Mystery Animal

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xmanpike

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We got this photo at one of our feeders and I have no clue what it might be. We have some recent pictures of Axis too, so somewhere someones exotics got out. This is in Central Texas. Can anyone identify this animal?
 

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My first thought was moose...seems like the wrong part of the country though-lol! I'm sure an expert will come along in a minute and solve this mystery.;)
Best wishes,
BCurry
 
West Texas, well then it's probably a Chupacabra. I am sorry I couldn't resist.
 
barbado.jpg


Barbodo Ram, we go down and hunt them in Decauter TX. I am sure they are around the Houston area as well.
 
I thought Ram at first too, but it is much too tall. Also tail appears different and so does his shlong. Seriously. I thought maybe red deer too, looks almost like a frickin' elk. Well, if anyone figures it out let me know and if we see it or shoot it i'll let you guys know.
 
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Kin'da looks like the ass end of a cow Nilgai. Could be a young bull, given the "plumbing" the color is right and the slope from the shoulders to rump is right. Just guessing. Lots of them here in south Texas now on exotic ranches.
 
Certainly resembles elk but I'd expect the legs to be a little darker colored than the rest of the body. Other than that, I got nothing.

Andy
 
It's hard to tell the size from that perspective, but if that was a bull Nilgai it would almost certainly be much darker by the time it got that large. It looks like a member of the deer family to me.
Maybe you oughta bag it and take pics for further ID :)
 
+1 ^^^^^^^^ KIWI,


My guess is immature Nilgai bull. As they age they get darker (especially around the neck and legs), turn kind of a gray-blue, but juvenile bulls are brown.

I believe what appears to some.... to be a "rump patch" is actually the tail of the animal. On a nilgai it would be fairly long...but in this photo it could be swung to the offside.

But the most compelling reason for my "guess" is the sloping physique. This animal does not have a flat (or even drooping) underline as most Elk, Stag, or Sheep have. Instead we see a distinct taper of both the underline and the back.

I dunno, just a guess....but I'm going with nilgai.
 
Could be.

The Red deer/stag is a fairly common exotic on a number of ranches.

It is clearly a large animal whatever it is, we can deduce that much from the photo.

Maybe we'll get an answer in the coming months.
 
Looking at the picture in different light now that my blinds are closed, I notice that the animal is a darker shade than I thought, and it appears that it may have the characteristic nilgai hump (looks like a smaller, less pronounced version of a bull buffalo hump). It also appears that the critter has comparatively thin fur that lies flat against it's skin, signifying that it's a warm-weather animal.
I've gonna cast my vote for Nilgai.

If you ever get a glimpse or better picture of it, observe how it runs(they bounce as they run-it's comical).
If it has 2 horns, 3-8" in length and sloping back, and it has a beard like a tom turkey(seriously!), then it's a Nilgai.
 
Here we go, knew I had a pic somewhere.
The two animals inside the crude outline are Nilgai. The one on the left is an adult Bull, although he's not as dark as the older ones can get. the one on the left is an adult cow. Notice the sloping bodies, the hump that each one has, and the whitetail deer-like tail(which this fellow has up cause he's nervous about the truck this pic was taken from).

100_4669-1.jpg
 
Exactly. It's a backstrap with legs; the rest is just details. :) Nilgai theory sounds most plausible so far.

I do believe the word Wapiti refers to North American elk, not their cousins, the European red deer.
 
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