Back in December my name was pulled for the San Antonio A&M's Club annual nilgai hunt raffle. It's a scholarship fundraiser so I buy a ticket each year never expecting to win but lo behold my wife and I were at the club's Christmas party when the impossible happened. Somebody had to win, may as well have been me. I'd never even seen a nilgai on the hoof, so this was going to be an adventure.
I've never really had opportunities to do a guided/outfitted hunt before so after a few phone calls to good Ag Greg Simons with Wildlife Systems I was good to go. His website says minimum .300 mag for nilgai which had me a bit worried as I don't own one but he said that a few other calibers that I own would work. So I settled with the old .30-06 Model 700 that has sat for years in the safe.
This rifle is special for me as it's my first. Back in the early 80s when I was 14 or so I found it on sale at a White's Department Store that was going out of business. Told my parents about it and got it under the Christmas tree that year. It was made back when decent walnut stocks came with them. Everything about it is bright and glossy. Stock, barrel, and the old gloss Leupold VX III.
After ordering a box of 180 grain Nosler Partitions from Choice Ammunition in Montana I was at the range last Sunday to sling a few. Turns out she was on target at 100 yards.
My son came along as the non-hunting guest (although I offered up the opportunity for him to be the hunter on the trip several times but he declined). Got down to the Port Mansfield lodge late Thursday night, had breakfast from the cook Friday morning then all the hunters got into the guides' Jeeps for the mile drive to the El Sauz gate.
The amount of wildlife is amazing. The 28,000 acres is low fenced save for a high fence on the southern property line to deter nilgai movement due to ticks. Eric, my guide, drove us across country and we saw a lot of whitetails including some incredible bucks. Nilgai are the only animals that may be killed on the East Ranch Foundation properties and it shows. We'd drive within 50 yards of deer and they may look up at the Jeep or maybe not. We saw hogs out in the open in the middle of the day. They didn't care that we were there. Anyhow, we saw some cows and young bulls before we put a stalk on a mature bull late morning. He was 350 yards out in a shortgrass field with a cow. Something spooked them and they ran into the brush. We ended up cutting them off in the brush but there was too much brush between us and him, a mere 100 yards away.
After lunch my son joined us for the afternoon hunt. More driving and a few nilgai were seen but nothing worth putting a stalk on. We came across a group of cows that were on the edge of a motte about 300 yards away. A mature bull was with them and as we stopped the Jeep they retreated out of sight. I followed Eric as we made tracks, using a motte as cover. We located them and fortunately they were still out in the open and as the last cow put her head down to eat we backtracked around the motte toward the other side of it to get closer to the bull.
Sure enough, he was there with his head down. On the edge of the brushline Eric set up the sticks and gave me the go ahead. The bull was broadside eating (later Eric told me at 150 yards) and I fired. The bull recoiled and as he and the cows ran off Eric and I each shot again (we later figured that both of us missed the follow up shots).
We walked to where they ran and with each step my optimism of finding the animal waned. Once they were out of sight there was no telling which direction they headed. In less than five minutes after we arrived at where they disappeared we were walking through the two foot tall grass and Eric says "There is your bull!" He ended up running 100-150 yards before expiring.
The shot was nearly perfect, perhaps a couple of inches higher than desired. The bullet exited through the ribs a few inches back (this can be seen in some of the pics). Horns are 9" and change. The tenderloins are about the same size as a Texas whitetail backstrap, and a front shoulder is about the same size as a whitetail hindquarter. These are large animals.
Here is a backstrap.
It was a great experience overall. While I don't have other guided hunts to compare this one too, it couldn't have been better.
I've never really had opportunities to do a guided/outfitted hunt before so after a few phone calls to good Ag Greg Simons with Wildlife Systems I was good to go. His website says minimum .300 mag for nilgai which had me a bit worried as I don't own one but he said that a few other calibers that I own would work. So I settled with the old .30-06 Model 700 that has sat for years in the safe.
This rifle is special for me as it's my first. Back in the early 80s when I was 14 or so I found it on sale at a White's Department Store that was going out of business. Told my parents about it and got it under the Christmas tree that year. It was made back when decent walnut stocks came with them. Everything about it is bright and glossy. Stock, barrel, and the old gloss Leupold VX III.
After ordering a box of 180 grain Nosler Partitions from Choice Ammunition in Montana I was at the range last Sunday to sling a few. Turns out she was on target at 100 yards.
My son came along as the non-hunting guest (although I offered up the opportunity for him to be the hunter on the trip several times but he declined). Got down to the Port Mansfield lodge late Thursday night, had breakfast from the cook Friday morning then all the hunters got into the guides' Jeeps for the mile drive to the El Sauz gate.
The amount of wildlife is amazing. The 28,000 acres is low fenced save for a high fence on the southern property line to deter nilgai movement due to ticks. Eric, my guide, drove us across country and we saw a lot of whitetails including some incredible bucks. Nilgai are the only animals that may be killed on the East Ranch Foundation properties and it shows. We'd drive within 50 yards of deer and they may look up at the Jeep or maybe not. We saw hogs out in the open in the middle of the day. They didn't care that we were there. Anyhow, we saw some cows and young bulls before we put a stalk on a mature bull late morning. He was 350 yards out in a shortgrass field with a cow. Something spooked them and they ran into the brush. We ended up cutting them off in the brush but there was too much brush between us and him, a mere 100 yards away.
After lunch my son joined us for the afternoon hunt. More driving and a few nilgai were seen but nothing worth putting a stalk on. We came across a group of cows that were on the edge of a motte about 300 yards away. A mature bull was with them and as we stopped the Jeep they retreated out of sight. I followed Eric as we made tracks, using a motte as cover. We located them and fortunately they were still out in the open and as the last cow put her head down to eat we backtracked around the motte toward the other side of it to get closer to the bull.
Sure enough, he was there with his head down. On the edge of the brushline Eric set up the sticks and gave me the go ahead. The bull was broadside eating (later Eric told me at 150 yards) and I fired. The bull recoiled and as he and the cows ran off Eric and I each shot again (we later figured that both of us missed the follow up shots).
We walked to where they ran and with each step my optimism of finding the animal waned. Once they were out of sight there was no telling which direction they headed. In less than five minutes after we arrived at where they disappeared we were walking through the two foot tall grass and Eric says "There is your bull!" He ended up running 100-150 yards before expiring.
The shot was nearly perfect, perhaps a couple of inches higher than desired. The bullet exited through the ribs a few inches back (this can be seen in some of the pics). Horns are 9" and change. The tenderloins are about the same size as a Texas whitetail backstrap, and a front shoulder is about the same size as a whitetail hindquarter. These are large animals.
Here is a backstrap.
It was a great experience overall. While I don't have other guided hunts to compare this one too, it couldn't have been better.
Gig 'em! '90
