Rhoyland4
AH senior member
Back in December, I won a Nilgai hunt in a raffle that had to be taken by the end of March. It included 1 day of hunting and 1 night stay at the ranch.
My 16-year-old daughter wanted to be my guest on the hunt. When I looked at our calendar, the only weekends we both had open were the last two weekends in March. We scheduled the hunt for this last weekend, hoping nothing would come up and cause us to cancel. Work has been nuts lately, and I haven't been able to really prepare and plan as I should. On Wednesday, I finally started making a list of things to pack and realized my daughter's snake boots were at the deer lease in Mason, and that I only had 7 rounds of ammo left for my 300 PRC that I was planning to take. I built the rifle myself last year, and this was the perfect hunt to take it on. 3 gun stores, including Bass Pro, were all out of ELD-X ammo, so I threw my box of ELD-M in the truck, hoping I wouldn't need it. My daughter was not comfortable going on the hunt without her snake boots, so on Friday night, we drove the lease, which is over an hour in the wrong direction, to get them. We stayed the night and headed out at daylight for South Tx. I was planning to stop by my office in San Antonio and grab a third ice chest (I had a 65qt Yeti and a 70qt Igloo with me), but I was out of town before I realized I'd forgotten to stop. Not wanting to go back, I decided we would make the detour to the Academy when we went through Corpus Christi. Picked up an extra 65qt Yeti and 2 boxes of ELD-X there.
We finally got to the ranch outside of Riviera about 12:30. We met our guide, Richard, at the gate, and he informed me that he had just seen 8 bulls from the bunkhouse to the gate. This looked like it was going to be a short hunt! NOT!!!. We ran to the bunkhouse, unloaded, and went over his game plan. The ranch is pretty thick with mesquite, so we would most likely not have a long shot or much time to get set up for it. The drought is bad in this area, and there is almost nothing green except the mesquite trees, salt grass bunches, and some sprouts at the bottom of all the dry lagunas, so the plan was to drive in the ranger, stop short of the lagunas, and walk in. It was getting warm as the high was supposed to be about 84, and Richard said the nilgai would be bedded up waiting for evening, and then they would be looking for water. We immediately bumped a young bull driving, but he was running when we saw him and never stopped in sight. Over the next couple of hours, we saw a few nilgai cows at some of the lagunas, but did not see another bull. Walking into one of the lagunas, my QD sling came loose at my shoulder twice. The second time, my suppressor just grazed the ground. There was a little sand on the end of it, but I blew it off and didn't think anything about it. I quit using the sling at that point, though. I'll have to figure that issue out at a later date. We came through a gate, and as we pulled into the road, a bull that had been standing in the road about 100 yards down stepped into the brush. I tried to chamber a round, but my chamber was full of sand! The suppressor must have scooped up a teaspoon of sand or so, and it came straight down my barrel into my action! I was afraid my hunt was ruined at that point. We headed back to camp to see what we could do. We found an air compressor, and I was able to blow everything out really well. You could tell it was still a little gritty, but everything appeared to function, thankfully!
We headed back out around 4:30 and went directly to a laguna near camp. We saw a couple of nilgai cows and were looking at them when my daughter spotted a bull back in the brush. All I could tell was that he was black, so he was mature. I jumped out and walked to where I could see him better. Richard was walking up with my shooting stick, which he had gotten out of the back of the ranger, when the bull walked off into the bushes along with the cows. We waited a few minutes to see if we could spot him again. No luck! We drove to another laguna 100 yards away and found nothing, so we circled the backside of the area where we had just seen the bull, with the wind in our favor, and walked into the area for about 30 minutes, but did not see anything. Back to driving around!
We spent the next several hours driving and walking into the lagunas with no luck, aside from a couple of cows. There was a creek along the property line that held some water pockets, so we drove along its edge until we had about 30 minutes of light left, then started easing back towards camp through the pastures. We pulled up to a gate, and Richard noted that this pasture contained cattle. There were 5-6 head about 100 yds down the fence line. I was looking at them when a nilgai bull walked right through them! I jumped out of the ranger, and my daughter brought the sticks. The bull had turned away from us and was walking away, oblivious to us. I was on him, but was not as steady using the sticks as I wanted to be. This was my first time using them. He finally gave me a slight quartering away shot, but I was not comfortable taking it without being steadier. That lasted only a few seconds, and he continued walking away. When he got about 200 yards out, I knew it was too far of a shot, so I grabbed the sticks and began walking after him as fast as I dared. We were gaining on him, and I thought we had a chance, but when we got close to the cattle, they spooked, and the bull turned and looked at us. He stood broadside for about 10-15 seconds at about 150 yards, but I was not on the sticks yet, and he was gone before I could get set up. It was disappointing, but at least we had had some excitement!
We got back in the ranger and drove through the pasture in the direction he had gone, but never saw him again. It was getting dark, so we headed back to camp after about 15 minutes of seeing nothing but cattle. We passed a bull that was on the neighbor's property. He was huge, and I could have shot him all day long. That is the way it goes when they know they are safe!
We ran to town and had some good mexican food for dinner. I think it and Dairy Queen are the only places to eat in Riviera. By the time we got back to camp, it was almost 10 pm, so we just showered and crawled into bed.
After a good breakfast, we headed out again. It was foggy, with visibility of only about 50 yards, and chilly. I think about 53 degrees. We were hopeful the fog would burn off pretty quickly, and it did. We made one stalk in the fog where we had seen the bull, and my gun was full of sand. We didn't see anything, but by the time we got back to the ranger 20 minutes later, the fog had pretty much lifted. We stated the same pattern as the day before. Driving around checking lagunas. We actually did not see anything at a laguna, but we bumped several nilgai cows in the brush, but did not see any bulls. I had told Richard that if we did not find a bull by about 10 am, I would be willing to shoot a cow, since we planned to be done hunting by noon or so. About 8:30, we pulled through a gate into a new pasture, and I could see a trap for gathering cattle in front of us. We were on the narrow end where the gate was, and I saw a nilgai standing in the trees just inside it. I got my binoculars on it and confirmed it was a bull. I knew he wasn't a mature bull, but I was running out of time. We got out of the ranger to walk over when Richard realized we had lost my sticks driving through the brush! I walked up to the gate to use it as a rest as he walked off. I thought he was limping, but wasn't sure. When I got to the gate, I could not find him. My heart sank! My daughter whispered DAD! There he is. I still didn't see him. I asked her which side of the fence he was on. She said he had crossed the fence and was in the pasture where we were standing. I walked about 10 feet to the corner of the fence, intending to use the corner post as a rest, but I could not see him clearly because of a couple of trees in the fence line. He was standing about 10 feet off the fence. I walked about 10 steps out into the pasture where I had a clear view of him. He took a couple of steps and was definitely limping. He was standing full broadside. I raised the rifle and was surprised by how steady I was off-hand. He was about 100 yards away, and I was comfortable, so I took the shot. I didn't see the impact, but I heard the thuuwummp of the bullet hitting him and heard my daughter say DAD! He dropped! I rechambered immediately, but he was not trying to get up. When we walked up on him, he was still moving around a little, so I put another in his chest. After some celebration and a few pictures, the work began!
We did not find any reason for his limp, but he was definitely down in his condition, as most of the animals we had seen were. Richard estimated he was down at least 100 pounds from a normal year, where they have had some rain. We found my first round under the skin on the far side when we skinned him. When we got him all quartered up, we got the shoulders and backstraps in the 65 qt Yeti. The hindquarters in the 70 qt igloo, but the head and hide wouldn't fit in the other 65 qt yeti. I ended up having to put it in a trash bag, then in a second trash bag with ice. I couldn't believe that when we got back to San Antonio, most of the ice in the trash bag was still unmelted. If I had shot a mature bull, I am not sure how we would have gotten him all home!
This was a great hunt and gave me a little perspective of what I think Namibia will be like when my daughter and I go next year!
Now I need to clean my rifle really welland figure out why my QD sling is popping loose!
My 16-year-old daughter wanted to be my guest on the hunt. When I looked at our calendar, the only weekends we both had open were the last two weekends in March. We scheduled the hunt for this last weekend, hoping nothing would come up and cause us to cancel. Work has been nuts lately, and I haven't been able to really prepare and plan as I should. On Wednesday, I finally started making a list of things to pack and realized my daughter's snake boots were at the deer lease in Mason, and that I only had 7 rounds of ammo left for my 300 PRC that I was planning to take. I built the rifle myself last year, and this was the perfect hunt to take it on. 3 gun stores, including Bass Pro, were all out of ELD-X ammo, so I threw my box of ELD-M in the truck, hoping I wouldn't need it. My daughter was not comfortable going on the hunt without her snake boots, so on Friday night, we drove the lease, which is over an hour in the wrong direction, to get them. We stayed the night and headed out at daylight for South Tx. I was planning to stop by my office in San Antonio and grab a third ice chest (I had a 65qt Yeti and a 70qt Igloo with me), but I was out of town before I realized I'd forgotten to stop. Not wanting to go back, I decided we would make the detour to the Academy when we went through Corpus Christi. Picked up an extra 65qt Yeti and 2 boxes of ELD-X there.
We finally got to the ranch outside of Riviera about 12:30. We met our guide, Richard, at the gate, and he informed me that he had just seen 8 bulls from the bunkhouse to the gate. This looked like it was going to be a short hunt! NOT!!!. We ran to the bunkhouse, unloaded, and went over his game plan. The ranch is pretty thick with mesquite, so we would most likely not have a long shot or much time to get set up for it. The drought is bad in this area, and there is almost nothing green except the mesquite trees, salt grass bunches, and some sprouts at the bottom of all the dry lagunas, so the plan was to drive in the ranger, stop short of the lagunas, and walk in. It was getting warm as the high was supposed to be about 84, and Richard said the nilgai would be bedded up waiting for evening, and then they would be looking for water. We immediately bumped a young bull driving, but he was running when we saw him and never stopped in sight. Over the next couple of hours, we saw a few nilgai cows at some of the lagunas, but did not see another bull. Walking into one of the lagunas, my QD sling came loose at my shoulder twice. The second time, my suppressor just grazed the ground. There was a little sand on the end of it, but I blew it off and didn't think anything about it. I quit using the sling at that point, though. I'll have to figure that issue out at a later date. We came through a gate, and as we pulled into the road, a bull that had been standing in the road about 100 yards down stepped into the brush. I tried to chamber a round, but my chamber was full of sand! The suppressor must have scooped up a teaspoon of sand or so, and it came straight down my barrel into my action! I was afraid my hunt was ruined at that point. We headed back to camp to see what we could do. We found an air compressor, and I was able to blow everything out really well. You could tell it was still a little gritty, but everything appeared to function, thankfully!
We headed back out around 4:30 and went directly to a laguna near camp. We saw a couple of nilgai cows and were looking at them when my daughter spotted a bull back in the brush. All I could tell was that he was black, so he was mature. I jumped out and walked to where I could see him better. Richard was walking up with my shooting stick, which he had gotten out of the back of the ranger, when the bull walked off into the bushes along with the cows. We waited a few minutes to see if we could spot him again. No luck! We drove to another laguna 100 yards away and found nothing, so we circled the backside of the area where we had just seen the bull, with the wind in our favor, and walked into the area for about 30 minutes, but did not see anything. Back to driving around!
We spent the next several hours driving and walking into the lagunas with no luck, aside from a couple of cows. There was a creek along the property line that held some water pockets, so we drove along its edge until we had about 30 minutes of light left, then started easing back towards camp through the pastures. We pulled up to a gate, and Richard noted that this pasture contained cattle. There were 5-6 head about 100 yds down the fence line. I was looking at them when a nilgai bull walked right through them! I jumped out of the ranger, and my daughter brought the sticks. The bull had turned away from us and was walking away, oblivious to us. I was on him, but was not as steady using the sticks as I wanted to be. This was my first time using them. He finally gave me a slight quartering away shot, but I was not comfortable taking it without being steadier. That lasted only a few seconds, and he continued walking away. When he got about 200 yards out, I knew it was too far of a shot, so I grabbed the sticks and began walking after him as fast as I dared. We were gaining on him, and I thought we had a chance, but when we got close to the cattle, they spooked, and the bull turned and looked at us. He stood broadside for about 10-15 seconds at about 150 yards, but I was not on the sticks yet, and he was gone before I could get set up. It was disappointing, but at least we had had some excitement!
We got back in the ranger and drove through the pasture in the direction he had gone, but never saw him again. It was getting dark, so we headed back to camp after about 15 minutes of seeing nothing but cattle. We passed a bull that was on the neighbor's property. He was huge, and I could have shot him all day long. That is the way it goes when they know they are safe!
We ran to town and had some good mexican food for dinner. I think it and Dairy Queen are the only places to eat in Riviera. By the time we got back to camp, it was almost 10 pm, so we just showered and crawled into bed.
After a good breakfast, we headed out again. It was foggy, with visibility of only about 50 yards, and chilly. I think about 53 degrees. We were hopeful the fog would burn off pretty quickly, and it did. We made one stalk in the fog where we had seen the bull, and my gun was full of sand. We didn't see anything, but by the time we got back to the ranger 20 minutes later, the fog had pretty much lifted. We stated the same pattern as the day before. Driving around checking lagunas. We actually did not see anything at a laguna, but we bumped several nilgai cows in the brush, but did not see any bulls. I had told Richard that if we did not find a bull by about 10 am, I would be willing to shoot a cow, since we planned to be done hunting by noon or so. About 8:30, we pulled through a gate into a new pasture, and I could see a trap for gathering cattle in front of us. We were on the narrow end where the gate was, and I saw a nilgai standing in the trees just inside it. I got my binoculars on it and confirmed it was a bull. I knew he wasn't a mature bull, but I was running out of time. We got out of the ranger to walk over when Richard realized we had lost my sticks driving through the brush! I walked up to the gate to use it as a rest as he walked off. I thought he was limping, but wasn't sure. When I got to the gate, I could not find him. My heart sank! My daughter whispered DAD! There he is. I still didn't see him. I asked her which side of the fence he was on. She said he had crossed the fence and was in the pasture where we were standing. I walked about 10 feet to the corner of the fence, intending to use the corner post as a rest, but I could not see him clearly because of a couple of trees in the fence line. He was standing about 10 feet off the fence. I walked about 10 steps out into the pasture where I had a clear view of him. He took a couple of steps and was definitely limping. He was standing full broadside. I raised the rifle and was surprised by how steady I was off-hand. He was about 100 yards away, and I was comfortable, so I took the shot. I didn't see the impact, but I heard the thuuwummp of the bullet hitting him and heard my daughter say DAD! He dropped! I rechambered immediately, but he was not trying to get up. When we walked up on him, he was still moving around a little, so I put another in his chest. After some celebration and a few pictures, the work began!
We did not find any reason for his limp, but he was definitely down in his condition, as most of the animals we had seen were. Richard estimated he was down at least 100 pounds from a normal year, where they have had some rain. We found my first round under the skin on the far side when we skinned him. When we got him all quartered up, we got the shoulders and backstraps in the 65 qt Yeti. The hindquarters in the 70 qt igloo, but the head and hide wouldn't fit in the other 65 qt yeti. I ended up having to put it in a trash bag, then in a second trash bag with ice. I couldn't believe that when we got back to San Antonio, most of the ice in the trash bag was still unmelted. If I had shot a mature bull, I am not sure how we would have gotten him all home!
This was a great hunt and gave me a little perspective of what I think Namibia will be like when my daughter and I go next year!
Now I need to clean my rifle really welland figure out why my QD sling is popping loose!
