i have wanted a trophy bull Nilgai to round out my Texas hunting adventures and definitely for the meat . My first attempt was 2020 I booked a hunt with an outfitter that advertises on this forum . An hour away from the Yturria I stopped o load up on ice . I was slinging bags to the ice chest and I felt a pinch to my left bicep . It was a little sting but I thought no big deal .
When I got to the ranch the guide met me at the gate and my bicept went into a spasm that almost brought me to my knees . The guide looked at it and said " damn , your bicept it hanging under your arm " . There was no way I could hunt but the ranch was a class act and insisted I stay for the night and have dinner on them .
Fast forward to 5/5/22 and I booked another Nilgai hunt with another outfitter because I could not get an opening with the previous outfitter . I was given his name from my son who has a close friend that has used him for the last 6 years .
I arrived at a private ranch that boarders the King . I met and talked with the guide and he had been sending me pictures of the bulls he has been seeing . Once I got there he wanted to show me "the target bull " they had been hunting since last December , but I will get back to that subject .
We went for a drive so I could see the lay of the land and what was around . After 15 minuets I saw my first bull and I thought " oh c$$p , this is going to be a real hunt and I better be on target . These animals do not sand still , they are continuosly on the move and you can not believe how thick this country is . There are no tall trees but just fricken thick ..
We drove around for another hour and half and I saw 2 bulls and maybe 20 cows . We took a break and I went to an awesome casita I stayed in .
We went out for the evening hunt and set up on a small clear cut in a ghost blind and waited . At 6:15 the target buck they have been hunting jumped out into the clear cut . I only had 5 to 6 seconds to look at him . He was quartering away to my side with his head down eating for maybe 1 second then lifted his head to exit to the right around some trees .at 240 yards .
I shot catching him behind his shoulder and at the angle the bullet should have ended up in his chest . The guide and I tracked the bull and found what looked like two specks of blood and we saw him staggering away in a half run and moaning , and that was it , now it is 8:00 and he called in trackers . His tracker with a dog was tied up on another ranch but 4 of us looked untill after midnight . NO SIGN OF HIM , I lost him and the meat would have gone bad by then .
It ends up he found him by the birds Tuesday morning . I have been literally sick about it . They found him a half a mile away from where i shot him .When I got home my wife knew I was a beaten man but reminded me I have been hunting for years and been blessed with many trophy animal to show for it . I hope this does not play out for any of yall and wish all good luck . They are a very hard animal to bring down and with how thick this country is you better be ready , apparently I was not .
FYI - I was using a Tikka T3x in 300 WSM with Nosler Trophy grade 180 grain bullets , I really think I went under gunned . When I go back I will have at least a .375 mag .
I am sharing my story in hopes it will help some of yall on here . Bless you and safe hunting to you .

Very sorry you couldn't recover him. I've done it on eland. 'Never found. I know your pain. You do learn a lot from it though.

sorry about the bull....it happens.


Def. not undergunned, the vitals on a Nilgai are alot farther forward than on a whitetail or an elk. The .300 mag accounts for hundreds if not thousands of nilgai a year.


At least they found the bull and can give you the skull

Plenty of gun. Sounds like you may have been excited & rushed the shot. At that range ,just a little movement will make a difference. Luckily you have the skull for mounting.

I feel your pain. I shot a nice bull in the neck with a 6.8spc and dumped him. After I put the gun up and prepared to drive to where he was, he just got up staggering and took off. Searched the entire property and never found a sign of him. Only good thing was it was a friends property and I didn't pay anything to hunt.

Been there and sometimes fruitlessly tracked blue bulls of the wild horse desert who who were hit with bigger projectiles. The amount of blood these animals can lose and still not be found is amazing. I remember following a blood trail that led into a cornered spot. You could see where the animal quickly turned to get out of that "trap" - looked like one of those pinwheel pain splatter things at the carnival.

Get back down there when you can. It's an awesome environment and your future success will now be that much sweeter.

Thanks for sharing

Sorry to hear your story. For me, a couple of thoughts come to mind:

1) There are precious few "givens" in the field. Hunt long enough and something like this is gonna happen...even if you strive to do everything "right". Don't beat yourself up too badly over it because...

2) You did everything you could to recover the animal. Some folks don't, and that's a real tragedy.

I've got a lot of respect for folks who work to do things right, but don't shirk or make excuses when things go wrong. I'd hunt with you any day...

Mark

Crazy story. But I want to know what happened to your arm?

You definitely had plenty of gun. I shot a bull 10 years ago and we followed a blood trail for more than half a mile and then it just stopped in the sand near a mesquite mott, no bull anywhere to be found. We looked for hours.

Another time, I was asleep at the wheel when a massive bull walked through a small clearing and was completely gone within 5 seconds. I have shot 3 cows and 2 bulls, but they are not easy to hunt or bring down.

Sorry the hunt didn't turn out as anticipated. Like mentioned by several others you had plenty of gun.

It happens to everyone if you hunt long enough. All you can do is make a honest effort to recover the animal (and it sounds like you did).

that is the exact same set up I use - plenty of gun for sure - I have killed animals as large as nilgai many times with it - sorry it happened but sooner or later it does to everyone if they hunt enough

Nilgai are one of the toughest around. I put a. 225gr. bullet from a .338 in the chest of one years ago and we tracked him for several hundred yards before a second bullet in the neck ended the hunt. As said above it happens to a lot of people if you hunt long enough.

Sorry to hear but I can tell you the 300 wm wasn't the problem

300 WSM, not WM. Still, probably not the caliber's fault. Hit the eland with a .375 H&H, too high in the shoulder.

You were not under-gunned.

I know it is normal for us to assume we are going to make a good shot and have an easy recovery. As for me, if I am going to pay thousands of dollars to take a trophy, I think I'm bringing my hunting buddy along just in case my aim is off.

This time of year there is a good chance you wont find anyone willing to use their dog due to the heat and snakes. Your better off bringing your own if you have one. I will say in this case, having your own dog might not have made a difference considering the area, and the shot, but you never know?