The Nilgai Post

[Cynoscion]

Here are a couple of pics showing the trauma from highly frangible bullets on bull nilgai. The shoulder shot was a 7 SAUM shooting a 175 Berger hybrid hunter. The behind the shoulder shot was a 300 PRC shooting a Berger 215 hybrid target. As you can see, lots of trauma and no chance of walking away from that. Contrast that with a mono metal bullet and you would likely have a caliber sized entrance with a caliber and a half size exit on the behind the shoulder shot. Similar result would be expected when shot in the shoulder (caliber sized entrance) but without the exit more often than not.

 

[HairyScandinavian]

Wow you're shooting them super low, heart/artery-vein bundle. Interesting. Obviously it's working so I have to take note. Thanks for the details!

 

[HairyScandinavian]

Here's shot placement on a buddy's cow with a Rage quartering. He got both lungs. It's crazy how low their spine dips at the shoulders, lots of guys shoot above the spine going for high shoulder I think.

 

[Cynoscion]

Exactly why I say stay away from high shoulder. Mid to low in the chest cavity is the way to go.

 

[DosAmigos]

Exactly why I say stay away from high shoulder. Mid to low in the chest cavity is the way to go.

Thanks for the great advice Bill.

 

[Fatcamp]

Holy cats those are some stout looking critters!

 

[DosAmigos]

Here is a stud Bull we took and you can see why the high shoulder shot is not recommended.

 

[DosAmigos]

Here are some great bulls with good shot placements.

 

[DosAmigos]

This cow was shot at 175 yards with a 6 creed 105 Berger hybrid by my 12 yr old son. He’s killed cows with a 22 creed and a 6 creed. I wouldn’t hesitate shooting a bull with either caliber.

 

[HairyScandinavian]

Here is a stud Bull we took and you can see why the high shoulder shot is not recommended.

That doesn't look like high shoulder though. When I think "high shoulder" on a Nilgai I'm thinking the dip in the spine where it dips, a little above halfway and forward into the shoulder. You get spine and lungs there.

 

[DosAmigos]

That doesn't look like high shoulder though. When I think "high shoulder" on a Nilgai I'm thinking the dip in the spine where it dips, a little above halfway and forward into the shoulder. You get spine and lungs there.

Sorry that was an attempted shot just under the hump. Nilgai fever got the best of the hunter.

 

[HairyScandinavian]

Sorry that was an attempted shot just under the hump. Nilgai fever got the best of the hunter.

Oh that makes sense lol, yeah that's the type of thing that happens to me lol.

 

[dchum]

Here is something to show how elastic and tough their hide and muscle structure is. A 300 grain Barnes TSX form 375 H&H. A bullet lots of Ph’s worry about exting cape buff and hitting the one behind it!

This big bull ate it slightly quartered too. Needs a lot of dense medium to make a 300 grain TSX open up like a daisy!

On the other end of the spectrum, I got to shoot a personal bull this year and used a 18inch Bergara in 308. 150fr federal power shock (they shoot well in my gun lol) Garmin choreographed at 2620

 

[dchum]

Here is a stud Bull we took and you can see why the high shoulder shot is not recommended.

That really is a studs. Stacked bases showing his age. Love it

 

[GRUBECHA]

Does anyone have any tips for the NWR hunts? Are you just posting up on high traffic areas the whole time? Still hunting? Where do they like to hang out? Are they active all day? I feel like everyone is obsessing over shot placement and caliber without going any deeper on how to actually hunt them..

 

[Ozarkansas]

Does anyone have any tips for the NWR hunts? Are you just posting up on high traffic areas the whole time? Still hunting? Where do they like to hang out? Are they active all day? I feel like everyone is obsessing over shot placement and caliber without going any deeper on how to actually hunt them..

Sample size of 1 but I approached it exactly like I would approach a deer hunt in the same terrain: finding major travel routes/feeding areas with fresh sign and hunting downwind of those. The guys I know who were successful were doing the same thing.

I didn’t still-hunt because there’s a lot of other dudes out there and we did a good job sharing our locations to avoid blowing someone’s hunt or creating an unsafe situation. I’m sure still-hunting would have been effective but when there’s a ton of sign and good visibility I’d rather not risk blowing out my little piece of the unit.

All the spots that I thought looked promising from e-scouting turned out to have a lot of traffic, but not all of them had fresh sign.

They did seem to be active all day but most active at dawn and dusk.

Edit: I can’t over-emphasize how important communication with other hunters was for having a good, safe, effective hunt. The area I was in wasn’t the sort of place where you want to just blow past the “competition” to beat them to “your” spot. Have a bunch of options in your back pocket, clearly mark your favored spots on Onx, have conversations with the guys you run into out there, and be prepared to shift if needed.