Processing Nilgai?

[ElfEyes]

I brought one home back in May and did it myself. I just picked a quarter/ cut to do each night until everything was done.

Just make sure you have plenty of space to work and a good knife.

All those steaks came from the front quarter? Also what book is that?

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[LeanMachine]

Do you suggest tenderizing the steaks or are the good cuts tender enough?

When processing, toss a steak in a hot skillet and then decide. I shot a young bull that dropped in his tracks and it is the toughest animal I have eaten to date. Not sure why. I age meat for 10 days typically before processing. The guys i hunted with acted like theirs have always been tender.

[stickman]

Do you suggest tenderizing the steaks or are the good cuts tender enough?

If you have a tenderizer I would run the steaks through it. The 2 bulls I’ve killed were not too bad, the cow steaks were fork tender. Bulls were big/old.

[Muddy Bud]

Give me a cow any day. I yet to have a bull that was tender. One thing I noticed with nilgai is the silver skin in the muscles are a lot more prevalent than in a deer. This is the reason I like processing my own. I will tediously cut all that silver skin out. Usually won’t hang them cause they are to dang heavy so I just leave them on the floor in the cooler dressed out with skin on for a few days.

[Bowanta]

Do you suggest tenderizing the steaks or are the good cuts tender enough?

That would be a personal choice. I do not tenderize any of wild game, and I do have a tenderizer. Just a personal preference

[txlawdog]

So if the bulls are not as tender would it be wise to use them for sausage and make the steaks from a cow, if I was so lucky to get both?

[MetalMan2004]

All those steaks came from the front quarter? Also what book is that?

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The packaged steaks were all backstrap. All said and done I had well over 100 lbs of meat in the freezer.

I will also add, my buddy had his done by one of the processors that pick up from the King Ranch (El Campo processing or something like that). The product he got back was top notch and he said the price, including shipping, was pretty reasonable.

Good luck out there!

Edit: here’s that book. I use it all the time. Amazon’s price is about triple what I paid for it 10 years ago though.

Dressing & Cooking Wild Game: From Field to Table: Big Game, Small Game, Upland Birds & Waterfowl (The Complete Hunter) https://a.co/d/ivKSBjw

[Muddy Bud]

So if the bulls are not as tender would it be wise to use them for sausage and make the steaks from a cow, if I was so lucky to get both?

This would be extremely costly. But if you can swing it that would be my option. This is what most of our clients would do, but the hunt was not a paid hunt, they were guests of the lease holder. Or give us all the bulls and keep the cows.

[txlawdog]

This would be extremely costly. But if you can swing it that would be my option. This is what most of our clients would do, but the hunt was not a paid hunt, they were guests of the lease holder. Or give us all the bulls and keep the cows.

Ok thanks, I am going on a TPWD draw hunt near Raymondville so all I have in so far is the permit, hotel, and gas. It's unlimited Nilgai but I don't think I have enough room for all the coolers it would take for two big ones. Looking forward to the experience and maybe I will get lucky. Four of us going so hopefully one of us will score. Deer are on our legal list too so maybe a nice buck for the wall.

[Patton]

So if the bulls are not as tender would it be wise to use them for sausage and make the steaks from a cow, if I was so lucky to get both?

I just finished packaging my nilgai bull, literally this morning, after aging it in a walk-in cooler since Dec 10th. We had steaks last night cut from the hind quarter, and for Christmas had an entire smoked backstrap. Best wildgame Ive ever had, and I’m saying that after eating on a delicious elk all fall.

[glen]

Tlaw- I went with my kid a few years ago. He shot these two. He is 6’08” and I’m full sized as well. We packed both these in the Prius V along with our limited gear. We were loaded down coming back and the check point guys were rolling laughing.

[MIHunter]

Following

[Kingfisher789]

Glen your probably the only one on that planet to ever haul one much less two Nilgai in a Prius…

[Southbound 85]

Just drop it at Praseks on the way home. They nailed ours.