Been around both. Three nilgai under my belt. Couldn’t make myself shoot the oryx. To me there were just like there. No challenge. Suppose I’m being too subjective. But nilgai, to me, give you more bang for the buck. JMHO.
Well, Bob, all hunting experience is subjective, so your opinion is fine in my books. Even though I hold contrary!
I've shot one nilgai, a cow at about 75 yards, and two oryx, at about 325 both times.
I killed my nilgai with STXHUNTER on the coastal islands off the coast of the King Ranch, at a place he knows. The nilgai cross back and forth to these islands pretty regularly, apparently, and the islands are State land, so free to hunt. Anyways, we laid in wait in a spot where they ford across at low tide, and sure enough a cow and calf came across. I took the cow with my .270 WSM, and Roger took the calf with his 300 RUM. My cow ran about 100 yards and then collapsed; I'd double-lunged her, and that did the trick as well on her as it has on any other critter I've double-lunged. For reference, the nilgai cow was about the same size as a cow elk, in my estimation.
My oryx both occurred on a ranch I know in the Trans-Pecos. We were hunting mule deer, but saw the oryx and the rancher/guides suggested I go for one of them. They "planted" oryx several years ago, and now have a herd of over 50. We stalked a group of about 10 of them to within 300 yards or so, but they weren't willing to let us get any closer. As they moved off I took a hurried shot but missed, so we left them and went back for mule deer. We later found the cow about a mile south of the spot, a lone cow, with a broken leg which I had apparently caused. I finished her with a neck shot. The second was the larger of a pair of bulls at a laser-ranged 320ish yards, and again that was as close as we could stalk. I put one bullet in his boiler room and he dropped dead 10 yards from where I'd hit him. I was surprised by the size of these oryx, I'd estimate their live weight at well over 300 pounds. It's a good bit of lifting for me and a strong young Texan to get one into the bed of a pickup.
All 3 critters fell to a 270 WSM, 140 gr Accubond.
