Accommodations & Meals

Luxury lodging and gourmet dining are designed to compliment a world-class hunting experience. Comfortable lodging accommodations are situated around the ranch to ensure guests privacy, spectacular Hill Country views, and evenings around those legendary outdoor firepits.

Six unique lodging options are available throughout the property with the ability to accommodate up to 70 guests.

Dining:

Dining is always a delightful experience at the ranch! Year round, whenever the weather permits, lunch is served on the patio under magnificent old oak trees. The same goes for evening appetizers, like Fried Quail, which are served around the fire pit on chilly nights.

Our four-course gourmet dinners are featured during the hunting season (October through March) and simpler, lighter fare during spring and summer months. To enhance your enjoyment while at the ranch, lunches are served on the limestone patio year-round (weather permitting) and appetizers are served fireside before dinner during the hunting season. All meals are served at Cypress Lodge unless guests have pre-arranged a personal chef at another accommodation. Desserts are always homemade, tempting, plentiful and scrumptious.

Advance requests are welcome for specific menu items, special dietary needs, and bar set ups.

Also, meals are prepared for PROMPT service at the time specified on your reservation and for the number of guests you requested.

Fishing

Texas fly fishing at its finest! Each year between late-October and May when the water temperature drops below 70 degrees the ranch creek is stocked with rainbow trout.  This provides an exciting challenge to fly fishermen. There is always time to relax between hunts with some Hill Country fly fishing in the crystal clear waters of the spring-fed creek!

Fly fishing gear is available for rent, and you can purchase flies in the Pro Shop that are particularly suited to these waters. You’re welcome to bring your own fly fishing gear, as well.

If you’re not yet a fly fisherman, or you’re just beginning to develop the skill, fly casting instructions can be arranged for you. Guides are also available if you want a guided fly fishing experience.

We consider this an activity at this ranch rather than a dedicated fishing trip.

Hunting

Free range Axis deer hunting is offered year-round.  Known throughout Texas to manage the largest free range Axis population.  They offer the “best free-range Axis deer hunting in the world” including multiple exotic record book entries with Safari Club International and The Exotic Wildlife Association Trophy Game Records. Trophy Axis buck hunts may be scheduled year-round, but the greatest number of hard-horn bucks mature during the months of April through August.

No charge for fox, bobcats, coyotes, hogs, or any other varmint!

Exert from Sporting Classics Daily:

“Axis deer fall into that exotic category, as well. The Indian native, known there as a chital, is tiger fodder in its homeland, rarely living long enough to reach 165 pounds. In Texas, where their only true predator is man, they push past 200 pounds with ease. And like everything else in Texas, their antlers tend to be bigger in the Lone Star state, too.

What makes year-round axis hunting possible is not just the state’s leniency regarding exotics, but also the life cycle of the animals themselves. Axis bucks grow their antlers based on their birth date, not the season of the year. One buck might be carrying a hardened set of headgear well into summer when a fellow buck has just dropped its antlers.

Axis deer also reproduce on their own individual cycles. Does and bucks mate whenever their hormones call for it, not during a set rut in the fall of each year. There is, however, a quasi-rut from May to August when a slight majority of the animals mate, with the peak falling in June and July—precisely when I would be visiting the ranch.

Director of Outdoor Operations… met me before dawn the morning…

…makes it easy to get to your box stand before daybreak because there’s a stand virtually every ten steps. With the thick brush of the Hill Country well represented here, the ranch could have cut large swaths through the vegetation to create the kind of shooting lanes other Texas ranches offer. Instead, box stands are placed at every promising overlook, field edge, and game trail that the staff has observed movement on. Feeders are set up to draw out the biggest bucks, then hunters are positioned for the perfect shot. It’s the least-obtrusive way to do business, allowing hunters the opportunity to appreciate the native terrain and the game to use it for cover.

Craig and I crossed one of the fords across the ranch’s namesake creek before walking down an offshoot of the main road. It, like the other trails, led to a box stand with a view of a feeder tucked into the wood line. The sun hadn’t come up yet, so Craig and I slipped inside and perused photos on his smartphone of other bucks taken from the property recently.

I saw two things that brought immediate joy when light began to slip through the Plexiglas windows. The first was the grayish hides of five whitetail does feeding near the feeder—not our target species and an unusual coloration in June, but a sign of life nonetheless. The other was far more influential. A laminated sign was taped above the main shooting  window, reminding the uninitiated of where to place a bullet on a white-tailed buck…

We gave the stand an hour to produce before calling it a morning. Axis deer might carry their antlers and chase their women at all times of the year, but Texas in summer is still Texas in summer. It was hot, and Craig, myself, and the deer were all feeling it. He and I made our way back to the lodge for breakfast, passing other likely box stands along the way. Craig’s wheels were turning as to which of these hideouts would produce the best results when the sun peaked later . . . but first, to eat.

Meals…are what top-tier hunting outfits should all aspire to provide. “Man food”—bacon, eggs, sausage, etc., and lots of it—for breakfast, then back to hunting. We made our way back across the ford and were debating which stand to relocate to when the hunt came to an abrupt end.

We were side by side heading down the main trail, discussing our plans for the rest of the day in muffled whispers, when Craig looked past me and saw a hole in the trees 25 feet wide and 100 yards or so off the beaten path. In it stood a reddish-orange beast with white spots, tines stretching skyward like scythes stuck in the dirt after harvest, and a face that defies any attempt at description. Craig, who has seen countless numbers of these bucks shot over the years, could only say one thing . . . over, and over, and over again.

“Shoot that deer!!!”

Thankfully, I was oblivious to what constitutes a trophy axis deer and didn’t recognize the buck for the monster it was. A Euro mount of a smaller axis overlooks my desk at Sporting Classics, but I had never hunted, much less killed, one of these animals. I could tell the hulk before me was bigger than the mounted deer back home, but beyond that, it might as well be a spike for all I knew.

Ignorance is more than bliss, though; it’s incredibly steadying. I had no whiff of buck fever and settled in for the shot with only precision in mind.

I threw up the rifle and cranked the scope to 9x to literally pick a spot on the bright hide to shoot for. As I did so I noticed a gray object standing behind and to the left of the buck as he stood broadside and facing right. It stood roughly head-high to the buck’s shoulders—a whitetail doe, fully grown. She looked more like a fawn in the presence of her polka-dotted cousin.

I moved the crosshairs onto the buck and prepped for the shot. That’s when I remembered the poster in the box stand encouraging the use of neck shots to anchor these stout animals. Make a poor shot and he would disappear into the brush, leading to difficult tracking for the guides, even with dogs. The crosshairs floated forward a few more inches and settled on the thickest part of the neck, just in front of the buck’s blocky shoulders.

One shot and he was down.”

Activities

Activities:

• Visit and shop Fredericksburg located about 20 minutes from the property
• Swimming pool and cabana
• Fishing the creeks
• Outdoor dining
• Kayaking on the Guadalupe
• Creekside patios
• Relax in hammocks by the creeks
• Guadalupe float trips with Kayaks from April to August – You can enjoy the peaceful solitude of the river’s quiet stretches as well as its exhilarating rapids all within trips ranging from two to four hours.
• Hand gun shooting range
• Long range shooting range up to 1,000 years
• Shotgun and hand gun shooting instruction
• Two scenic 10 station sporting clays courses
• Wobble Trap shooting
• Fly fishing and instruction

Length of Stay / Itinerary

Each itinerary is customized to your interest and desired length of stay from one night and up!

Travel Details & Location

The ranch is located near Boerne, TX.

Commercial Flights:  The closest commercial airports are San Antonio and Austin.  Ranch transfers are available from either airport for an additional fee.

Private Plane:

Helicopter:  The ranch has a helipad on sight

Internet & Communications

The lodge has wi-fi in all common areas and accommodations on the ranch.  Satellite TV is available with a good selection of channels.  Cell service is available in the area.

Rates

2024 Axis Deer Hunting rates:  Please ask for updated pricing

$5,200 per gun includes

• 1 Axis buck measuring up to 30-32 inches(over 32″ add $495 per inch trophy fee.  All bucks in velvet are considered 35″)
• 2 nights, 3 days lodging and meals
• Field dressing
• Non-shooting companion $750 per day including meals and lodging

Trip Insurance & Cancellation Info

Trip insurance is highly recommended to protect your investment on this trip. We will assist you with trip insurance upon booking. See links at the bottom of this page for the two providers we suggest for our clients.

Family Expeditions, LLC confirmation and refund policy:

If your trip is more than 90 days out from date of departure, a 50% non-refundable deposit confirms your reservation and must be received within 10 days of booking to confirm your dates. All trips must be paid in full at least 90 days prior to the departure date. If your trip date is within 90 days, FULL payment for the trip is required. All payments to Family Expeditions are non-refundable. Should you need to reschedule or cancel your trip, we will do everything in our power to assist you in finding a suitable substitute or transferring your dates per the lodge/providers/government requirements. Trip insurance protects your investment!