Nilgai

[shootist7]

Loading .308" 200gr Swift A-Frames in a 300 Win Mag, to take on a Nilgai hunt. RL-19 and CCI 250's. Seeing as I can't draw a tag for the life of me...! Have wanted to do this for some time now. I'll have a 200 yard zero and a can do attitude! Lol!

Have been able to hunt all over the USA and Canada over the years, first time to TX.

Interested in hearing about other's experience hunting Nilgai in SE TX.

Thanks!

 

[JMack]

Tagging in on this one

 

[Mrvmax]

Had a friend who got picked for the Nilgai on Federal land in Texas (through state of Texas drawn hunts). He will never put in for one of those again. No set areas for hunters, other hunters were walking in his field of fire, wandering all around. He never even got a shot. He paid for a hunt (do not recall where) and he shot one with his 30-06 but it did not take it down and he never recovered it. He is usually a pretty good shot but I do not know if he got a good shot on this one.

 

[RB II]

I hunt Nilgai in South Tx, which is likely your best bet to secure a hunt that is 100% free range.
I shoot a 28 Nosler with 195 Berger EOL or Hammer 169 HH. Also 300 PRC with 214 HH. Both are good performers.

The reality with Nilgai is that very few are one shot kills. I have killed 2 with one shot each but generally you have to break a shoulder or hip to slow them down enough to be able to follow up and make the recovery, even with the highest performing terminal ballistics bullets and good shooting.

I have seen many of them hump up on a good solid boiler room shot and still never be recovered. The S Tx brush is another big contributor to hard recovery. I have never seen one lay down after the shot like white tail or mule deer, the just start (continue…lots of running shots at the big bulls) running and seemingly never stop and often almost zero blood trail. That is one reason the 45-70 is often a preferred round for them.

 

[Aoudad shooter1975]

It's a fun social hunt. Most of the time, shots are not super far--they are tough but not bullet proof. I've seen them shot with as small as a 25-06 and as big 416...your 300 will do just fine.

 

[wvbearhunter]

Wait....arent they and invasive/feral species?

 

[PopNFresh]

they're tough and don't leave the best blood trails. we lost a ton back in the big freeze a few years back though, their lungs didn't like the cold too much. we had lots of clients we geared up for nilgai and they go when they take a shot so keep shooting and stop watching that weird run they do.
I've had clients feed them 450 nitro and 300 win mag and then run off never to be found and I've had them dropped with 6.5 Creedmoor and prc as well.
keep shooting, if they go down shoot then again, heard of some of the king ranch crew dropping them with 6.5 Creedmoor to the neck pretty regularly.
They don't taste too bad either, little bit more purple than whitetail

 

[shootist7]

It's my understanding that there's more Nilgai in TX than their home range in India. If they are invasive, they're a very lucrative invasive species! Prices aren't shy! But, they're another viable excuse to take a gun for a walk!

The guy I'm talking to likes velocity, says it's key to anchoring a Nilgai. And that he'd like to see more velocity with the 200gr A-Frames I have than the 2800fps I'm getting with them. So I loaded up some 150gr TTSX to 3300fps. Didn't take long to dump a pound of RL-19, 68gr and 76gr at a time! Lol!

 

[RB II]

It's my understanding that there's more Nilgai in TX than their home range in India. If they are invasive, they're a very lucrative invasive species!

I wouldn't doubt the numbers, I was down in S Tx a few weeks ago and there was a herd of maybe 35 animals out in the middle of a big playa eating that water grass. Pretty cool.

 

[HandgunHTR]

The public land draw hunts in TX can be good, but just like public land hunts everywhere, you have to get away from the crowds (or be lucky) to be successful. Nilgai move around quite a bit and are pretty skittish. They do tend to use the same areas, however, so if you find a good dung pile that is being used, you can back off of it and ambush hunt them.

In regards to people putting "good shots" on them and then losing them that is because too many people shoot them like they would a deer or a pig, which ends up being too far back. Yes, that shot will kill them, but they will go a long ways leaving a very sparse bloodtrail before they die. The best shot is straight up the front leg 1/3 of the way up. You hit them there with a good bullet and they will go down quickly. Maybe not right there, but usually within 50 or so yards.

I have killed 6 of them so far (3 bulls, 3 cows) and have been part of another 20 or so being shot. We have yet to not recover one that was shot with that shot placement.

Here is a pic of the last cow that I shot. You can see the entrance hole. It is a touch higher than I would have liked, but this was a snap shot, offhand, at one that stepped into a firebreak at 65 yards. She went 23 yards.

 

[J-L]

The win mag will be fine

As mentioned above shot placement is key

.338 RUM 300 nos accubonds at about 2650 fps

He still ran about 50 yards

Im still undecided on the meat , everyone says its a delicacy etc , i prefer deer or elk honestly.

 

[OmegaRed]

I've shot two. One with 300WM and one with 300PRC and 215 Bergers. First one went right down, the second one was smoked through the heart and it bucked and ran. I shot it two more times on the run and it went 75 yards.

Study anatomy for an effective kill shot, it's a little different location than a whitetail. Bulls usually have lots of built up scar tissue and thick fatty shoulders from/for fighting. They don't bleed well and they live on sandy soil. Those two contributing factors don't spell "easy" for tracking in brush and it's not an animal that you'd want to be walking up on wounded and bedded down.

 

[JTH]

Vitals are further forward on Nilgai. If you understand that and place shot accordingly a one shot kill is very doable. I used a 300 PRC with Hammer 163HHT running in the high 3300's, one and done, internals liquified.

 

[haisardao]

You will do just fine, make sure you study the location of vitals as is not the same as a WT deer/Elk. Last one I shot I used a 300 RUM and 180 Hammer at 200 yards, DRT.