Blackbuck Antelope

Blackbuck are the animal most first-time exotic hunters take, and the reason is honest: they are beautiful, they are visible, and they will test a shooter without letting one mistake cost the whole hunt. A mature ram carries corkscrew horns that ring like a stack of coins and a coat that goes near black across the back and shoulders against a white belly and eye ring. Rams darken as they age, so color is the first thing a guide reads at distance, before the horns ever come into it.

They are open-country animals, which in this part of South Texas means the senderos and the edges rather than the heavy stuff. That works in your favor and against you at the same time. You will see blackbuck, often a lot of them, often at first light standing in a cut line four hundred yards out. What you will not do is walk up on them. Blackbuck have the best eyes of anything on this ranch and they are built to outrun a decision, hitting a flat sprint the moment a stalk goes wrong. Most hunters end up taking one from a blind over a feeder or off the truck on a slow cruise, and both work.

Bring a flat-shooting rifle you can hold steady past two hundred yards. Blackbuck are small — a big ram is well under a hundred pounds — so the target is smaller than the confidence a big set of horns gives you. Hold tight behind the shoulder and do not take the running shot. They are here year-round with no season to work around, so a blackbuck hunt is one you can book for the week that actually suits you rather than the week the state allows.