.416 vs .458: Just how tough are Nilgai?

[gizmo]

I'm still working on @Huntress in Heels to join me chasing bison at your place this winter if we can work it out...

Maybe between the two of us we can talk her into me taking a bison and her going after a nilgai (hint hint!)

She should have a shiny new .35 whelen by then that should be good nilgai medicine...

That would be an honor to get to hunt with ya'll. Nilgai is a no go in the winter months up here though. Our panhandle winters kill them post haste. We hunt those late spring through early fall before the hard freezes hit. We do however have Stag, scimitar, fallow, dybowski sika, blackbuck, and many many others.

 

[gizmo]

I also have one hunt left for a really good aoudad too.

 

[gizmo]

I wouldn't hesitate to shoot one with a 6.5, 270, 7mm.

I'd say for them most part we actually agree on this. 6.5 creedmore would be a touch light for my taste but if I was really confident in my clients shooting abilities I'd bite. Heavy for caliber 27o would be good medicine too. I killed one with a 308 shooting my hand loaded 165 grain spire point boat tails. Shot him right on the shoulder he made two steps and was stone dead.

 

[gizmo]

Still have it on video somewhere. If I can find it I'll post it.

 

[Hank2211]

They are indeed quite mortal. @Hank2211 if you ever get the hanckering to hunt one shout at me, we can make it happen.

Be very careful what you wish for . . .

 

[gizmo]

Be very careful what you wish for . . .

Brother your speaking my language. I'm not scared in the least.

 

[Hank2211]

Brother your speaking my language. I'm not scared in the least.

Many have said the same . . . and, fortunately, are still alive!

 

[gizmo]

Many have said the same . . . and, fortunately, are still alive!

Challenge accepted

 

[gizmo]

@Hank2211 id like you to come down here just so I can hear the awesome stories from your hunts.

 

[Hank2211]

@Hank2211 id like you to come down here just so I can hear the awesome stories from your hunts.

You'd get so bored by the hours of video that you might wish you were dead!

 

[gizmo]

You'd get so bored by the hours of video that you might wish you were dead!

Why no sir, I'd really enjoy that and would furthermore bore the hell out of you with mine.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

The photo I posted in post #3 turns out was the smaller Nilgai that I took in 2009. This is the big boy from 2011. 9-1/8" horns. If you haven't hunted Nilgai, it is a lot of fun and it is a low cost (okay, lower cost) alternative to a real African hunt. It also fills the freezer with some excellent tasting meat.

 

[Dr Ray]

The photo I posted in post #3 turns out was the smaller Nilgai that I took in 2009. This is the big boy from 2011. 9-1/8" horns. If you haven't hunted Nilgai, it is a lot of fun and it is a low cost (okay, lower cost) alternative to a real African hunt. It also fills the freezer with some excellent tasting meat.

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You are making me add more to my wish list

 

[Gert Odendaal]

I wonder if it is tougher than the Blue wildebees , here in South Africa hunters who know say Blue wildebees is born sick , every shot they receive makes them more healthy... I am pretty sure my 8x57JS Mauser will take good care of this animal, the Nilgai, I will leave my 404 Jeffery to do the heavy work , real tough animals like buffalo...

 

[crs]

What Dwight said +1.
I have heard of some guides chasing the game with a pickup or UTV to get hunters their game quickly and that might account for them requiring a rifle that can hit game at longer ranges.
One of my college buddies had so many Nilgai on his ranch south of Raymondville that he chased them in a ranch truck and shot everyone he could. He considered them varmints and left the dead ones for the buzzards. Only close friends got to hunt that ranch and I took my first whitetail buck there about 10 yards from the King Ranch fence. We saw a 16+ point buck over that fence, but NO ONE in their right mind poaches on the King Ranch.

 

[CoElkHunter]

What Dwight said +1.
I have heard of some guides chasing the game with a pickup or UTV to get hunters their game quickly and that might account for them requiring a rifle that can hit game at longer ranges.
One of my college buddies had so many Nilgai on his ranch south of Raymondville that he chased them in a ranch truck and shot everyone he could. He considered them varmints and left the dead ones for the buzzards. Only close friends got to hunt that ranch and I took my first whitetail buck there about 10 yards from the King Ranch fence. We saw a 16+ point buck over that fence, but NO ONE in their right mind poaches on the King Ranch.

Well, there's not many here in their right minds, so......?

 

[crs]

"Well, there's not many here in their right minds, so......?"

Understood. Those folks deserve their fate.

 

[Rick HOlbert]

In my copy of the July issue of The Hunting Report, which I received today, there was brief discussion of the appropriate caliber for hunting nilgai - an animal I have never seen in the wild, let alone hunted.

In the June issue, an individual had said he used a .416 (didn't say which one) he planned to take to Africa to shoot Nilgai in Texas. Apparently this set someone off, who actually phone The Hunting Report to say that he believed that the .416 was 'inadequate' for nilgai, and that nothing smaller than a .458 Win Mag would be appropriate.

I was more than a bit surprised by this statement (and that anyone would feel strongly enough to call!). I've shot elephant with a .375 H&H and while I thought I was a bit under-gunned, I've never questioned that my .416 Rigby is entirely appropriate for elephant. And if it's appropriate for elephant, is should be more than enough for nilgai.

I also think that the .458 Win Mag, in factory loads, has very little additional punch than the .416, if any. Note that the caller did not say the .458 Lott, which would be a much different comparison - this was the Win Mag. In addition, while I would never have called the .416 flat shooting, it sure seems to be when compared to the .458 Win Mag. And aren't Nilgai typically taken at a distance?

I have never found a PH in Africa who thought so highly of the .458 Win Mag (even if he had one) that he would take it over the .416 Rigby for any purpose. Maybe I'm talking to the wrong PH's?

So this takes me to the two issues. Who thinks the .458 Win Mag is a better caliber for tough game than the .416 Rigby (or Remmington, or Taylor . . . or maybe the Weatherby Magnum?), and who thinks that you need to go to a .40 caliber to shoot nilgai?

Interesting thread. I've inquired of a few outfits about hunting nilgai and a lot of the outfitters want you to shoot a 300 magnum or bigger. Pound for pound a zebra is a tough animal to down. They all are if shot placement is iffy. Well known hunter and guide Finn Aagard started as a PH in Kenya then immigrated to Texas where he finished his life guiding/hunting. Finn harvested quite a lot of nilgai using a 308 Winchester with 150grn Barnes X bullets. From what I've seen, these outfitters need to bone up on tracking skills for those clients who have a problem with shot placement. Sure they're tough animals but not bullet proof. Sorry if this offends some but just my observations.

 

[C.W. Richter]

Witnessed two shot (1 in FL, 300 WM 200 gr NP-running at 150 yds, full of adrenaline-took 3 shots to put it down!; the other, in TX, completely unaware of the hunter's presence at 100 yds, 1-shot w/ a 3006 180 gr ?-trotted 30 yds and piled up.) They ARE tough (and delicious!) A really mature blue bull w/ the white striping is a magnificent and unique trophy! Although a lover of the .416, I don't think it's practical as shots on Nilgai can be somewhat longer, and thus IMHO a big cased .338-.358 (or even .375) is probably the way to go...If somewhat under-gunned, I'll bet you'll find it somewhere within the boundaries of the property you're hunting!

 

[Red Leg]

The photo I posted in post #3 turns out was the smaller Nilgai that I took in 2009. This is the big boy from 2011. 9-1/8" horns. If you haven't hunted Nilgai, it is a lot of fun and it is a low cost (okay, lower cost) alternative to a real African hunt. It also fills the freezer with some excellent tasting meat.

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Now THAT is a bull. Please note that I was very polite and did not comment on your first set of pictures way back then.