09 January 2009, 18:20
dogcatNilgai Hunt Report - Jan 7, 2009, Raymondville, TX
Nilgai Garden of EdenDates – Jan 7, 2008
Location – Private Ranch, Raymondville, Texas
Outfitter – L&L Hunt Services – Lendell Layton, www.LLhunt.com or 361-55-6532 or info@LLhunt.com
Game Sought – Nilgai
Game Seen but not hunted – Whitetail deer, Javelina, Blackbuck Antelope, Armadillo, Lechwe (escapees from an exotic operation next door)
Weapon Used – Barrett Model 99 in .416 Barrett, 400 gr. Pointed Solid Boattail Brass bullet ( www.barrettrifles.com )
Details (Recommendations at the end)
I was recently invited to go on a nilgai hunt in South Texas on a ranch that only permitted nilgai hunting. This was designed as a one day outing hunting Texas style out of a high seated truck for spotting with stalking done on foot.
As it turned out, this was a unique shooting opportunity that I would normally not participate in, but chose to go along due to the uniqueness of the opportunity. As most of you know, nilgai are a very wary, heavily hunted non-native introduced species in Texas and Mexico from India. Nilgai flourish in the South Texas brush country and the various large ranches (King, Kennedy, and others) have large populations. In South Texas, whitetail deer are king and anything that competes with them is viewed as vermin, nilgai included.
I have hunted nilgai on the King Ranch without success seeing only two vanishing in the brush as we drove the senderos looking for them. Most are shot on sight and out of a truck, making them extremely wary and running at the sound of a vehicle of a human.
I was convinced by friends that this ranch was different and that the nilgai are there in abundance and not nearly so wary as on other ranches. Yea, yea, yea – we have all heard that before by guys promoting a new product or trying to get in your pocket. I was a guest of a friend that had hunted this ranch for the past 17 years for nilgai. He is addicted to them and told me that this was the best nilgai ranch imaginable. He was a creditable friend, so I took him up on the invitation along with another shooter.
We flew to Harlingen, Texas and met my friend at the airport. We checked into a local motel and met the guide and outfitter – Lendell Layton, owner of L&L Hunt Services. He offers whitetail, mule deer, elk, exotic and antelope hunts in Texas and New Mexico. His specialty are nilgai of which he has taken over 1000 bulls on this ranch. That is right, over 1000 bulls! I was stunned when I heard the number. I also fully expected to see very little game and no mature bulls if he had taken that many off this ranch. He said he normally takes 75 to 90 bulls and about 10 cows per year. Again, stunning numbers. I started asking a bunch of questions about game numbers and was told to just “wait and see” when we got to the ranch.
The Ranch
The ranch is one of the legendary South Texas family ranches that goes back several generations, along the lines of the King and Kennedy Ranches. This was a working cattle ranch sandwiched between the King Ranch on one side, a national wildlife refuge on the other and an Oscelot Reserve on another side. I do not know the total size of the ranch. It was low fenced on all sides except one area on an adjacent ranch that was an exotic animal operation. This high fence bordered a short part of the ranch. The historic Chisolm Trail passes through the ranch and is marked. I had hoped to see John Wayne somewhere but did not -
The ranch owners does not allow any hunting on the ranch except for nilgai. No whitetail deer are taken, no hogs, no anything except nilgai. To say the least, we say dozens of very large whitetails. Below are a couple of pictures. The deer die of old age on this ranch. I was able to walk up to four different bucks and take these pictures without the deer showing any signs of concern.
Same for javelinas and other wildlife. I am an avid birder and identified 42 species in my short stay on this ranch.
Another “telling” aspect to the type of ranch was that the lease roads were paved with asphalt, not your typical caliche senderos we usually drive on. The ranch staff were Mexicans and very helpful.
The Shoot
Not knowing what to expect as I have never hunted nilgai, I took my Model 70 .300 Win Mag with 180 grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw bullets as I figured a nilgai was about the same size and toughness as an oryx or wildebeest. Lendell said that nilgai are noted for taking a lot of punishment and usually needing a couple of shots to anchor them.
However, on this trip and at the urging of my host (the 17 year veteran of nilgai hunting), Lendell asked if I would consider using a Barrett Model 99 single shot rifle in the proprietary .416 Barrett caliber. I said sure, not knowing what this was other than anything that says “.416” is likely to kick the stuffing out of me. I have shot .416 Rem, .458 WM and .458 Lott and know what recoil can be. I found out that this .416 Barrett is a .416 bullet in a .50 BMG case. Here are the ballistics for it – http://www.barrettrifles.com/ammo_416.aspx
Obviously, this cartridge with a 400 grain bullet traveling at 3290 fps generates more than enough power (9517 ft-lbs) to kill anything on this planet twice or three times over. You will note that this cartridge generates more energy and velocity at 500 yards than a .458 Lott generates at the muzzle. I was shocked to say the least.
I told him that there was no way I would even load this gun let alone shoot it. He explained that it weighed 26 lbs (12+ kilos) and with the muzzle brake, only recoiled similar to a .243 or .25-06. It would be very loud and we would need extra ear protection.
Intrigued, I said I would try it on a bench and see if he was “woofing” me or not.
My shooting partner and I both fired a round or two from a rest on top of his truck. He was right, no problem with recoil. The gun did not jump and the effect was a soft push. I again was surprised. It was accurate as well shooting about .25” group at 100 yards.
The bullet itself was a sight to see – machined 400 grain piece of brass in a very pointed solid with a boattail backside. I was worried that it would pass through whatever it hit without doing enough damage – a concern I did not need to have as it turned out.
We sighted our hunting rifles just in case and off we went.
Within fifteen minutes of driving the main lease road off the major highway onto the ranch we started seeing nilgai – single bulls, groups of cows with calves, and bulls with harems. Within another 40 minutes, we saw over 150 animals and ten mature “blue” bulls. In an hour, my hunting partner looked over 12 different mature, big bulls before taking one at 362 yards with the Barrett.
Our original and preferred plan was to spot a bull while driving, continue on, hide the truck and make a foot stalk. However, the weight of the Barrett rifle prevented that and Lendell asked if we would consider shooting from the top of the truck to judge the affect of this caliber on a nilgai. He also wanted to video the hunt to show the Barrett people the potential market for this rifle as a hunting weapon.
Apparently, many nilgai shot with the normal .300 Win Mag and other bigger calibers and most American hunters are not used to the toughness of the animal. They do not follow up with another shot as they tend to admire the first shot. The nilgai is thick skinned and does not leave a good blood tail and the typical bullet used on these hunts does not pass through. Lendell wanted to see how well this rifle performed and what blood trail would be left behind.
I am not at all in favor of shooting anything from the truck except vermin. I made a moral exception here and do not really call this a “hunt” in terms I normally use to describe a hunt. This was more of a “shoot” than a hunt due to the method we were using.
As I mentioned, my partner fired at 362 yards dropping the nilgai in its tracks. Death was sudden and quick. From our vantage, the animal never kicked. Upon arrival at the bull, the bullet passed through destroying the lungs and liver. There was considerable blood on the ground. We retrieved the bull and started looking for another.
I spotted mine behind a clump of trees and got into position to shoot from the top of the truck. On “normal” nilgai hunts, the animals spot you or the truck take off running at a lope and do not stop to look back. They head for the brush and you have little time to shoot if you are spotted. In my case, the bull did not spot us until I was “on” him. He looked up and stared for the normal 3 or 4 seconds and started to move to run. I shot at Lendell’s instruction taking the bull inside the closest shoulder as he quartered toward me. He dropped at the shot and literally “bounced”, rolled over, kicked a couple of times and was still.
At the bull, we saw that the shot shattered the heart, a shoulder and part of one lung before exiting. The picture below shows the exit wound as well as a .300 WM cartridge next to a .416 Barrett. The size difference was something to behold.
The bull I took was about 11”, a very nice old bull. Lendell and my host were impressed and said the average is about 8” and that 10” or more is a big deal. I am not an “inch” person and really do not consider this a “trophy” as I was just in the right spot at the right time. I was shooting and not so much hunting. You can split hairs on the subject of ethics if you wish but I made my informed decision before I pulled the trigger or agreed to shoot from the truck. I viewed this as a “shoot” with some friends on an introduced species in a state where there is no closed season on them. The greatest part of the outing was seeing the abundance of deer and other wildlife on this ranch. All told, I we saw 100+ shootable mature nilgai bulls, 400-500 cows and calves, 20 whitetail bucks that would be 8 points or better, 50-75 javelinas, dozens of turkeys, and all kinds of birds. I added the White-tailed Hawk and the Great Kisskedee to my life list of birds.
The Gun
Or should I call it a bazooka or a sniper rifle or an artillery piece? In summary, the .416 Barrett is about 3x too much gun for any non-dangerous game and about 2x too much for anything other than angry elephant. However, I was impressed with the weapon and had fun shooting it. On a one day hunt/shoot, I was willing to try it out for the experience and the fun of doing something new and different. As a side note, we set up a target at 500 yards to see how we shoot at that distance. A 5 gallon bucket full of water was the target. We hit it 2 out of 3 times and with three whitetail standing about 50 yards away not caring in the least about us. It is amazing and fun. I doubt I buy one, but I am glad I got to shoot it.
The Outfitter and Host
Lendell Layton did an excellent job on this outing. He was helpful, a good coach on shooting the Barrett and taught me how to judge nilgai at a distance. Even though he takes a bunch of bulls off this ranch every year, there were still plenty. I would recommend him to you if you are after nilgai. If you want to spot and stalk, he will put you on a bunch of bulls to pick from. Just be sure you shoot well and put in an anchoring shot.
You will enjoy seeing all of the wildlife as much as taking a nilgai. It is worth the price to see this “Nilgai Garden of Eden”.
Here are some UTube links to his operation. There are representative of the hunt. The hunt I participated in will be up soon on the www.LLhunt.com website.
http://video.google.com/videop...=7650075619805585108
http://video.google.com/videop...38427186871970&hl=en
http://video.google.com/videop...73070981532213&hl=en
http://video.google.com/videos...p&resnum=8&ct=title#
