Take that Mother Nature

Daddy Colin (me) is officially a hunter. I made the trek to Walmart and bought a hunting license. Then it was off to Kenedy County to hunt on the Kenedy Memorial Ranch. (Google Map Kenedy County to find where we went)

Pat (Step-dad), Hank (Father-in-law), Curt (Brother-in-law) and I went on the hunting trip this past weekend. Pat was a great host and we had a magnificent time. The weather cooperated for most of the trip and everyone got at least one kill. The animals were abundant and plentiful when not being hunted, but once they sensed that we were after them they were very elusive.

We hunted Nilgai, Deer, Boar, and Doves. We got everything but a Dove. At final tally we got 3 Nilgai, 2 Bucks, 1 Doe and 2 Boar.

See below for pictures from the trip. Thanks to Hank for bringing his Camera.

Hunting Trip Dec 2009

The hunting was always interesting and exciting. It was like a mini Safari. The guides would drive us around the ranch in pursuit of the elusive Nilgai. If the Nilgai see you they instantly run and don't stop. So you have to get ready aim and fire in less than 5-10 seconds and in most cases shoot at a running target that is 200-400 yards away. Needless to say we put a lot of lead in the air and only got 3. At one point we were all shooting (up to 3 rounds each for a total of 12 shots) and only 1 Nilgai fell.

This was my first Hunt and maybe Curt's first as well. Hank is a seasoned hunter, but it was his first Safari style hunt and first for the running Nilgai. We were all pretty terrible at first. For Curt and I, we had to get used to the rifles and scopes and the quick draw of the hunt. It was similar for Hank except that his scope seemed to have gotten out of whack causing him to miss (I think I saw him purposely hit the scope on the side of the truck before we went to the range after he missed a few Nilgai so that he had an excuse for missing. jk). On the last day Curt and I were dead on with our shots with 0 misses (after almost double digits the first day). Hank also redeemed himself after missing multiple times with his gun and then pinpoint accuracy with Pat's gun.

Pat was deadly the whole time. The only problem he ran into is that his 270 wasn't enough gun to bring down the Nilgai Bulls with one shot. Or at least that was his theory until a 12 year old sharp shooter proved him wrong by bringing down a massive Bull Nilgai with a 243. Amazingly the 12 year old (Ben) brought it down with an eye shot. The Nilgai was close to 600 lbs.

All and all it was a great trip among family and friends. I look forward to hunting again with them in the future. We were all very appreciative of Pat's hospitality and generosity of sharing such an experience with us.