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Hunting Logs - Nilgai Bowhunt 2000
Bowhunting with 4 Arrows Outfitters At The King Ranch. 

DAY #5

Steve, Zan and I went on the deer feeding run this morning. It is nothing but amazing how many quality whitetail bucks and other wildlife (mostly wild turkeys, wild hogs, javelina and Nilgai) I have seen every single morning of this hunt. 4-Arrows really has an abundance of game.

Dave: As Dave slipped into his blind (7:30am) he guessed the number of Nilgai in the surrounding area (150 plus yards away) to be at least 50. He waited and watched as bull Nilgai chasing cows and carried on mating activities. 

At 11:30 he decided to sneak closer. He circled wide to got the wind right and got within 70 yards of three of three bulls. Dave waited for several hours as the Nilgai fed in the Laguna and  interacted with one another. A bull finally came close enough. Dave moved into shooting position.

He aimed and released the arrow, but missed, he had misjudged the yardage.

Now it was 4:15 and he moved to another position closer to the group and waited until dusk came.

Steve: his major interest being deer, Steve spent the day photographing, videoing and trying out ideas on whitetails. Steve set up his deer decoy at the edge of a small Laguna to see the bucks reaction. Various bucks approached it and Steve had a ball rattling, grunting and using scents on the deer. He picked up 5 sheds today , which brings his total to 17 for the week.

Dennis: It was Dennis's turn at bat for the javelina video effort. He and I checked the spots I knew about but nothing was there. However, we glassed some javelina at a pond Dennis had hunted.

We slipped up on 3 of them. I clicked on the video camera and Dennis slowly moved in to 15 yards. Dennis drew, aimed and shot ... high. The arrow smacked into some brush on the far side of the javelina and they ran away from the sound, and turned right on the trail I was standing in, and headed toward me. Dennis couldn't see them because of the ground cover.

"Dennis, over here," I whispered and pointed with my finger at them.

They stopped and looked in all directions. Dennis saw them and shot again, and missed once more. The javelina still had not seen us and did not know what had actually happened, but they trotted off a ways. We slipped after them.

A couple hundred yards later one javelina separated from the group. We went after it. Two eyes and one nose are better than 6 and 3.

For an hour we played nip and tuck, we got close numerous times but at the last second the javelina always moved behind some obstruction or walked just out of range. This javelina was cagey, it heard something on it's back trail but it couldn't figure out what we were.

I signaled to Dennis and we regrouped. We needed to come at the javelina from a different angle. We circled to the opposite side. It worked and we got into bow range again. 

Thinking, rightly, that something had been buggared on his bow, Dennis used windage and aimed low. This arrow was to the mark and the javelina broke into the brush and expired. After the excitement we checked Dennis's bow and his arrow rest was off -- 1/4 inch high.

Dennis with his Video Javelina.

Zano: On the way to his stand (11:00am) Zano jumped a group of bedded wild hogs. He tried for a shot but it didn't work out and he slipped towards his stand site in the wooded strip by the Laguna. A a dozen Nilgai were bedded from 20 to 50 yards from his ground blind, one was the enormous black Nilgai bull he saw yesterday. The wind was blowing hard Zan crawled slowly until he reached his ground blind. The Nilgai still were bedded but cow Nilgai suddenly began barking. Zan laid still and waited for two hours as the cow watched and barked at him in the blind. The cow finally walked off. The other Nilgai were milling around and remained in the area all afternoon.

At 4:30pm Zan decided he had to put a sneak on the Nilgai if he was going to harvest one. He belly crawled slowly toward them. A fawn and a doe came right to him and looked and smelled him. When they moved away Zan continued to crawl until he was 30 yards from 3 Nilgai. He crawled over to a tree with 3 trunks and waited to see if they would get any closer to him. But the Nilgai grazed further from him so he crawled along to stay with the group.

At 6:15 a group of Nilgai turned towards Zan and fed closer. Shooting light began fading and it faded as they came into range. Once they were past him, Zan got up and went to his truck.

Back at camp Dave and Zan both told us about their close encounters with the big Nilgai. It was cool seeing the difference in the way they told their stories. Dave was genuinely excited but still reserved. Zano was excited and animated.

Dinner Menu: Grilled kiobasa sausage, home cooked pinto beans topped with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of chopped green onions, picante sauce, jalapeno peppers, served with warm flour tortilla's. Prepared by Chef Zano.

Day 1 | Day 2  | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | The Hunt Wrap Up