Pierre David bull = $6500
Total if successful: $7750 (wounded not recovered is same as killed)
Non Hunting Observers welcome @ $150/ day
Extra hunting days may be added @$625/day/hunter
Other Species/wingshooting may be added as well
Best time to hunt is between now and November, the sooner the better the rut is going on now.

 

[DieJager]

Great animals. Not the be nitpicking and certainly not to derail this thread. But they are called Père David's deer.

 

[gizmo]

Great animals. Not the be nitpicking and certainly not to derail this thread. But they are called Père David's deer.

No worries, as often happens here in Texas they are commonly referred to as the phonetic spelling as Pierre David deer. Its not that big of a deal and you certainly are correct

 

[Inline6]

They are cool animals!

 

[Hunt anything]

Tough to tell from the picture: but is that a piss pot full of flathead catfish? Great offer by the way!

 

[CoElkHunter]

Great animals. Not the be nitpicking and certainly not to derail this thread. But they are called Père David's deer.

Who’s Pere David? An English explorer from the 1600s? Kind of sounds French though?

 

[gizmo]

Tough to tell from the picture: but is that a piss pot full of flathead catfish? Great offer by the way!

Lol. They are channel cats but yes, it’s a crap load of catfish.

 

[gizmo]

Who’s Pere David? An English explorer from the 1600s? Kind of sounds French though?

If I remember correctly I believe he was actually Polish but I’m not sure. They’re named after the explorer that “found” them.

 

[John Wasmuth]

“Pere David” French Roman Catholic priest on missionary to China. If memory serves me correctly. Saved them from extinction.

 

[gizmo]

“Pere David” French Roman Catholic priest on missionary to China. If memory serves me correctly. Saved them from extinction.

I knew someone would know, I couldn’t remember and have been busy so didn’t have time to look it up. Thank you!

 

[John Wasmuth]

You bet! I can understand completely why they almost became extinct, they are delicious venison and not much smarter than a turnip! Lol.

 

[gizmo]

You bet! I can understand completely why they almost became extinct, they are delicious venison and not much smarter than a turnip! Lol.

That is the truth on both parts. Without a doubt it is the best venison, hands down. It makes axis look like dog food imo.

 

[AES]

Who’s Pere David? An English explorer from the 1600s? Kind of sounds French though?

He is the Master of a Chinese deer in TX. How’s that for irony!

I had a decent hunt for one a few years back. Great meat and unique trophy. If Gizmo says his are spooky, this should prove to be a ton of fun.

 

[mark-hunter]

A side note.
I never heard of Pere Davids deer and went to search for it on internet. This deer has quite interesting and amazing history.

This is Chinese legend of this deer, that I found on internet:

Over 4000 years ago and according to Chinese legend, a Horse a Donkey an Ox and a Deer went deep into the forest to meditate on the actions of a wicked King. They each contemplated on the barbaric acts of the ruler and became determined to jointly rectify his wrong doing. Upon awakening from their trance, they transformed themselves into just one animal and galloped to the Kunlun Mountains to seek counsel from the Primeval Lord of Heaven.

So amazed by the amalgamation of this weird creature, that had antlers of a deer, hooves of an Ox, face of a Horse and tail of a Donkey the great Lord exclaimed “It is unlike any of four creatures” and named the animal ‘sibuxiang’ meaning four not alike. The great Lord blessed the animal and gifted it to his disciple Jiang Ziya who rode the sibuxiang to victory over the evil King who subsequently founded the Zhou dynasty.

It’s a beautiful story that has entered into Chinese mythology and captures some of the wonder of this most unusual animal.

 

[Inline6]

That is the truth on both parts. Without a doubt it is the best venison, hands down. It makes axis look like dog food imo.

That's a bold statement cotton.

 

[Antanas]

 

[Antanas]

Was hunted by local hunter in 2016. Deer escaped from deer farm in neighbor country in 2014.

 

[Badjer]

“Pere David” French Roman Catholic priest on missionary to China. If memory serves me correctly. Saved them from extinction.

From what I remember, they were thought to be extinct, but some were found in a Chinese Emperors garden. All alive today are decendents of the Emperors deer.

 

[mark-hunter]

This species had really remarkable history, and survived against all odds!

This is from Wikipedia:

The Père David's deer (Elaphurus davidianus), also known as the milu (Chinese: 麋鹿; pinyin: mílù) or elaphure, is a species of deer native to the subtropical river valleys of China. It grazes mainly on grass and aquatic plants. It is the only extant member of the genus Elaphurus. Some experts suggest demoting Elaphurus to a subgenus of Cervus.[2] Based on genetic comparisons, Père David's deer is closely related to Eld's deer.[3][4]

Père David's deer were hunted almost to extinction in their native China by the late 19th century, but a number were taken to zoos in France and Germany and the deer was bred successfully in captivity. In the early 20th century, the British nobleman and politician Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford, acquired a few Père David's deer from the Berlin Zoo and built up a large herd on his estate at Woburn Abbey. In the 1980s, the duke's great-grandson Robin Russell, 14th Duke of Bedford, donated several dozen deer to the Chinese government for reintroducing the species to the wild. As of 2020, the wild population in China was an estimated 2825 individuals, with a further 7380 in various nature reserves in China.[5] All Père David's deer alive today descend from Herbrand Russell's original herd.



This is from another web site:

In fact it is a miracle that Pere David’s Deer survived at all. In its native country China, the deer was hunted to near extinction, with only a few animals maintained in the Royal Hunting Grounds. In 1895 a huge flood drowned many of the remaining animals and reduced the walls of the Royal Hunting grounds to rubble. Those deer that escaped the Royal gardens were slaughtered by starving local peasants for food and the deer that remained in the park were subsequently shot by troops during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900.

This could have been a tragic end to a beautiful and unusual species, however as fortune has it, it was again the historic Woburn Abbey that played a crucial role in the survival of this species. Numerous European parks had over the years illegally had specimens transported from China. It was from these collections that the 11th Duke of Bedford Herband Russell was able to nurture a large and successful herd from which the ‘Milu' or Elaphure' as it is also known, was again able to be introduced to China in 1985.

Today Pere David’s Deer is doing well amongst various private collections in the UK. Unlike several other species of deer introduced to Woburn Abbey, there have been no successful releases into the wild. This of course means that the Pere David is not considered amongst the UK’s six species of deer.

 

[Mekaniks]

What a great story.

Sounds like someone better jump on the opportunity to hunt this unique species.