Laguna Atacosa Recap.

[medic911]

Well, what a hunt that was. 3 of us drawled the gun deer hunt at LANWR. None of us had ever hunted that far south so everything was new to us.

We got up Thursday morning and was at the gate when they opened. We headed to the 1st place a local had told us about. Jumped a buck and a nilgai bull. The bull was standing in the road using a missive dung pile. Pretty much everywhere you went you seen sign of deer and nilgai, so i figured this was as good a spot as any. I just sat a chair under a mesquite and put some netting up in front of me. I was set by 8am. We spent the rest of the day looking over spots for my son and a buddy. We pulled out and made a run to Academy for another thermcell and more off. Man, those mosquitos were brutal.

Next morning we were up and out the door at 4 am. I got set about 30 minutes before the sun started to rise.

[medic911]

3 minutes after legal time comes I have a buck run across the road I was sitting on. He moves in and out of the brush but I cant pick him up in the scope. Then he turned around and headed back the way he came. I shot him at 31 yards. He made about a 20 yard run and was done. First kill of the hunt. I got him gutted and moved him to a cooler spot and got back in my hide. I seen 3 more bucks that morning all within 40 yards. About 10 I got out and buddy brought the cart and we got him to the truck and went to check him in with hunt staff. We got him in the walk-in cooler and headed about out. I was back in the blind by 2:30. I had been glassing a huge field out in front of me without seeing anything. I had just sat the binos down and sent the guys a text and a nilgai cow steps in front of me at 40 yards. I have no clue where she came from. I had to do some moving around and put a one shot kill on her at 56 yards. I broke her down there and my son and buddy came after dark and helped get her out.

[medic911]

The next morning I was right back in there. I didn’t see much that day, but about 10:30 my son shot at buck. He was further from the truck that I so I went and got the cart and we got his buck to the cooler.

I moved closer to the truck, as my feet and knees were about done, for the afternoon hunt. I ended up seeing javelins, coyotes, and some turkeys.

[medic911]

Last day of the hunt. I went to my same spot about 2 yards from the road. A front had moved in over night and we had a 25 mph north wind. It was only 52 and I bout froze. I hadn’t seen much when my son text that he had 3 nilgai in the big field I had been on the 1^st day. They were feeding about 1200 yards from him. My feet seem to feel better and off I went. We met up and had some pretty good cover to close the distance. We made it to the last bush we could hide behind but were still way to far. We decided to crawl on our hands and knees through the mangroves. I don’t know if that is what that crap is but its brutal to crawl in. My son had forgot his shooting sticks so when we got to the very last bush that he could use as a rest we ranged them. 300 on the nose. By the time we got to them we were beat and they had bedded down. So we just sat there watching and trying to settle down. I texted a local and was asking 100 questions as to how to proceed. He advised to take out safety vest and wave it in the air and be ready for them to stand. Before we got to that point one of them stood. Hunter figured his wind drift for the cross wind and fired. His bull dropped the other 2 stood and looked at him and I took a shot and that’s when the race was on. They took off on a left to right run. All I ever heard about nilgai was to shoot till they stop moving so that’s what I did. My 3^rd shot rolled one of the bulls. The 3^rd one just kept going Hunter fired 3 more rounds and was out. I ended up shooting 5 more rounds at him. I know 3 hit and he just kept going. He made it to the brush at 1200 yards away. We stood there in shock at what had just happened. Hunter said on the drive down he just wanted a good story out of this hunt. Well son!!!! We got that. The bull I shot tried to get up so hunter had to run back to his stool where he had been sitting and get for bullets. We were able to get a final kill shot on him. When we got to them we were about to put everything together. We had miss judged the yardage with out rangefinder. Per onX hunter shot the first bull at 471 yards with the wind drift he had hit him right in the neck at the base of his head. Mine was 345 yards and the drop had hit both front legs taking his wheels out from under him.
We broke both bulls down and started the drag out. 2.5 miles back to the truck, but it wasn’t hot and humid. We looked for the 3^rd bull and never found any blood or sign of him. It took 4 of us 3 hours to get them back to the truck.
So in the end my group killed 5 critters and had a blast doing it. The Rio Grande Valley has to be one of best places I have ever hunted. We seen everything a guy could want to shoot. Deer, Nilgai, turkeys, javies, alligators, quail, and more ducks and geese than you can count. I cant wait to get back down there and do it all over again. I just need a few weeks to let the feet and knees heal.

[TKRanch]

Sounds and looks like a GREAT hunt for sure! Well done to you and your son!!!

[Bisch]

Awesome hunt!!!

Congrats!!!!

Bisch

[Greenheadless]

Good stuff, thanks for sharing.

[Drycreek3189]

Man, y’all had a time and got some great critters ! Congrats !

[M16]

Congrats on a great hunt,

[hoythunter02]

Man what a hunt! Thats awesome bud .

[Paycheck]

Congrats on a great hunt and a truck load of meat.

[piercebronkite]

Congrats on a great hunt! Thats some good eating!

[HUNTIN HARD]

Congrats that’s quite a haul