If you are a hunter and are looking to expand your hunting season with an exotic animal that is a striking trophy and excellent table fare to boot, look no further than the Blackbuck Antelope.
Blackbuck Antelope also known by several other names including Indian Antelope, and Sasin are a species native to India but can no longer but hunted there as they are protected by law.
These beautifully marked antelope have found a niche on private hunting ranches in Texas, and in South America, primarily Argentina. The warmer climate and ideal habitat in both regions proved to be ideal for the species.
One of the most appealing features of the Blackbuck is the unique set of horns that twist or corkscrew one to four times along the length of the horn. In addition, the horns have prominent ridges all along the length, making a wonderful mount for any trophy room.
A trophy Blackbuck will have a straight-line horn length in the 16-to-18-inch range, although the older bucks can have horn lengths of 24 inches or even greater. Some scoring systems, such as Safari Club International, measure the horn length around the spiral. Males will weigh up to 110 pounds but the average is around 85 pounds.
As the name implies the mature buck is very dark, almost a black color over the back and shoulders, with a white coloration on belly, the inside of the legs, and white rings around the mouth and the eyes. The does are a light brown to reddish brown color and don’t have the impressive horns of the bucks.
The Hunt
Hunting can be accomplished on numerous ranches in Texas and can be conducted year-round. All a Texas nonresident needs is a five-day exotic hunting license costing around $50. You will also need to show proof of having completed a hunter education course sometime in your life.
The fee to hunt Blackbuck on the ranch itself varies and can often be negotiated. Plan to spend a few hundred up to several thousand dollars depending on what is being provided, i.e., lodging, meals, guided or unguided, and so on.
Some of these ranches are considered high fence (a high game-proof fence enclosing the hunting area), and others are considered low fenced. Unless the ranch is many thousands of acres in size, most hunt areas in Texas will be high-fenced when it comes to Blackbuck or other exotics.
While many hunters consider a high-fenced area unethical, do not be misled. I did in fact hunt a ranch that was 3.5 sections in size (over 2200 acres), and was high-fenced. With the brush, trees and terrain, hunting the area proved to be challenging.
All Blackbuck on the ranch were born in the wild and reproduce there naturally, an important consideration for me.
I elected to hunt by the spot and stalk method and not utilize a stand or blind as is often the case on many Texas Ranches. This method proves to be more difficult as the Blackbuck prefers to frequent areas where his eyesight gives him the advantage.
Most hunts are conducted after deer seasons in Texas, which means January to March or April. This also is the time frame when the Blackbuck males have the darkest and most striking coats.
Caliber recommendations would be the same for say a Pronghorn Antelope hunt, .243 Win, .270 Win or similar. Shots could be from 100 yards or less and out to several hundred yards depending on terrain and conditions. My hunt began in mid-January of this year on a ranch in the Comstock, Texas area.
I began my hunt the first afternoon by glassing from a high point in an effort to locate blackbuck. Within the first hour, I spotted two of the handsome antelope at around 500 yards by glassing from a hilltop. One looked to be in the 18-to-20-inch class, a definite keeper in my book.
As the bucks were moving my general direction, I tried to place myself in front of them. They soon disappeared behind a small cluster of cedar trees giving me a chance to close the distance. Working into around 100 yards of where the antelope disappeared, I soon found out that this would not be so easy.
They were gone.
How they managed to disappear without my seeing them goes to show these animals are not a pushover.
The same afternoon just before sundown, I located another nice blackbuck with heavy horns in the 18-inch class. He was with a doe making stalking in for a shot challenging. I managed to get within about 175 yards of this buck in mixed brush and trees.
As I was setting up with shooting sticks to attempt a shot, the ole boy spotted me and was gone in a flash.
Blackbuck – 2, Hunter – 0 was my first afternoon results.
The next morning found me atop a hill in the same area where the heavy horn blackbuck was seen the evening before. Glassing I soon spotted a very nice whitetail buck, several axis deer (another exotic from India), and a blackbuck doe. But the heavy-horned buck did not show himself.
I decided to return to the same hilltop where I had spotted the two blackbucks the previous day. I turned out to be a good move. Immediately I spotted a group of several males including two that looked to be what I was looking for.
They were moving to the west along a brush line, at about 450 yards. No shot was available from my hill as they were in and out of heavy cover.
Using the previous day’s tactic and hoping for the best with the wind in my face I moved to get in front of the animals. I had to go through a very thick and brushy ravine, spooking a nice axis buck in the process. Fortunately, he left in the opposite direction.
Getting near to where I thought the antelope would be I was shocked to see an immature blackbuck pass by me along a trail at no more than 20 to 30 yards. My heart sank as I believed the group had already passed by. But to my surprise, another buck passed and following up what was to be the entire group was a very nice, black antelope with excellent horns.
I did not hesitate, having already cranked the Nightforce 4×10 scope all way down on the .270 Model 70 Winchester. I fired as the buck was passing at no more than 25 yards. He never saw me. The shot went through and through shredding the heart as I discovered later.
I was using the new 130 grain core-lokt tipped ammo from Remington.
The buck jumped forward and dropped.
I never expected to end the hunt at such a close distance. He measured right at 19 inches on a straight-line tape. I couldn’t have been more pleased; he was a mature blackbuck with a gorgeous coat and excellent horn length and I took him on foot in the field. What is that old saying…” even a blind hog finds an acorn once in a while”.
Check out exotic hunt offerings in Texas at tpwd.texas.gov .
