Sika deer with .54 flinter?

[SimonKenton]

I have a chance to hunt Sika down on the eastern shore this year. I know a guy who manages a lot of properties and one of the perks is that he gets to guide a select few hunters for whitetails on lightly hunted well guarded land. Some properties border that swampy area where some wild sikas were released in years gone by and have been fruitful.

I'm sure my .54 Bean is more than enough gun, but sika ARE related to elk and red stag and I wonder if they have that peculiar toughness when hit? I mean I've seen antelope in Africa take ungodly damage and run a fair piece and most of them are no larger than American deer except for eland which as I recall are a member of the antelope group.

If anyone here has taken sika I want to know also if the standard prep methods for North American venison apply or are they particularly tough when cooked up?

-Ray :huh:

 

[SimonKenton]

TTT

 

[cayugad]

Due to your post, I did a little more reading about the Sika. A very interesting breed of animal. They are smaller then I expected according to my reading. I always pictured them the size of our whitetail.

Good luck in your adventure. I hope you're able to harvest one...

 

[SimonKenton]

Thanks,
I can't seem to find anyone who's actually taken one with a flinter though. Considering their size I know I'm not undergunned with the .54 Bean rifle.

-Ray :agree:

 

[Stumpkiller]

Lucky you!

I have friends in Cambridge, MD and have wandered around Blackwater refuge. Sika are elusive, but tiny. I checked one out on the tailgate of a successful hunter and the critter didn't appear to go 60 lbs dressed.

I'd say a .54 with 75 gr FFg would have plenty to kill a Sika from any angle with a vitals shot.

 

[SimonKenton]

That's what I hear. The best description was "tiny elk". They are like pug dogs. Big dogs in a little dog body. These guys think they ARE elk.

Ray

 

[mglampson]

My neighbor across the road used to raise fallow and sika deer. THey do look similar to a little elk but more in size to an average whitetail. Helped him handle his small herd a few times and think a .54 ball would be plenty of medicine for them! Ofcourse a bad shot with a cannon wouldn't stop em, but a well placed shot with your rifle will do the trick.

Britches

 

[SimonKenton]

Your neighbor wouldn't be the Baron zur Borg would he?

-Ray

 

[BUERICH]

we've shot sika deer in texas. not super big animals. i think they were probly young ones. 6pt usually. never shot em with my .54. never saw any when i had it around. shot em with regular deer calibers though, .270, .280. they went down in their tracks. like any other critter, i think as long as you hit em right, they'll find their way to the dinner table.

 

[Bunyan]

While I haven't bagged a sika (yet!), I have friends who have taken several, with bow, gun, and inline. Hopefully I'll get some with recurve and flintlock next season. I intend to focus my deer efforts on them. The concensus is that the meat is excellent, better than Whitetail, and the critters can be stubborn about dying, but .54 should be plenty of gun. Dress them like you would a whitetail. They are small, and it is awesome to hear them "bugle". Its more like a whistle. They almost behave like rabbits, and my friends have actually had dogs (not for hunting deer) trip over a sika they had been standing scant yards from, talking for some time. They hold tight!