Texas Bongo Pictures

Pictures of Bongo in Texas

Ok so as requested here are some pics of Bongo here in my native land of Texas. A buddy of mine had, at one time, the largest Bongo herd in the US. So @christophe morio and @AfricaHunting.com here ya'll go. These were really his pets and no one hunted them. This is just a handful of pics. I cant remember now how many Bongo he had but it was a bunch.

Fantastic, even if it is quite funny for me to see them behind fence or with fallow deer and gnu, this is very cool. I would love to go there to see them close because I think they have the gene from Kenya as they are pretty dark..
Thanks for sharing (post more !!!)
Best
Christophe

It's really heart breaking. About 8 years ago that part of Texas had a unheard of cold spell. Temps got well below freezing for two weeks. It was the coldest two weeks on record in that part of Texas by a lot and was a freak deal. Anyway he did everything he could do to try and get them out of the weather but all but one died which was the little calf in the last pics. My buddy was completely heart broken over it and spent the entire time round the clock trying to save them but couldnt. That little one spent the two weeks in the lodge and thats how she made it.

That part of Texas is really thick as you can see from the pics. That ranch is 4000 acres and it was amazing to me how those Bongo could flat disappear when they wanted to. I spent days looking for them to take pics sometimes and couldn't find hiding or hair of them. Then one day he'd throw some feed out as he did every day and some would show up eat a bit then leave. I remember one time a really big group all showed up together. There was at least 15 or so if I remember correctly and it was the only time I saw that many together at once. Normally they'd show up alone or in a pair or so and that was it. I've been looking for that pic of some of them grouped up that time but haven't found it yet. I don't know much about Bongo and my experience with them is limited to only this place but I think someone told me once that Bongo are really solitary. From my understanding they can be quite dangerous if wounded or cornered. Most of these were pretty friendly, the calves would eat out of your hands. A cow came in the kitchen once and was eating our bisquits off the counter before breakfast. We tried to run her out and she ran into the living room. What a cluster f&$%#k that was. We managed to get her out the door but it was quite interesting there for a bit.

Gizmo..... thank you for sharing...... Very cool..

Very interesting Gizmo. Nice pics and a great story. Bruce

Nice pics and thanks for sharing! It was hard for me to pay attention to the bongo looking through all the monster fallow!

Bongo are strikingly beautiful animals!

gizmo said:

Ok so as requested here are some pics of Bongo here in my native land of Texas. A buddy of mine had, at one time, the largest Bongo herd in the US. So @christophe morio and @AfricaHunting.com here ya'll go. These were really his pets and no one hunted them. This is just a handful of pics. I cant remember now how many Bongo he had but it was a bunch.

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Amazing, thanks for sharing @gizmo! Quite a scene, that beats any zoo out there...

christophe morio said:

I would love to go there to see them close because I think they have the gene from Kenya as they are pretty dark..
Thanks for sharing (post more !!!)
Best
Christophe

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You're right @christophe morio, they originate from Kenya.

Definitely a noticeable difference between the Bongo from Kenya (East Africa) and the one from Congo and Cameroon (West Africa), see: Eastern or Mountain Bongo of Kenya: http://www.africahunting.com/threads/eastern-or-mountain-bongo-of-kenya.15051/.

To see Bongo images from Central and West Africa to see the difference: Bongo Pictures: http://www.africahunting.com/threads/bongo-pictures.11220/.


Africa

gizmo said:

It's really heart breaking. About 8 years ago that part of Texas had a unheard of cold spell. Temps got well below freezing for two weeks. It was the coldest two weeks on record in that part of Texas by a lot and was a freak deal. Anyway he did everything he could do to try and get them out of the weather but all but one died which was the little calf in the last pics. My buddy was completely heart broken over it and spent the entire time round the clock trying to save them but couldnt. That little one spent the two weeks in the lodge and thats how she made it.

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So sorry to hear and very sad.

Texas is an amazing place. I've got to get down there again!

Thanks for sharing Gizmo! Very sorry to hear how they died- I was stationed at Fort hood that year and clearly remember how miserable it was.

Do they have any plans to try and rebuild the herd?

Is that the same place you got your Nile Lechwe?

Thanks for the pics, Erik.

Chasing a bongo out of the house, that must have been quite interesting

rinehart0050 said:

Thanks for sharing Gizmo! Very sorry to hear how they died- I was stationed at Fort hood that year and clearly remember how miserable it was.

Do they have any plans to try and rebuild the herd?

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I don't really know. I haven't talked to Robert in about two years now. I really should call him just to see how he's doing.

Bullthrower338 said:

Is that the same place you got your Nile Lechwe?

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Yip shore is. Right down the road from where u live.

Bongo are beautiful. What doesn't Texas have?

stug said:

Bongo are beautiful. What doesn't Texas have?

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Lol not much that isn't found int Texas. He had sitatonga too.

Temps below freezing killed them literally? How much below freezing was it? Seems odd that a couple weeks of semi cold weather would do that. Did just the bongo die or the other critters too?

sestoppelman said:

Temps below freezing killed them literally? How much below freezing was it? Seems odd that a couple weeks of semi cold weather would do that. Did just the bongo die or the other critters too?

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it was down around 0 for two weeks straight. Sitatonga bit it too. They're Equatorial animals and just can't handle cold like that.