Re: Swam with the Hammerheads Yesterday!
Posted: 19 Jun 2019 11:20
There a couple of places that offer draw hunts. I will post the info this afternoon.
Here are the three public hunting areas that have nilgai. All are National Wildlife Refuges. You will see that they list whitetail and exotics hunts; nilgai can be taken during the whitetail hunts, but you will need a General Non-Resident Hunting license (#105 ~ $315). All you need for the "exotic" hunt is a Non-Resident Five-Day Special Hunting license (#157 ~ $48). There is a $3 drawing fee and a fee for the permit which is listed with the hunt data. Usually around $80 to $100. The drawing info and links below will change sometime after July 1st for the upcoming hunting season.Ranch Dog wrote:There a couple of places that offer draw hunts. I will post the info this afternoon.
The three areas are: These areas and hunts are hard country. They may not look like it to guys from the mountain states, but you will eventually question why you are on the hunt. All require a daily pack in through some terrible country, the snakes are large, and you will deal with gators at Laguna Atascosa. Even given the winter months, this is a subtropical country influenced by blue norther frontal systems. In a single day I've seen a high temperature in the lower 90's, heavy thunderstorms (with no were to go but stay flat), followed by an immediate drop to near freezing. These areas cause new hunters, hunters that have never been on the properties, to follow a rule of halves. Each day, only half of the new hunters will stay to the following day.
The properties are as good as any private land in Texas when it comes to shooting a nilgai. Most private lands truck hunt the nilgai, but not here. They will be big critters up close. On the hunts, feral hogs can be left in place, but nilgai must be removed. If you are successful, you are looking at four pack trips out for the critter (70 to 80 lbs) each trip, plus one trip back for any portable blinds, etc. If you are hunting 2 miles in, that's five, round trips, 8 miles with 70 to 80 lbs on a pack frame. I started this one morning, pulling the bolt out of my 8 lb Marlin 1895MR and leaving it for the last trip. I almost did not go back for that rifle. I was twenty years younger then and in incredible shape. That is always on my mind when I consider the hunt. I've always been willing to help those that have been drawn with planning to put them on a nilgai early. Each one has been successful, but each one says they will never go back.