landman650
Lil-Rokslider
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2021
- Messages
- 174
I was drawn for a Texas Exotic Rifle Hunt at La Sal Del Rey National Wildlife Refuge in Hidalgo County, TX. The Texas drawn hunt system has been a fascinating way to get to see some of Texas' best parks. This hunt has an unlimited bag limit for exotics and hogs though I am unaware of anyone seeing anything else but nilgai here. I chose to bring a Browning BLR 300WM (lever action) though I think a Browning BAR would've been great to have as well. I went look for factory ammo last minute and bought a couple boxes of 200 grain Federal Terminal Velocity rounds. At the range, they did great, <1MOA which is good for this rifle. I've archery hunted Nilgai and with how small of an area we were able to hunt, I didnt think I needed more than 1 day of scouting though TPWD allows 3 days. I found some water sources on OnXHunt and wanted to check those out on my scouting day. By chance, I saw a cow at one of the water sources at 3pm so I decided to hunt that spot opening morning. There were three access points, 1 south and 2 to the north. I was the only hunter who hunted the Southern access the whole 3 days I was there.
I got to my huntin spot around 30 minutes before first light. I found an elevated perch about 10' off the ground where I was able to lay prone and slightly hidden by mounds and cactus. At 8am opening morning, I started hearing gun shots from somewhere to the North of me. I figure there were 3 separate rifles at 3 different times. At 8:40am I saw 2 cows looking at me about 250 yards away, I think it would be hard to see me but maybe they winded me. Then I saw another 4 behind them. I slowly moved my rifle over to put the first cow in my crosshairs and she darts off into the woods. I shot the 2nd one as she began to turn. I quickly put a 2nd round in her before she got into the woods. I was feeling good about my decision to bring a lever action for this hunt due to needing a quick follow up shot. With a little tracking, I found that she had ran into the woods about 200 yards. It was heating up so I went back to the truck about a mile away and started the task of quartering her and packing her out. One of the rounds later was found in her meat while deboning.
With meat in the ice chest, I decided to now focus on hunting a bull. It was the rut so I was expecting to see a lot. I spent day 2 dealing with some vehicle issues (2 flats) and only hunted the afternoon. I didn't see anything but 4 javelina. There was a lot of activity in this location the day before when I shot the cow so I don't know if that had anything to do with how slow the day was.
Unfortunately, by day 3, I still hadn't seen a bull. I decided to hunt the same water source as I had been hunting. I laid in the prone position again but tucked up a little better below some brush. by 9:30am I still hadn't seen anything but a couple Toms and I was getting cold from the breeze. I decided to get up and check out a spot I had been eyeing on OnXHunt. 650 yards East of where I had been huntin, I spooked 3 cow and a bull! My eyes were probably huge cause I was surprised to finally see my bull less than 100 yards in front of me broadsided in the wide-open. I was able to quickly get the first shot off. I was so close that it was hard finding the bull in my sight picture but was able to get a 2nd shot in him quickly. Both shots were further back than I wanted but the 1st shot did the trick, blowing out both lungs. He ran 175 yards and fell, never going back into the woods. This made my recovery and pack out simple. After 2 hours of legwork, I had him loaded up and made the flat mile trek back to the truck. Neither bullet exited the bull. I found one bullet on the inside of the hide on the opposite side of the entrance wound.
Overall this was a great hunt, I filled my freezer and have plenty of meat to give to some friends and family.
I got to my huntin spot around 30 minutes before first light. I found an elevated perch about 10' off the ground where I was able to lay prone and slightly hidden by mounds and cactus. At 8am opening morning, I started hearing gun shots from somewhere to the North of me. I figure there were 3 separate rifles at 3 different times. At 8:40am I saw 2 cows looking at me about 250 yards away, I think it would be hard to see me but maybe they winded me. Then I saw another 4 behind them. I slowly moved my rifle over to put the first cow in my crosshairs and she darts off into the woods. I shot the 2nd one as she began to turn. I quickly put a 2nd round in her before she got into the woods. I was feeling good about my decision to bring a lever action for this hunt due to needing a quick follow up shot. With a little tracking, I found that she had ran into the woods about 200 yards. It was heating up so I went back to the truck about a mile away and started the task of quartering her and packing her out. One of the rounds later was found in her meat while deboning.
With meat in the ice chest, I decided to now focus on hunting a bull. It was the rut so I was expecting to see a lot. I spent day 2 dealing with some vehicle issues (2 flats) and only hunted the afternoon. I didn't see anything but 4 javelina. There was a lot of activity in this location the day before when I shot the cow so I don't know if that had anything to do with how slow the day was.
Unfortunately, by day 3, I still hadn't seen a bull. I decided to hunt the same water source as I had been hunting. I laid in the prone position again but tucked up a little better below some brush. by 9:30am I still hadn't seen anything but a couple Toms and I was getting cold from the breeze. I decided to get up and check out a spot I had been eyeing on OnXHunt. 650 yards East of where I had been huntin, I spooked 3 cow and a bull! My eyes were probably huge cause I was surprised to finally see my bull less than 100 yards in front of me broadsided in the wide-open. I was able to quickly get the first shot off. I was so close that it was hard finding the bull in my sight picture but was able to get a 2nd shot in him quickly. Both shots were further back than I wanted but the 1st shot did the trick, blowing out both lungs. He ran 175 yards and fell, never going back into the woods. This made my recovery and pack out simple. After 2 hours of legwork, I had him loaded up and made the flat mile trek back to the truck. Neither bullet exited the bull. I found one bullet on the inside of the hide on the opposite side of the entrance wound.
Overall this was a great hunt, I filled my freezer and have plenty of meat to give to some friends and family.
