Yes we sure did. I had spike and and an 8pt chasing a doe around me where I sat one evening. They were def in prerut activity. I rattled a few different times but didn't get anything come in. Saw 2 other bucks by themselves at different times up and moving around. Goodluck to yall
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Driving on property?
Is it correct that there's no motorized travel beyond the county roads at Teniente? I read the form, but wondered if that's accurate.Comment
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Longtime reader- first time poster...on any internet forum actually.
To respond to the previous poster's question- yes that is correct. I spoke with the ranger for the area and he confirmed that the most wheels you can have down there is a bicycle.
I too will be going to Teniente for the last rifle hunt (Feb 10-12). This was my time entering and getting drawn, so I consider myself lucky! I've got a buddy who is going to come down and scout with me, and then be on standby in case I need help during retrieval, but apparently I will need to call the emergency line to request access for him. The ranger said that they may come help me, but if they are busy they will let him come onto the NWR solely to help retrieve.
I just made my hotel reservations today. We will be driving down from DFW Wednesday after work and hope to reach the hotel around 2-3am so we can scout all day Thursday. From what the ranger said, this tract has never been culled for nilgai like some of the other NWR tracts, and he said we should definitely see them. Hopefully, the pressure from the two previous rifle hunts doesn't make them even more skittish.
I'm still trying to decide strategy. From the google earth images, it looks like each of the 3 parcels has a perimeter of some sort of relatively dense trees. I wonder if others will be walking the perimeter until they spot some, or do most people during rifle hunts post up somewhere and wait? I don't want to interrupt other's hunts, but I believe it comes out to roughly 250acres/hunter, assuming everyone with the permit shows up.
Long story longer, I will be using a 30 06 with 200g federal premium trophy bear claws. I've read everything I can find about nilgai, on this site and others, and clearly shot placement is huge for an animal like this- especially with a 30 06. I know some think it's undersized, others that it will do just fine, but I don't want to borrow a gun for this.
If anyone else is going to be down there 2/10-12, let me know! I'm very excited and can't wait to learn more about these beasts!Comment
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That's a heck of a drive! Yall be safe. My group is on the 2nd Exotic rifle hunt and I will be glad to give you a full report when we get back. We were lucky to get drawn on the archery hunt in early Dec and were able to get some good scouting in. Saw several nilgai but all were just outta bow range. They are very smart and have great eye sight. I will also be taking a 30.06, as you said, placement is key. We are looking forward to the hunt! Goodluck!Originally posted by rwkiel View PostComment
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Thanks- you too! I'm looking forward to the report. I plan on bringing a solid camera so hopefully I can do some documenting. Does anyone know how the cell service is out there? I believe this is the first year that the Teniente draws (or maybe LRG NWR draws in general) are through TPW. If so, do you know of anyone who has hunted Teniente with a rifle in the past? I'm curious how others plan to attack this- find trails/dung piles and post up or more spot and stalk. Without an orientation where everyone will be congregated and can announce their plans, I would hate to screw up someone else's hunt by stalking through an area that they've been posted up at. I know it's public land and it happens, so I'm not losing sleep over it, but I figured I would ask. I'm leaning towards walking the perimeter in the treeline until I see something, and then maybe resting the next day over some dung/trails if I'm needing a break.
Oh, if anyone needs help hauling something out, I'm bringing a solid game cart. We should also have a winch on the back of the jeep for processing- making that over the next couple of weeks. Black jeep commander- stop by and say hi or shoot me a PM for my cell.
Man I'm pumped!Comment
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Buddy and I got drawn for the first rifle hunt 1/27-1/29. I have hunted nilgai before along the coast on the El Sauz so I have a decent idea of the animal but I have never seen this property. Should be fun, I have a pretty decent game plan based on google earth and will scout it on Thursday to lay some tracks on gps for an early start friday.Comment
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Goodluck this weekend. Keep us updated on how it goes. I'll be there next weekend!Comment
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Scouted for about 4-5 hours this afternoon. Found some good areas and a good spot to start in the am. The refuge is DRY. We saw one young bull and a calf. We didn't spend too much time tromping around though, pretty much just walked in to lay down tracks on the gps and confirm a feature we saw on google earth. Weather will be good tomorrow but Saturday is looking sketchy, hopefully we run into some tomorrow!
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Good luck and save me some! I can't wait to get down there for the last hunt 2/10-12.Comment
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Originally posted by JackRyan View Post
Well we came home yesterday with our tail between our legs. We only saw 4 Nilgai and they were all together running full speed for the neighbors pasture about 500 yards from us. We walked 15 miles in 3 days and never saw what I would consider "good sign" that nilgai were currently living on the property. There is a lot of old sign but nothing fresh. No fresh dung piles and no fresh tracks. We heard 3-4 shots over the weekend and best I could tell by trucks all 15 guys drawn were out there. Talked to one or two other groups and neither of them had seen any nilgai either. There is currently no water, at least that we could find and we looked all over. It's a tough hunt, it's very thick in there so scouting and finding an area to sit is crucial. We actually saw a ton of whitetail and two very nice bucks so that was cool.
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Boy I'm sorry to hear you guys didn't have much luck. Any tips you can provide to those of us that are heading out there next? When you say there was no water, I'm assuming you mean in the main water sources that are visible on google earth? That's disappointing to hear, especially because the NW tank looked fairly large. I heard and saw from photos that the NE portion of the lake within the tract would retreat to beyond the boundaries, but I assumed the NW tank would still have water.
Did you see any pigs while you were out there? I know everyone wants the nilgai, but I heard the pigs are everywhere too- although that was when it was reported that there was water out there. When you say that you saw a small group of nilgai running for the neighbor's place- which direction was that? Out of the 3 main tracts, where did you focus- all 3 or a specific section? How tall were the grasses? The reason I ask- if I am posted up over a dung pile, will I be able to sit on a stool or does the grass prohibit that?
Lots of questions- sorry! I'm hoping I can learn from you what to do/not do. Thanks in advance!Comment
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We looked at google earth and tried to identify any water and then went and found them. The big lake in the NE corner is dry as is the smaller one in the NW corner. It does not look like it has rained any significant amount in awhile. I did not see any pigs, we saw one spot that had been rooted up pretty good but we never ran into any. We covered the area between 30 and the East border and the tract between 10 and 20 pretty good over the 1 day we scouted and the 2 days we hunted. 30 looked like a parking lot and we left that area after the first morning. We got to a spot that first morning an hour before daylight to secure it and still had people walk in on us, I know its public but we saw them look at us in their binos and continue to approach. The nilgai we saw were running to the north boundary. We spent the majority of our time in the section between 10 and 20 as that had the least amount of people, I know some peoples theories are to have others bump animals towards you but on a rifle hunt I didnt want to be near people I did not know. Grass varies anywhere from thigh deep to non existent. You can sit on the ground in most places but a dove stool was helpful for us the last day. We bought a pair of small pruning shears to trim a few mesquite limbs and suck up to the trunk of trees. The amount of open country is little to none, there are a few mowed trails between 10 and 20 that you can sit on but your window to see an animal and then get a shot off is tiny. What appears open on google earth is filled with small brush as well.Comment
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