Laguna Atascosa 2020

[jronning77]

that's cause you mentioned area 4

I'm going to chalk it up as a Coatimundi [emoji28]

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[Txfire409]

This was my third hunt there and as always I loved it. As each time before, I came home empty handed but at least this time I got two shot opportunities. One at a nilgai which I missed and one at a mature wt buck. Didnt miss him but couldnt make a recovery. I will be down there again next month for my first rifle hunt. I feel like this SHOULD increase my chance at a nilgai but not gonna count my chickens before they're hatched. I will gladly accept any and all advice from anyone willing to share where and how they think I might have the best chance at a bull with my rifle. If not, I'll be out there trying anyways.

[Huntindad]

I'm in the same boat. Hunted unit 1 a couple times, but not the norther area.

Will be down with rifle in January as well.

[Mr. Public]

For all the internet scouts looking for areas dense with Nilgai and mature whitetails look in area 4.

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You understand. [emoji108][emoji106]

Right, like I said across the Arroyo[emoji38]. There's tons of nilgai there, seriously. And some booner tortoises.

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[jronning77]

You understand. [emoji108][emoji106]

Right, like I said across the Arroyo[emoji38]. There's tons of nilgai there, seriously. And some booner tortoises.

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There places that can be quite productive especially if the people hunting them join forces and work together if instead of trying to cut each other off only to blow everything out. If I'm unintentionally in the same area as another hunter its probably for a reason we both think animals are present. That being said respecting other hunters goes along way and I really appreciate the consideration and respect of some of the hunters on here. I know allot times people unintentionally cross paths but some times it allows for an awesome experiences. Hell just watching random people shoot at animal's gets me excited. Flyguy can vouch I think I was more excited than he was watching a group of bulls run to him and him get a shot off. [emoji2369]

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[txoutdoorsman24]

This was my third hunt there and as always I loved it. As each time before, I came home empty handed but at least this time I got two shot opportunities. One at a nilgai which I missed and one at a mature wt buck. Didnt miss him but couldnt make a recovery. I will be down there again next month for my first rifle hunt. I feel like this SHOULD increase my chance at a nilgai but not gonna count my chickens before they're hatched. I will gladly accept any and all advice from anyone willing to share where and how they think I might have the best chance at a bull with my rifle. If not, I'll be out there trying anyways.

You can make up for them 3 years of tag soup in one day with that boom stick!! Hope you get a big blue bull on the ground.

[FlyGuyy]

Agreed. Running into other hunters doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It happens, but most of the time I end up making a new friend out of it. Everyone is out there for the same passions, so you automatically have a lot in common.

Other times, taking time to get to know each isn’t appropriate, but I try to have a very brief conversation about what their plan is and what my plan is so that we don’t hurt each other’s chances of success. The place is huge and the animals are literally everywhere. If someone is already where you wanted to be, there are dozens of place you can go to and that might just be what ultimately leads to your success.

I’ve been out there 3 times now and I’ve located trophy quality animals in every unit I’ve hunted, no reason to compete for “ownership”.

[Whalerboy67]

Shooting a Nilgai may be the easy part. Finding one might be a different story. I’m sure glad most riffle hunters don’t seem to cover much ground. Very peaceful

[FlyGuyy]

Good luck out there today!

[TenRing]

One tactic hunters can use to their advantage when hunting public ground is to set up on escape routes. I sometimes will spend the first day simply glassing as much country as I can see in pressured areas. Not even really focusing on “hunting”. When the masses start moving around or pushing bush like a tribe of Maasai warriors, you get to watch the animals and how they evade. A LOT of times they will make a big circle and end up right where they were bumped from and usually they will re-approach that area from down wind but at least you get an idea of where they are and want to be.....make sets accordingly....

[HogStalker]

Laguna Atascosa 2020

One tactic hunters can use to their advantage when hunting public ground is to set up on escape routes. I sometimes will spend the first day simply glassing as much country as I can see in pressured areas. Not even really focusing on “hunting”. When the masses start moving around or pushing bush like a tribe of Maasai warriors, you get to watch the animals and how they evade. A LOT of times they will make a big circle and end up right where they were bumped from and usually they will re-approach that area from down wind but at least you get an idea of where they are and want to be.....make sets accordingly....

That’s great advice. We have a large hog hunt for a few days in February and most people that score are not the pushers, but the people just sit all day on escape trails like you said. I also use this tactic for deer on public.

[Mr. Public]

Does anyone keep a record of all the archery chalk boards each year? I usually try and do that and see what the actual harvest data statistics are each season. I do believe this was the lowest success rates that I've been apart/aware since first setting foot on the refuge in 2016.

I find harvest data statistics to be interesting in comparison with number of permits and the actual number of participants in the hunts. I saw there were 2 bulls killed. But I don't think the other bull was mature from what the USDA agents indicated at an estimated 300lbs live weight and "much smaller" than the bull I killed at 353lbs field dressed(not the biggest) I figure 450ish on the hoof.

Just curious if that was the only mature bull killed in all 4 hunts and what harvest statistics are for mature bucks/Nilgai in general for the 2020 archery hunts.

I'm looking forward to following the rifle hunts and seeing the yields from those hunters.

I have a feeling WhalerBoy is going to knock down a bull.

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[jronning77]

Would be interesting comparing hunter density in each unit to success rate.

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[Mr. Public]

Would be interesting comparing hunter density in each unit to success rate.

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Yeah that would be interesting too. Never thought of that. It was refreshing to get out of unit 1 and hunt other units. I did not run into many like I read about.

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[RobertT84]

Since the refuge is a public entity, their statics should be subject to a public information request (if submitted properly). If someone gets a response please share it. I was thinking of requesting it this myself after the hunts are done.

After the tagged Nilgai was harvested and the certificate was posted, I submitted a request to the university for more information about their study like a map with GPS pings of all their tagged animals but they have not responded. If they don't respond within a certain window, they can get in trouble with the state. If I ever get the response, I'll post it here.