Anyone ever hunted them?

What cal and shot placement is needed?

Are they good eating?

thinking about going to hunt them.

I know nothing about them.

any suggestions or advice is welcome

I have hunted them, and am heading out in the morning to hunt them again.

Only one Ive killed so far was with a .30-06 and 180 gr NPT...DRT

Next one will be killed with a .275 Rigby

The meat is absolutely second to none..unique flavor and excellent.

Deep south Texas is pretty much where they are.( NOT Africa)

You might try this in the general big game forum

Better than axis?

Ive killed a couple and help skin and butcher a bunch more. Last one I shot was with a
.30 US Army (30/40 Krag). Saw six nice animals on my last trip south. One monster bull. Just didn’t feel like messing with one. May shoot another some day.

As Ingwe says, South Texas is the place to go. They are a pretty tough critter.


Damn good eatin’ but very little respect for high fences

Yeah, they go under a fence like a hog. Good photo.

They are good eating.

DF

yes

Nilgai, Are very hard on fences, they will push barb wire down and push box wire up, they will make a hole under high fence you can drive a 4 wheeler thru, they are good eating with young cows being the best eating, but most bulls are good eating also.some people call them S. Texas, Elk, Your deer rifle will work fine a well placed shot will kill them. find a place here you can spot and stalk them, some of these so called guide's down here want to chase them with a truck and slam on the brakes and try to shoot them, usually turns into a cluster f------. Rio7

So, what’s a good working price to shoot one, fair chase hunt?

You can pretty well plan on $3500 + or -

Cheaper than a Texas whitetail, I guess. Got some cash in my old age. This sounds like a good option to add to the list.

Thanks.

And, better eating.

DF

Rio7 is spot on. Cows taste the bestus!!!

I have hunted them twice many years ago on a large ranch right around the King/Kennedy ranches. Freebie corporate trips. I used my old Ruger M77 RS 35 Whelen and the 250 gr Partition. One was thumped running full bore and did cart wheels at the shot. All luck...

I actually prefer eating the bulls to the cows, even the big trophy bulls, as they have more flavor--though bull meat generally requires some aging to become tender. But both are great.

They're about the size of elk, but can indeed be killed with "deer rifles," though the hide over the front end of the bulls is VERY thick, as it is in many other big game animals with sharp horns, to protect them while fighting other bulls. The smallest cartridge I've taken them with was the .270 WSM, using thre140-grain Fail Safe, which I used on a cow and a mature (but not huge) bull. On that hunt several hunting companions used the same cartridge and bullet to take 28 other nilgai, half bulls and half cows. It worked fine--as would any similar caliber cartridge.

After hunting nilgai several times I came to the conclusion that they acquired such a reputation for being hard to kill for two reasons: The early popular method was to drive around until you jumped them, then shoot them on the run, which did not enhance bullet placement. Also a lot of cup-and-core bullets were used, which often "over-expanded" on the thick chest hide.

Great info!

I'll probably take my 35 whelen with my cast bullets and a 308 as a backup.

So for shot placement, like a typical deer? or should there be a 'better' spot to aim for?

Land cut south tx. 270, 130gr corelokt


some other land cut pics, state land but only accessible by boat.

Don't get too alarmed if you go through the Border Patrol check point.When I was going back home with one in my ice chests,the dog at the check point was getting really excited by the smell of the meat.He was jumping up and down beside my truck.The agent ask what I had in the ice chests and I told him a nilgai.He said I think my dog likes your nilgai.They do have thick hide,even the membrane around the muscles can be thick,so a good bullet and good shot placement is the key.I killed mine with a 300 Win Mag and a 165gr Interbond with no problem.Some ranches require a 300 Win Mag or greater so check before you go.

This is why Im going after a bull this time. John talked me into it. I shot a cow before and the meat was bland ...which apparently is how most Americans like their meat. The meat from Nilgai bulls John has given me I felt was far superior.

Little jealous here.......hope you have a great hunt Tom.

Yup. Best of luck.

Poobs,

I find it a bit more difficult on my old and loose choppers! 😁. Hence my desire for the cow meat. But that last bull I shot was sure delicious.

kaywoodie,

The meat of all the nilgai I've taken has been aged for a while, which makes considerable difference in chewability! One was aged in the cooler a butcher shop in Texas before being shipped to me; the others were aged in the coolers I brought them home in via airlines.

Depending on the animal, we've aged game up to 3 weeks before butchering and freezing. That long can make a BIG difference even in old bucks and bulls!

JB...have you got any hints for aging them in the summer in Montana?

Yes sir, that would help me a lot. Way things are around here I usually sent it home with one of the boys to process as I am generally short of time. Sometimes it get a little aging, sometimes not.

Our cooler fills up after a few day's hunting, aging meat more than a week does not work here, we try to shoot the tender ones. Rio7

If you don't have a spare refrigerator, then putting the chunks in big coolers with ice works fine. We have a pair of 120-quart Igloos that we use to bring meat home from hunting trips, and just one will easily handle a semi-boned average elk or nilgai cow. When doing that, we put the meat in the bottom of the cooler, then bags of ice on top of the the meat. We place the cooler on the floor next to the garage door (east side of the garage, which is coolest during afternoon), with the drain open toward the door, and the other end propped up to allow meltwater to drain out under the door. Then we keep checking the cooler (or coolers) and adding ice as needed.

Have used that system on all sorts of game, not just nilgai but anything take in warm weather, including September moose, and it works very well. Usually a 3-7 days of aging is plenty for younger animals, but older ones often need a couple weeks.

My one and only Nilgai, a bull, was taken in S. Texas with my Ruger Hawkeye African, .375 Ruger, and a single Barnes TSX 270 gr. bullet. Range was a bit over 200 yards, bull dropped in its tracks with a lung shot. Bullet was recovered under the hide on the far side.
Meat was aged for 2 weeks before cutting up, and was absolutely superb table fare!

Mule Deer, The method you are using works great on 1 or 2 or 3 critters, but not so well on 30 to 40 critters a week. we have had as many as 56 critters in our cooler at one time, last season we had to rebuild our walk in's ceiling as the weight was pulling rail and the ceiling down. Rio7

ingwe;
Top of the morning to you sir, I hope the weekend treated you well.

As I've read you might be on the road already, this is most likely too late, but for next time or for anyone else wondering what those of us who hunt when it's warmer do to age meat.

Since I know you've read Eileen's book "A Slice of the Wild", I'll clarify I'm recommending it for anyone who hasn't as it contains the best explanation of meat aging I have found.

We picked up a big upright freezer that had a brand new "slightly too small" compressor installed into it by a repair place. They were selling it as a big beer fridge.

Usually I'll skin the animal, cheese cloth it and leave it until at least the next morning so rigor has relaxed a bunch - covered in Eileen's book again folks.

Then it's into pieces and into the fridge.



Since this photo was taken I've done two additional modifications.

On the door on the bottom shelf, I've installed twin computer fans to help the air circulate inside. The original fan can be seen at the top in the center and we found that it didn't circulate the air quite enough so some of the meat would turn a wee bit brownish after 7-10 days. I tried a small household cooling fan, but that was too much air flow and while it helped the meat not to turn color, it made a bunch of crust that needed to be cut off.

The other modification I did last fall was to add an indoor/outdoor digital thermometer. This way I can see what the internal temperature is in the fridge at a glance.

When I load a couple deer into it, sometimes it'll tend to freeze the meat at the bottom, so it requires a wee bit of monitoring and temperature adjustment, but certainly nothing too onerous.

We've also seen other folks up here buy a beer fridge and gut it and then install their own angle iron/bed frame rail hanging and racking system and that works for them equally well.

We've not done that as we use it for vegetables and other stuff occasionally too that it's nice to have the original shelving setup still there.

Hopefully that helped someone out there this morning. All the best.

Dwayne

MD's described method works great for our warm weather hunts. Been doing it that way for several years now.

That's how I do it also but I don't leave the animals in but 3-5 days average, 7 days at the most.

We always do elk and big pigs like MD says. But I usually give 90% of my nilgai away to my hunting pards. As I am the only one at home that will eat it. They usually give me some steaks and sausage. And I’m fine with that.

id skip S. Texas and look into booking a hunt in NW India. very, very reasonable pricing

Ingwe was not asking about dozens of critters. He was asking about aging the meat he brings back from Texas after his own hunts.

I didn't understand the point of his post

Mule Deer, I understand what ingwe, is asking, and i am aware he's not asking about dozens of critters, any thing else i should be aware of ?? Rio7

Well, gee....

Then like jwp I am wondering about the point of your post. Was it that you cool a lot more animals than Ingwe--or me?

Made no sense to me either.

Well, we're all getting older... :-)

get ahold of me and ill give you my plans for a home aging cabinet

Nilgai...I thought this was The African Forum.

That was mentioned in the second post, but everybody forged ahead anyway....

yea, sorry about that, I thought they were in Africa and that's where the most of them would be hunted and thus experience and info about them.
Little did I know they are mostly in TX.

Hey, speak for your own self! I have decided to not only not have any more birthdays, but I’m going to begin unwinding my age by uncelebrating one birthday every year. I can feel myself getting younger right now.

...or, it may just be the Scotch...

I don't drink much Scotch anymore, but have encountered the same effect from Irish whiskey! (And having visited Ireland, apparently it works the same way with the Irish!)

I did a lot of business in the early 90’s with a guy from Falfurrias. He owns several thousand acres in Brooks county that’s been in his family for generations, and has Nilgai. I killed a couple back then using the same cartridge and bullet combo as stxhunter. It worked fine. At the time a 270 was the only rifle I had. I’ve read about Nilgai hunting on a number of websites and as a rule Nilgai are represented as bulletproof and .300 WinMag is the absolute bare minimum that should be used. It’s nice to see more reasonable suggestions here on the fire.

A friend killed a bull with 1 shot from a 30-30 contender pistol

Yep, hit 'em in the right place and they die relatively easily.

But if you don't hit 'em in the right place they can be pretty tough. Have mentioned this before, but am convinced the reason nilgai got a reputation for being bullet proof was the typical "hunting" method used when they started to become more popular big game animals 20 or so years ago. This was to chase them in pickups and shoot them on the run--sometimes even from the moving vehicle--which doesn't enhance good shot placement.

What MD said +1.

Went nilgai hunting with a good bud a few years ago. I had just had shoulder surgery, so watched him kill one with a 338 Win.

Guide carried a 340 Wby, liked big guns for nilgai, thus the .338.

From what I’ve read, a 200 NPT out of an ‘06 penetrates as well as as some of the bigger rounds.

So even those who think a nilgai blue bull is armor plated, the above combo should penetrate as well as a .375 or similar. Of course most deer rifles with a good bullet will kill one dead.

DF

Nice DF, going to finish a nilgai deal Ingwe and i started in a few, will be using a 44-77 Shiloh Sharps with 477gr paper patch bullet, or if raining/at night, a 7mm Mashburn Super kicking a 160gr NAB out at 3220 fps, both should seal the deal Muy Pronto.

That’ll work.

Pictures, of course.

DF

.30-06 shooting a Barnes TSX 168 grain @ 2900 FPS.

I do not recommend this, but the old game warden (whom used to be employed at the same shop as I in Austin back in the day) in the Riveria/Sarita area, his all time favorite nilgai rifle was his Ruger #1 in 220 Swift.

He is gone now. And he was a great guy.

Just thought I’d throw it out

Kaywoodie, Never shot a Nilgai, with a 220 swift, i have killed a cow and a bull with a .243, i was not hunting Nilgai, either time just bumped into them, i think the bullet you use is more important than the chamber size.. Rio7

I’ve seen you shoot that .243. I believe you are correct!

had a buddy who killed one while shooting out the passenger window of the truck while they were chasing a bull, killed it one shot, 220 swift, probably a lot of luck on that shot.

G500 please get us a photo. And don't try to sell us any track soup! Be well, RZ.

I’ve killed several of both cows and bulls. Biggest cartridge was a .280 Rem, but mostly my 7x57 but both using either Partitions or Trophy Bonded bullets. I did kill a cow with a 170 grain Sierra round nose and it worked just fine - glad I have a bunch of those still.

On the subject of shooting nilgai, we’d be remiss if Kaywoodies offhand shot to the noggin with an antique Winchester wasn’t mentioned. https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...300084/1895-src-nilgai-bull#Post14300084

If my 140 gr TSX from my Kimber Montana dropped a decent 5x6 bull elk outside Leadville Colorado at 250 yards in 2015, well no worries. I'm kicking around the same package for my "whenever it will happen" 16 day NE BC goat, elk and moose hunt. With the latter I am guess another years deferral assuming my outfitters survives.

Every time someone tells me .300WM is the minimum for something, I think of this expert shooting the minimum acceptable cartridge for use, on a hunt where I'm sure her shot placement was definitely the best it could have been, because she didn't flinch severely right as she was pulling the trigger in anticipation of her ass getting absolutely kicked.

The women I've seen shooting are generally quite deadly. Wouldn't want one of them shooting at me.

They generally don't need a romping, stomping, super magnum; they just put the right bullet in the right spot....

Like our sage from the great North, it's the boolet, not the headstamp....

It's the guys who seem to need to compensate with more and more powerful rounds.

DF

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Truer words were never spoken. Rio7

well I plan on using a 22 rimfire... hahahahaha!



seriously though. I think my 35 Whelen will be adequate. I'm good with it to about 300 yds.



of course I took this one at 10 yds with it.

I hunted them(1) about 3 years ago in S Texas. I think a group called WSI. . The hunt was a good one employing spot and stalk. The outfitter did insist on 30 mag 180gr bullets.. They did have some issues with wounded animals escaping, probably due to bad shooting and a lack of good blood trail.
I took a 375 Ruger with 235 TSX loaded moderately- 27-2800 FPS. One shot high in the lungs put the bull down in about 30-40 yds. But there was no blood trail until the last 20 feet and then only a little. The skin on the neck and shoulders is really 1/2" or more thick- and tuff. The 375 was bought with an African buff hunt in mind , so I used it a lot for everything, deer included. Moderate handholds made it bearable and pleasant to shoot.
We didn't have the time of facilities to age the meat a s long as desirable but it was good but chewy.. Only comparing one on one the elk cow I shot last year was probably better, but not by a great amount.
I would hunt for them again at the same outfitter, only problem is my hunting buddies keep dyiing off on me.
One factor this year might be related to the inclement weather that Texas had this winter. Nilgai do not feed on provided feed like deer and they build no fat reserves so they are susceptible to to cold kills.When they have a bad spell losses can be considerable. Or so research suggests.
3 day hunt with guide, food and cabin was 2900 for a bull. Less for cows.

Yesterday
.257 Weatherby 100 gr TSX 3675 fps at 235 yds through both shoulders dead 1 shot

That's awesome dvd. Nice shooting and great pic. Congrats!

Very nice bull

That's a very nice Blue Bull, he's got some age on him, Rio7

I concur Blue! DVD. That’s a great bull!!!

Nice Dan !!

You down there with Ingwe & Gunner ?

Good deal Dan Congrats!

99, Ingwe may have hunted with Dan, my wet azz is sitting on the farm, i havent headed out yet, 'Gwe is headed back home with meat boxes full of a last minute Axis he told me.

Now, that's some good eating...

DF

You bet DF, Axis, Nilgai, Kudu and Eland loin from a bush grill in Africa are crazy good, you'll need a better culinary expert than me to gauge what's best,.

Ingwe sucks!!!!!!!

Yes he do, and has for centuries ; ]

Aww....

Aren’t you guys being a bit hard on poor ole Poobs....??

Y’all gonna have me feelin’ sorry for him....

DF

LOL!

Cheers Gunner !!

This is fuggin sweet! And shows you what proper placement can do.

My Nilgai didnt cooperate, so it turned into a last minute Axis hunt.

Trade you some steaks?

^^^^^^^^^^LOL^^^^^^^^^^^

Theres not many guys I'd let LOL at me....but I'll let this slide.


Just this one time....

Thanks Main, yet to see Captain Kayote, maybe that will soon change ; ]

Congrats DVD! Ya'll save us some thing to shoot We start our hunt with Clay and the gang on June 7th. Can't wait....look like they are getting a lot of rain. I am sure things are very green down there.

For the guys from down there- got any recommendations for good BBQ or taco joints in the Harlingen/ Port Isabel area? Headed down in a few weeks.

I'd also be very interested in BBQ/taco joints in that part of Africa!

I could ask some of my relatives down there for recommendations.

Thanks, that would be great!

We've only got around 50 pounds of wild pork left in the freezer, and may be making the pilgrimage next winter.....

Theres a Mom and Pop Mexican joint on the four way corner in Rio Hondo ( Dont remember the name, if it had one...) that is fantastic authentic Mexican food. And on your way down hit La Pasadita in Natalia Texas, south of San Antonio.

Talked to a rancher today at the farm store, he said they have been shooting Nilgai, from a chopper for the last 2 days, thinks he has killed about 40, he is covered up with Nilgai. and not happy about it. Rio7

Youngest son and I are in the throes of working a cow nilgai hunt in South Texas, the Yturria Ranch.

I've hunted the Yturria Ranch, neat place.

DF

EdM, Nice place that should be a good hunt,post pic's. Rio7

Santa Rosa up west of Sarita is suppose to be doing this too. Least they were about 3-4 years ago. More for Tick fever than anything else I believe. Haven’t heard if they are still doing it. I did kill a young bull back in mid November suspected of having the fever. Didn’t look good.

We drove MILES on a nice blacktop ranch road before we got to the hacienda, which is quite a spread. There was a huge granite crypt for Senior Yterria's wife who had since passed. He was in his 90's back then; I would guess he's probably joined her by now.

Google Yterria history as it relates to Capt King and Capt Kenedy, circa Maximilian rule in Mexico, American Civil War and Reconstruction. Quite a story.

Reportedly the hacienda was about half way to the Gulf, which is said to include a lot of marsh land. Sr. Yterria is (was) big into preservation, reportedly his Gulf acreage is part of a wildlife preserve. There is a large fenced area for ocelot preservation. It's so thick, you can hardly walk in there. A wounded nilgai wading off into that could be a challenge to find. The Yterria Ranch is bordered on the North by a King Ranch division.

Soak up the history, enjoy the ranch, have a good hunt.

DF

I'm my opinion, No! Nilgai is good and have made it and had made many ways so I honestly say Axis is better. Again in my opinion.

Thanks, good looks! Flying into HRL and driving from there though. Looks like high 60s during the day, 40s at night- should be decent enough conditions.

Probably the Norias. I did a nilgai hunt their several years ago. It is covered with all types of game as well as history.

I appreciate the reply DF. Years ago I hunted a place that bordered the Kennedy and took a nice bull with my Ruger RS 35 Whelen and the 250 gr Partition. It now looks like we are leaning towards the King Ranch for next spring. I have my youngest chasing this.

Thanks

I learned that a wounded animal off the Yturria that makes it to King Ranch property is not to be pursued. Texas is big on property rights and trespassing without permission is a big deal.

So, kill'em dead.

DF

Going to run down to the land cut in March or April to hunt them for a couple of days.