Spring Turkey season in Texas opened on Saturday, March 31. Easter was the next day, and Easter is a significant occasion with the Brown clan that has a history of at least 40 years. Consequently I did not make opening day. Monday it rained all day, which makes it difficult to pack accordingly for heading to the lease. It finally ceased Tuesday morning so I got out of town about 10:30 AM
I had planned on leaving earlier so I could make an afternoon hunt. Turns out it was 7 PM before I was set up and in place. On the way to the cistern where I had planned to set up for turkey and a possible encounter with the Zebu bull should he come to water, I saw the two Zebu cows that make up the Zebu bulls consort. The bull was not with them.
I set up a ground blind about 100 yds from a water trough where turkey and hogs are known to frequent. I had a CZ in 6.5 Grendel and my Sig Cross w/ thermal. I set out till 1 AM and perforated two hoglets.
I have a cellular game cam set up at this water trough and have numerous pix of tom turkeys coming to water in the AM and PM. In the recent past the earliest I had observed toms at the cistern was aound 8:30 AM.
I got there Wednesday morning at 7:30. The hens were still perched on the water trough drinking. The tom must have heard me come to my ground blind as he was nowhere in evidence. I saw a bunch more hens during the next two days, but toms were not in evidence.
Wednesday morning I stayed in the blind until a skosh after 10 AM. I decided would go back to camp, do some chores, and come back around 1 pm and set the rest of the afternoon, hoping to take a tom.
I hunt on a large ranch in the Texas Hill Country. The owner leases for grazing rights. Each spring cows are put on and a couple weeks before rifle season they round them up and take them to market. For the last two seasons there has been a feral bull that comes and goes. I determined that it was a South African Zebu.
This bull was feral. Must have escaped from a game farm along with two Zebu cows. He had no brand and has been hanging around for the last two rifle seasons, disappearing and reappearing every month or so. He was very destructive. I finally had enough.
I started collecting S X S double rifles a few years ago and recently acquired a S X S double chambered for the 405 Winchester. Shortly after when thinking about this Zebu I asked myself "What Would Teddy Do"?
I made a plan to take him with the 405 Winchester.
Anywho, I got within 1/2 mile of camp when the Zebu bull crossed the road about 20 yds. in front of my vehicle. I immediately stopped, got out and grabbed the 405 Winchester double. Turns out the bull was following a trail that ran about 30 degrees adjacent the road. When he came into view he was partially obscured from the shoulder down by brush and brambles. He stopped, was broadside and looked in my direction. Later I stepped it off and called it +/- 30 paces. I have a 30” inseam so I figure =/- 25 yds between him and me.
I took the shot and he dropped. I immediately shot him again. As I was reloading, he got up and started heading back into the scrum. I shot him twice more and he went down again. I reloaded and he was trying to get up again so I shot him two more times. He was done for and I could hear a moan and death rattle. Six rounds with 300 gr. Hornady Interbonds. Maybe it would not have taken all six to do him in but I was taking no chances and he was getting farther into the scrum.
In retrospect, I probably should have waited for a more opportune location at which to take the beast, but hindsight is 20-20.
So there he was, a massive critter, +/- 90 ft off the road, with no avenue of ingress for my Ford Explorer, no shade, 88 degrees and counting.
I keep all my tools for skinning and breaking down a critter in my vehicle, so I went to work.
Having never taken a critter that large, I’ll admit to doing it all wrong, and ended up getting heat prostration once more in the process as I worked from 11 AM to 8:30 PM dealing with his carcass.
First thing I did was to rip out the backstraps. They are about 4’ long, 8 -10” wide and weigh about 20 lbs. I was laughing at myself carrying them over my shoulder to the trailer where my coolers were. Considerably more sizable than the backstraps and loins of the deer and hogs I shoot.
Next I took the head, which in hindsight was a mistake as I could have used the leverage on the horns and skull to try to turn the beast over.
Finally, I began to take the left shoulder. That was an exercise. At one point I reflected on cleaning horses’s hooves in my youth as I had his foreleg behind my left knee to apply pressure to where I could get my knife under the shoulder blade. I did not skin the quarter, as once I got it separated from the carcass, I could not lift it. I tried wrestling with it to no avail. Ended up fetching a tarp with which to wrap it, secured it with staps and drug it the half mile back to camp.
In consideration of the weight of the front shoulder, and the position of the carcass, there was no way I was going to try to take a hind quarter as the beast fell into a large clump cat-claw scrum. If you have experienced cat-claw, you don’t mess with that unless you want to be bleeding from a hundred places.
I had heat stroke in 2007, and since have had heat prostration at least a dozen times. By 5pm I was half mad. I went back to camp, turned the AC on in my camper and crashed till 7pm, at which time I was able to think a bit more clearly.
I keep heavy duty straps for towing. I had two 25’ straps. I found a third and managed to find two 10’ lengths of chain which I connected with padlocks. So in all I had about 95’ of tow straps connected and wrapped the end of one around the beasts hind leg.
Pulling him out around trees and bushes, then back to camp took till dark, but I prevailed.
Of all things, I did not have the presence of mind to take any hero shots. So here are some pix I did take……….
As an aside, I had thought about using my RBL Professional 20 ga. Sabot double to take him, but my plan/dream was to use the 405 Win. double on this feral African critter. Chances are this is as close as I’ll ever come to Africa.
I did have a chance the next day to employ the RBL double.
Decent boar by my reckoning.
All told it was a killer trip.
Six hogs, two coons and a Zebu, and a few beverages.
ya!
GWB
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