I drive a country road here in South Texas almost daily when I am home. Next to the roadway, is a brush field. It is vast, growing wild with cactus, tall grasses, and small mesquite trees sprinkled about. As soon as I hit that road, I slow down and start scanning because there is always a herd of wild nilgai grazing out there. They are never close, but they are there everyday. I love stopping to watch them for a few when I am passing through, and even though they are far off, you can see their size - Nilgai are massive antelopes.
I have always wanted to photograph them because nilgai is such an impressive looking animal. But of course, I don’t want to photograph them from across two football fields; I want to snap some images of them closer than that. But they are always out in the distance, so I have always contented myself with just watching them out in the distance. It makes me happy, that there are still wild places where I live, where wildlife can be wild.
Of course, nilgai does not belong here in South Texas. It is an Asian species and endemic to the Northern Indian continent. However, in the 1930s, the King Ranch released a few in South Texas, which they brought in for game hunting. This hearty antelope thrived in our South Texas environment, and now the population is estimated at around 37,000. Because they are considered an invasive species, hunters are allowed to shoot them year-round. So our population of these antelopes is very skittish, and every time I stop, their ears perk up, and even though the nilgai is very far away, they begin a slow retreat into the thick bush to hide. They are taking no chances.
Well, magic happened after seeing them there for the last few weeks. One afternoon as I was driving by, the nilgai were very close to the road, or at least close enough for some nice shots with a 400mm lens. But since I was not bringing my camera Gloria, I did not capture any images of them. DAMN IT! And, it was a group of male bachelors, which are the images I would love to capture. The males can grow as heavy as 700 lbs… they are big. So I cussed and kicked myself for missing out on that opportunity.
After that brain fart, I have been bringing my camera. Of course, since then, I have only seen them way out in the distance. But happy to report and share, that I did manage to capture a few images of them. Nothing I am crazy about, but a few decent landscape style images, and some with early morning fog rolling in.
What I am really after is a shot of a buck, close up, looking directly at me, where you can see that massive neck. So I will continue to bring my camera, just waiting for that day that the nilgai get brave enough to wander in close enough to my crosshairs and my chance at capturing some up close shots of them.
This a good perspective shot to see the size difference between a nilgai buck near a white tailed deer
I will be out there again tomorrow, hoping it will be my lucky day… until next week my friends, thank you for reading.