Nilgai

The nilgai is the largest antelope in Asia, and it has been part of South Texas since the 1920s and 1930s, when the first animals were turned out on the King Ranch. A mature bull is a slate blue-gray animal standing close to five feet at the shoulder, with a white bib at the throat, white rings above the hooves, a short dark mane and a pair of short, smooth horns. Cows and young bulls are tawny. Hunters call the bulls blue bulls, and once you have seen one cross a sendero you understand why.

Do not let the short horns fool you about the hunt. Nilgai are heavy, thick-hided animals with dense bone through the shoulder, and they have eyesight and nerves that make a blackbuck look relaxed. When one decides to leave, it leaves at a flat gallop and it does not stop to look back. Most are taken from a blind or off the truck in the brush country, where the shot comes at a known distance and the hunter has time to be sure of it.

Bring more gun than you think you need and premium bullets that hold together. Shot placement matters more here than calibre, but the two go together on an animal this size. Nilgai are an exotic in Texas, so there is no season and no bag limit: a Texas hunting license and a date that suits you is the whole of the paperwork.