hm1996, you sure have been blessed to have access to these ranches. I knew there were exotic animal in Texas, just not that many different ones. And the endangered one, that seem to thrive there. Again thank for sharing the picture and the write up along with them.

DAA, it is always great to see your picture. Clear crisp and beautiful. The amount of time to watch, and have a camera ready and click. Thanks for sharing your pictures with there story.

C'mon guys, gonna be a while until hunting seasons open again and I'm close to the bottom of the barrel. Help me out with some of your hunting pictures!!

I didn't have many mature nilgai bulls in previous posts. The younger bulls and cows are reddish brown, but fully mature bulls are dark grey or black. This one is in his prime.

This one's curiosity got the best of him when he heard my coyote call and approached cautiously.
He never saw me, but when he got close to the decoy, he spooked. His poor condition is the result of a severe three year drought.


This days old Gemsbock calf was left to fend for itself while mom went grocery shopping

As was this young whitetail fawn

And this Scimitar Horned Oryx calf, born in chest high grass, was only minutes old when I inadvertently intruded. Notice afterbirth. Mama coaxed the youngster into the brush while I carefully retreated after snapping this picture.


Addax bull making good use of nature's own back scratcher

Slipped up on this decent Eland Bull

Well this is a hunting thread, so maybe we should include some pictures of harvested game.
(Not the same bull pictured above, this one required a low boy trailer to haul out of the brush. live weight estimated close to 2000#)


We found we needed some mechanical assistance in handling some of the larger animals. Left to right was first attempt, which worked fine until this larger than normal nilgai cow bent the schedule 80 1 1/2" steel pipe.

As it turned out, the bend was perfect when pipe was rotated 180* making the lift straight up the pole.
And that same rig worked great on the jeep....until it didn't. Truck mount used a frame mounted receiver hitch, but the receiver hitch on the jeep was bumper mount and a failed bumper bolt on the jeep required moving boom closer to bumper to reduce mechanical advantage of original setup (again, viewed from left to right).



Almost forgot a few hogs


Now c'mon, lets see your pictures of your quarry, as they say, dead or alive.

Regards,
hm

Well, since you started with nilgai.

Above pictures are a peek into the Missouri Ozark's...

That's a nice nilgai bull, Troy! I can't imagine trying to haul that sucker into a boat.



Some really pretty scenery, Gary. Almost overlooked the snake in the rocks. Is that a timber rattler?

Thanks, guys for sharing your pictures. Keep 'em coming.

Timber rattler in the gravel road. Cottonmouth on the bluff rocks. We have Copperheads also but I don't have any decent pictures of one.

Rattlers and coral snakes are only poisonous snakes in the area, we don't have timber rattlers, copperheads or mocasins fortunately. This is a picture of a good Indigo on the wall in our camp kitchen (don't know who took it).

I'm not a fan of snakes but rather like this 6 footer than hangs around camp.

Saw this track two years in a row near a small lake. Ran between the water and a brush pile. Had to be either an Indigo or Rattler as no other snakes reach this size.

This is one of the largest I've killed on this ranch. Didn't measure it but shot one on another ranch years ago that hung at least 1 ft. off both ends of the tailgate on my Silverado; it would have to have been 6' or better.

My son does not share my philosophy regarding poisonous snakes and left this 4 footer in good health after taking this picture. I don't know where I went wrong.


Regards,
hm

I don't dislike snakes and will let all non-venomous snakes pass and sometimes even venomous types unless they are near the house or someplace where the wife or grandkids might get bitten.

Same here, except that I don't give poisonous snakes a pass anywhere.

Haven't said much about the peccaries and feral hogs on these ranches, but would like to clear up the notion that javelina are apt to attack you. First of all, they have extremely poor eyesight, thus, when startled, they are apt to scatter in all directions to escape. If you happen to be in the path of their escape, it would be easy to mistake the escape as an attack, as stated in video:


Walked up on this mama and her younguns one morning and she gently escorted them to safety. Had she felt cornered, she would not have hesitated to defend the youngsters, of course.

This old boar had an impressive set of dentures


A sure sign that feral hogs are on the property is the mud plastered on mesquite trees surrounding the waterholes

stakeouts on these waterholes are usually productive

In the heat of south Texas summers hogs usually return to water holes every few hours

to visit what they consider to be hog heaven

They come in all shapes, and sizes, but "woke" has not yet reached the animal kingdom, as best I've been able to determine, only the two original genders.

They do come in various colors, however.



Thanks to all who have contributed your pictures/memories; really enjoy peeking into others' outdoor ventures. Please keep them coming!

Regards,
hm

In our back pasture during the day ............

IMG_1030 2 by John Doe, on Flickr

And then ...... Sleeping in the front yard about 20 feet from the street

IMG_1032 by John Doe, on Flickr

That must be hard on the wife's flowers! Nice scenery, though, thanks for sharing, Hidalgo.

Regards,
hm

Nobody in our vicinity has anything that deer are attracted to. That's an exercise in futility and a waste of money here. We have deer around the homes almost every night.

That big fellow there is definitely the most mature buck that we have. He always has a girlfriend every year too.

C'mon guys, gonna be a while until hunting seasons open again and I'm close to the bottom of the barrel. Help me out with some of your hunting pictures!!

Kinda neglected the birds that frequent the south Texas brush country. Long lenses don't fit in my hunting gear, so please excuse poor quality of these pics.

Sandhill Cranes migrate south each winter, joining those which are native to the area.

Whistler ducks spend the entire year here, nesting mostly in hollow trees. Strange looking critters when they perch on wires.


Chachalaca are very rare in the ranch country; since they seldom fly, the coyotes & bobcats probably work over the population.

Whitewing and mourning dove are native to the area (sorry, no pictures) but the ring-neck dove is a relatively new-comer to the area, but expanding rapidly.

Not much of a bird hunter of late, but the Bobwhite is a favorite


My son shot this turkey with his 416 Rem. while hunting an exotic. Believe it or not perfect shot placement at base of neck where it joins the body resulted in no loss of meat.



Then there is the old familiar roadrunner

and owls


Funny story about owls. In the 20 some years I've hunted these ranches, never had an owl attack my decoy until one day had three or four different owls steal, or attempt to steal my topper.
Owls Steal Decoy Topper

White Ibis


Hawks


Cara Cara or Mexican Eagles on a waterbuck (IIRC) carcass

And a couple of smaller, more colorful song birds