Long Post .
Here is a recap of our Youth hunt at La Sal Del Rey NWR Between Edinburg and Raymondville.
Friday morning, we hunted the Northwest side of the Refuge in a ground blind. We seen Turkeys, a WT doe and other hunters (LOL). When my son was lining up the shot on the doe some noise from one of our chairs alerted her and she ran off. Nothing else the rest of the morning.
The evening hunt was very quiet until 5:15 when we see a doe being chased by 3 bucks that never stopped. Then at 5:40 we see a young Nilgai bull together with a WT buck and after what seemed like an eternity, he finally gave a good Broadside shot free of brush at 90 yards. My son took the shot, and I was looking to see where it was running off to and nothing... I looked back and seen a few leg kicks and it was over. Perfect Shot just right of center shoulder. 30/06, 165 grain Federal Fusion. Found the mushroomed bullet between the meat and hide of the opposite shoulder. (yes, they are tough animals)
Then after pictures and cleaning we wrapped the Quarters, backstraps, loins and head in a tarp and secured to the game cart. The haul out was brutal since we had to pull the cart through the Bombing range of Hog Rooting's that are all over the north side. Finally made it to the truck at 8:10 PM.
We slept in Sat. morning as my 56-year-old butt was worn out from the night before.
Saturday afternoon we decided to hunt the Southside where we had set up a pop during up scouting Tuesday morning. We found one of the few open areas off the road after it turns West and had placed the pop up about 80 yards in the back of the opening and left an orange vest hanging on the blind to let anyone know we would be hunting there. Well as we are walking in less than 70 yards from where the opening started there was a Popup blind in the Middle of the road. Only thing I could think was they came in without scouting the first morning in the dark and put it up but surprised me that after the first hunt that they would not have walked the road further to check it out as it went another 1000 yards or so. We ended up walking down another 700 yards and out of view and set up as not to be within 100 yards if they came in. We seen pigs and 2 does with no shot opportunities and on our way out we picked up our blind and decided to head back to the same spot he killed the bull on Sunday.
Sunday morning, we seen another doe being chased by a buck and at 9:45 we see another bull coming up the hill towards us. He gets on the gun and swings the Bog Pod around that way. The bull crests the ridge at 230 yards stops and stares right at the blind for 10 minutes (My son was not comfortable making that long a shot in the brisket). He finally turns to go it the tree line and I grunt, and he stops broadside. I am waiting for the rifle to go off and after about 30 seconds he walks on in the brush. I turn and tell my son that it was ok if he didn't feel confident with the shot, and he tells me no he was but the suns glare through the scope wouldn't let him get a good view.
Sunday afternoon we seen 1 doe walking to the stand and some Turkey's then close to shooting time we had a group of Hogs come out just over the ridge and could only see their backs.
We had animals every hunt to keep the moral up and going and had 3 shot opportunities. We did not see any Federal NWR people at all but did have a State of Texas Game warden stop and check us as we were getting ready to head in one evening.
I did find it strange that at the designated parking areas that there was nothing posted saying that there was a hunt in progress or that we didn't have to call and let someone know if we killed anything and what it was.
Overall, a great experience and highly recommend anyone to put their kids in for this hunt if yall are physically able to do so.
Here is a recap of our Youth hunt at La Sal Del Rey NWR Between Edinburg and Raymondville.
Friday morning, we hunted the Northwest side of the Refuge in a ground blind. We seen Turkeys, a WT doe and other hunters (LOL). When my son was lining up the shot on the doe some noise from one of our chairs alerted her and she ran off. Nothing else the rest of the morning.
The evening hunt was very quiet until 5:15 when we see a doe being chased by 3 bucks that never stopped. Then at 5:40 we see a young Nilgai bull together with a WT buck and after what seemed like an eternity, he finally gave a good Broadside shot free of brush at 90 yards. My son took the shot, and I was looking to see where it was running off to and nothing... I looked back and seen a few leg kicks and it was over. Perfect Shot just right of center shoulder. 30/06, 165 grain Federal Fusion. Found the mushroomed bullet between the meat and hide of the opposite shoulder. (yes, they are tough animals)
Then after pictures and cleaning we wrapped the Quarters, backstraps, loins and head in a tarp and secured to the game cart. The haul out was brutal since we had to pull the cart through the Bombing range of Hog Rooting's that are all over the north side. Finally made it to the truck at 8:10 PM.
We slept in Sat. morning as my 56-year-old butt was worn out from the night before.
Saturday afternoon we decided to hunt the Southside where we had set up a pop during up scouting Tuesday morning. We found one of the few open areas off the road after it turns West and had placed the pop up about 80 yards in the back of the opening and left an orange vest hanging on the blind to let anyone know we would be hunting there. Well as we are walking in less than 70 yards from where the opening started there was a Popup blind in the Middle of the road. Only thing I could think was they came in without scouting the first morning in the dark and put it up but surprised me that after the first hunt that they would not have walked the road further to check it out as it went another 1000 yards or so. We ended up walking down another 700 yards and out of view and set up as not to be within 100 yards if they came in. We seen pigs and 2 does with no shot opportunities and on our way out we picked up our blind and decided to head back to the same spot he killed the bull on Sunday.
Sunday morning, we seen another doe being chased by a buck and at 9:45 we see another bull coming up the hill towards us. He gets on the gun and swings the Bog Pod around that way. The bull crests the ridge at 230 yards stops and stares right at the blind for 10 minutes (My son was not comfortable making that long a shot in the brisket). He finally turns to go it the tree line and I grunt, and he stops broadside. I am waiting for the rifle to go off and after about 30 seconds he walks on in the brush. I turn and tell my son that it was ok if he didn't feel confident with the shot, and he tells me no he was but the suns glare through the scope wouldn't let him get a good view.
Sunday afternoon we seen 1 doe walking to the stand and some Turkey's then close to shooting time we had a group of Hogs come out just over the ridge and could only see their backs.
We had animals every hunt to keep the moral up and going and had 3 shot opportunities. We did not see any Federal NWR people at all but did have a State of Texas Game warden stop and check us as we were getting ready to head in one evening.
I did find it strange that at the designated parking areas that there was nothing posted saying that there was a hunt in progress or that we didn't have to call and let someone know if we killed anything and what it was.
Overall, a great experience and highly recommend anyone to put their kids in for this hunt if yall are physically able to do so.
! And to you getting it out of there. 
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