USA: Nilgai Hunt

[Short Track]

This is the problem with refreezing meat. The quality degrades. It loses moisture. More subject to freezer burn. Texture problems. Is it safe to eat, yes. But you're paying big money to travel, hunt, etc. Now the Kingsville butcher is refreezing your carcass / meat multiple times. Because that's how their operation works, which is unlike any other parts of the USA & Canada. In fact, most western hunters never heard of this before.

Elsewhere, the carcass hangs for a day, or a week, or whatever, at 38 degrees. Then it's butchered and frozen just once. Perfect quality meat.

Waiting 2 months for meat, 100 phone calls to the butcher. It's just not worth it. The moment is over.

 

[pilar]

This is the problem with refreezing meat. The quality degrades. It loses moisture. More subject to freezer burn. Texture problems. Is it safe to eat, yes. But you're paying big money to travel, hunt, etc. Now the Kingsville butcher is refreezing your carcass / meat multiple times. Because that's how their operation works, which is unlike any other parts of the USA & Canada. In fact, most western hunters never heard of this before.

Elsewhere, the carcass hangs for a day, or a week, or whatever, at 38 degrees. Then it's butchered and frozen just once. Perfect quality meat.

Waiting 2 months for meat, 100 phone calls to the butcher. It's just not worth it. The moment is over.

I think no matter how your animal is butchered you are going to continue to complain!
It’s really common for a carcass to be frozen then made into single batch sausage and then vacuum sealed and refrozen and boxed for pickup or shipping
It’s also common for a butcher to cut the carcass into steaks frozen then vacuum sealed still frozen and shipped .
I do think you should try to study how the processing works and stop this nonsense .

 

[Short Track]

I think no matter how your animal is butchered you are going to continue to complain!
It’s really common for a carcass to be frozen then made into single batch sausage and then vacuum sealed and refrozen and boxed for pickup or shipping
It’s also common for a butcher to cut the carcass into steaks frozen then vacuum sealed still frozen and shipped .
I do think you should try to study how the processing works and stop this nonsense .

I was a plant engineer at a USDA facility. Maybe I'm just a little familiar with the commercial process. .. which doesn't allow for wild game.

 

[Hunter4lifejimmy]

I used the guides gun. It was a suppressed 338 lapis. With a 5x25 scope. He dialed it in and that 340 yard shot seemed natural.

 

[Red Leg]

This is the problem with refreezing meat. The quality degrades. It loses moisture. More subject to freezer burn. Texture problems. Is it safe to eat, yes. But you're paying big money to travel, hunt, etc. Now the Kingsville butcher is refreezing your carcass / meat multiple times. Because that's how their operation works, which is unlike any other parts of the USA & Canada. In fact, most western hunters never heard of this before.

Elsewhere, the carcass hangs for a day, or a week, or whatever, at 38 degrees. Then it's butchered and frozen just once. Perfect quality meat.

Waiting 2 months for meat, 100 phone calls to the butcher. It's just not worth it. The moment is over.

"The moment is over" So unless you can hold the cuts in your hand within a week you didn't have a good hunt?

I'll simply point out one more time, that the way your nilgai was handled is how probably 70% of all big game in Texas is done if processed commercially. I can assure you every cut will be just as good as a once frozen carcass.

However, you have the absolute right to bellyache about this all you wish. However, I would suggest not coming this way again would be much less stressful for you. I also hope another Texan on the other site was able to respond with a few facts about hunting here and the actual quality of the result.

 

[coreydb]

Nice trophy! I hunted a couple exotic trophy animals at 777 Ranch in Texas and had a great hunt. These ranches are/can be a viable second option for someone who doesn't have the time or enough money to fly to a country on the other side of the globe to hunt. Big plus here, is that you can take the meat home and the taxidermy timeline is much shorter.

 

[Red Leg]

Nice trophy! I hunted a couple exotic trophy animals at 777 Ranch in Texas and had a great hunt. These ranches are/can be a viable second option for someone who doesn't have the time or enough money to fly to a country on the other side of the globe to hunt. Big plus here, is that you can take the meat home and the taxidermy timeline is much shorter.

What is even better, unlike the game ranches, Nilgai in much of South Texas, including where this one was hunted and locations like the King and Kennedy Ranches are free range animals, and very challenging. I am unaware of anywhere in Asia where Nilgai can be hunted in their native environment.

 

[dchum]

Nice trophy! I hunted a couple exotic trophy animals at 777 Ranch in Texas and had a great hunt. These ranches are/can be a viable second option for someone who doesn't have the time or enough money to fly to a country on the other side of the globe to hunt. Big plus here, is that you can take the meat home and the taxidermy timeline is much shorter.

Come back to Texas and hunt a big blue bull from the original wild herd that is over 100 years old.

777 ranch / Hondo is a long way from the coastal plains and oaks where the free range Nilgai herds have made home.

Will be a much different experience…
Sorry but the 777 ranch is Jeff Rann’s petting zoo and breeding business.

 

[fourfive8]

This is the problem with refreezing meat. The quality degrades. It loses moisture. More subject to freezer burn. Texture problems. Is it safe to eat, yes. But you're paying big money to travel, hunt, etc. Now the Kingsville butcher is refreezing your carcass / meat multiple times. Because that's how their operation works, which is unlike any other parts of the USA & Canada. In fact, most western hunters never heard of this before.

Elsewhere, the carcass hangs for a day, or a week, or whatever, at 38 degrees. Then it's butchered and frozen just once. Perfect quality meat.

Waiting 2 months for meat, 100 phone calls to the butcher. It's just not worth it. The moment is over.

Dang! Freezing, re-freezing unknown times over the span of two months! You are correct! There is nothing normal about that, be it Texas or anywhere. The only hunting I ever did in Texas was for a few doves and prairie chickens and that was 55 years ago, so not much help on big game there. But, whoever says what you experienced is normal is full of crap. I feel bad that you had that experience. Such “Hunter Mill” operations can be found anywhere in the world, including Texas and Africa.

 

[dchum]

Dang! Freezing, re-freezing unknown times over the span of two months! You are correct! There is nothing normal about that, be it Texas or anywhere. The only hunting I ever did in Texas was for a few doves and prairie chickens and that was 55 years ago, so not much help on big game there. But, whoever says what you experienced is normal is full of crap. I feel bad that you had that experience. Such “Hunter Mill” operations can be found anywhere in the world, including Texas and Africa.

“Hunter mill” Has nothing to do with Hibblers or hunting free range Nilgai on the Texas coast. Not sure how you are linking the two?

I think you are unaware of the opportunity to hunt the free range low fence Nilgai herd in Texas. Has nothing to do with game ranches / exotic ranches

 

[pilar]

Dang! Freezing, re-freezing unknown times over the span of two months! You are correct! There is nothing normal about that, be it Texas or anywhere. The only hunting I ever did in Texas was for a few doves and prairie chickens and that was 55 years ago, so not much help on big game there. But, whoever says what you experienced is normal is full of crap. I feel bad that you had that experience. Such “Hunter Mill” operations can be found anywhere in the world, including Texas and Africa.

It’s usually only frozen twice in the act of processing a wild or domestic animal, due to the fact that yes meat can degrade in quality if frozen and thawed multiple times.
My processing plant this is the order that it’s done, it’s inspected on delivery, weighed and labeled, deboned, then frozen till ready for processing into sausage, steak, hamburger, then vacuum sealed in individual portions, placed into boxes and placed into a giant walk in freezer till ready for pickup or delivery, but never frozen more than two times for quality control,
All “ venison “ sold and shipped to Europe & Asia is done in the same fashion , slaughter - quarter/ split, frozen, shipped, thawed, inspected, butchered for sale .
I have been irked by short buses multiple internet platform post and negativity!
He has no basis for complaint that any company is purposely trying to degrade his wild game before they ship it to him, Hiblers , Rio’s , Klein, El campos are all very reputable professionals in the processing industry.

 

[fourfive8]

It may be done that way in some areas by some handlers, but no way in hell that it should be done that way. Sounds like a path to normalize poor business practices and poor handling of meat. Some hunter mill and butcher mill operations have apparently been successful in normalizing that process

Normal accepted is hanging skinned carcass or “quartered” parts for a day or two up to about 20 days depending on cleanliness and source of the carcass at temp just above freezing to max of about 38’ F. Letting any part of that meat go above the 38’ F danger zone for more than 2 hours is asking for trouble. Freezing and thawing, to expedite the butchering or handling process is likewise asking for trouble. At worst it can become a health issue, ready for the 6 o’clock news. At least it degrades the quality of the meat. I guess butcheries can get by with it until they don’t. Meat should be cut, wrapped then sold refrigerated with use by date and consumed…. or cut, wrapped and frozen one time for transport and later thawed for consumption. At most frozen once and thawed once. Knock yourself out justifying or trying to sell this multiple freeze-thaw procedure as the new normal. I’ll stay with Short Track on this one.

 

[ElevenBravo]

Congratulations! A South Texas nilgai hunt is very much like an African PG hunt. Enjoy the great tasting meat, some of the best game meat going.

I have a nilgai that I bagged in west Texas two years ago. The meat is very, very good. I prefer it over bison and oryx.

 

[Acopperdawg]

It’s usually only frozen twice in the act of processing a wild or domestic animal, due to the fact that yes meat can degrade in quality if frozen and thawed multiple times.
My processing plant this is the order that it’s done, it’s inspected on delivery, weighed and labeled, deboned, then frozen till ready for processing into sausage, steak, hamburger, then vacuum sealed in individual portions, placed into boxes and placed into a giant walk in freezer till ready for pickup or delivery, but never frozen more than two times for quality control,
All “ venison “ sold and shipped to Europe & Asia is done in the same fashion , slaughter - quarter/ split, frozen, shipped, thawed, inspected, butchered for sale .
I have been irked by short buses multiple internet platform post and negativity!
He has no basis for complaint that any company is purposely trying to degrade his wild game before they ship it to him, Hiblers , Rio’s , Klein, El campos are all very reputable professionals in the processing industry.

I have used several processors in South Texas and I am not sure that I have ever seen them freeze a whole carcass. I like to walk in with my boys to look at the trophy's they have when we drop animals off. I would say that they hand the entire carcass at or very near the freezing point, but it seems like they mostly keep them ice cold

 

[Red Leg]

It’s usually only frozen twice in the act of processing a wild or domestic animal, due to the fact that yes meat can degrade in quality if frozen and thawed multiple times.
My processing plant this is the order that it’s done, it’s inspected on delivery, weighed and labeled, deboned, then frozen till ready for processing into sausage, steak, hamburger, then vacuum sealed in individual portions, placed into boxes and placed into a giant walk in freezer till ready for pickup or delivery, but never frozen more than two times for quality control,
All “ venison “ sold and shipped to Europe & Asia is done in the same fashion , slaughter - quarter/ split, frozen, shipped, thawed, inspected, butchered for sale .
I have been irked by short buses multiple internet platform post and negativity!
He has no basis for complaint that any company is purposely trying to degrade his wild game before they ship it to him, Hiblers , Rio’s , Klein, El campos are all very reputable professionals in the processing industry.

Exactly.

 

[TaylorM456]

"The moment is over" So unless you can hold the cuts in your hand within a week you didn't have a good hunt?

I'll simply point out one more time, that the way your nilgai was handled is how probably 70% of all big game in Texas is done if processed commercially. I can assure you every cut will be just as good as a once frozen carcass.

However, you have the absolute right to bellyache about this all you wish. However, I would suggest not coming this way again would be much less stressful for you. I also hope another Texan on the other site was able to respond with a few facts about hunting here and the actual quality of the result.

My Nilgai meat has been absolutely fantastic and I got it about 3 months after. I’ve never received an animal any faster than 3 weeks and usually it’s 4-5 weeks for a basic venison order.

 

[ElevenBravo]

My Nilgai meat has been absolutely fantastic and I got it about 3 months after. I’ve never received an animal any faster than 3 weeks and usually it’s 4-5 weeks for a basic venison order.

Must be a south Texas thing, or Ox Ranch has a good deal with their preferred meat processor. I usually get mine in 2-3 weeks after getting back home. I do have to pay dearly for 2 day shipping, any longer and the meat will thaw. Sort of the same deal with their preferred taxidermist- any trophies from Ox get bumped to the front of the line, 90 business day turnaround.