Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Tough Game!

I feel fortunate to have made two safaris, with my son, to Africa. One, a plains game hunt in RSA, in 2008, and two was to Zim, in 2011 for a "poor man's" DG hunt. On the second trip, we took two cow cape buffs, a tuskless cow ele, and a hippo. Three of the four were one shot kills, with a pair of Ruger No. 1s in 375 H&H mag. I know I'll never be able to go back, but for those of you who are still thinking about it, just GO! In this crazy world, you may not be able to hunt anywhere in Africa, in a few more years.....


maddog

Talus I have a pre 64 FW 30/06,and that will be my Light Rifle if I go.



Ed those M70 416's are neat rifles. I recall yours.

Bob, if you are going to Africa, prepare to have your life changed....

Ingwe: Oh gee thanks! Just what I need. It might be too late for that LOL!

But I can see getting over there and wanting to hunt till you drop. It looks really nice, food looks great,and it seems you are always looking a some kind of animals.

I could get used to it!

Indeed, Bob!

Here's a pic of the heart of my buff taken immediately upon removing it from the chest. The wound you see here was entirely due to the bullet (300 gr Swift A-Frame), the skinner's 8-inch knife is merely shown for scale.



This bullet shattered the near shoulder blade (scapula), passed through the chest cavity and into the far shoulder, where it was found under the hide. This is about as well as you can hit an animal in the chest, and he still lived 6-8 minutes. Plenty of time for a "dead" buffalo to do a tapdance on your head if he takes a notion to do so.

Craig has a reputation for promoting all kinds of equipment, bullets, rifles, etc, which I alluded to in my earlier post, but that isn't a knock on him. The man hunts with the products he promotes, it is clear. He does promote Swift A-frame bullets in his buffalo videos, but he also gives credit to Sierra, Barnes, and Woodleigh bullets in various places.



I have no doubt that the double-lung shot will work very well on buffalo. Even Jack O'Connor believed in the double-lung shot on anything, including elephant.

I find it interesting that Boddington has come around to lung shots, after all the effort he put into delineating the heart shot in his book and videos on buffalo. FWIW, I devoured his book & video, as well as Kevin Robertson's book, in preparing for my safari.

Doc: Wow...great photo. Picture worth a thousand words.

That seems to be a fair amount of damage. I have never used them but am impressed with your description of the performance of the 300 Aframe. I have herd that from more than one source.

Thanks and keep it coming! Love these autopsy reports!

Break bone and mobility on the way to the vitals.

jorg: How I have always rolled.....once I learned that's the way to roll.

Sound advice. TX.

Allen Day told me that before my first trip to Africa and at least in my experience, he was spot on. I used to go for the double lung shot on game and yes they all died, but they ran a ways. When I switched to the central shoulder shot, animals if they ran, didn't go very far.

I think Allan knew what he was talking about.

What country are you thinking of hunting Bob?

Not trying to take away anything from African game, the lore is there.

But I used to bowhunt a LOT. I"ve seen quite a few deer with an broadhead holes through the heart that have made 300 plus yards of as the crow flies distances. Generally through the lower chambers instead of uppers.

I've seen MORE deer with holes through the basic middle of BOTH lungs that were alive 3 hours plus later.

I've got a bit of experience with archery... I don't shoot dull heads. I know a bit about what I'm doing...

That said I have about zero desire for Africa, but funny, I have a desire for a kudu and I don't care how I take him. But a nice pretty hide, and representative but not huge horns.
I also have a desire for a buff. Any buff. But only with a bow.

RE other comments on recoil, I could find almost no difference between a 375 HH and a 416 Rem Mag years ago.. I'm after a 416 or 458/458 Lott to have handy in AK in the coming years... but have not been serious about the look. I don't think you can get to big really on dangerous stuff, as long as you can shoot them well enough.

Animals, and I have no clue why from one to another... there is always that how scared and did they just breathe thing thats possible, but they tend at times to live a LOT longer than folks think. Being a bowhunter I've seen a LOT of stuff die up close and personal since there is no boom to frighten em etc.... they have no clue you are there, they don't go far, sometimes coming back to you rather than other direction.... Animals are flat tough at times.

Then you see someone gut shoot one with a rifle and it falls over never to twitch again....

I often wonder in Africa if its not due to hunting on foot and the fact that the animals have to know you are there when they are in big herds. But I've never been. Hvae no clue, maybe thats not the clue at all. Maybe most animals never have a clue a human is close when they shoot.

Some folks get a bit hung up on things not falling when the gun goes boom.... a bit to hung up IMHO. I don't even think those quicker to fall die quicker, they are just immobilized quicker and are still in the process of dying while all the high fives and such are going on... And why in some cases with ANY animal, while the backslapping is going, from a DRT... the DRT gets up and goes away with a non vital high shot....

If you hunt in places where an animal can run 200 yards before it dies, and there are inaccessible-to-you locations within that radius, lung shots are less likely to put meat in your freezer and horns on your wall than shoulder-heart shots, in my experience.

And this is a strong argument for Jorge's "break down bone on the way to the heart" position.

Particularly so if the beast you've just shot has a reputation for belligerence whose propensity when injured is to attack the creature that caused its injury, rather than just running away.

Jeff I have seen heart shot stuff go quite a distance; lung shot, too....sort of a fact of life.

Shot three buffs. One with a .375 and two with 458 Lott. Didn't notice much difference, other than the distance they can run with a heart shot out is impressive. Whatever you are shooting them with is far more adequate than being in the living room over here talking about it. The best advice is practice and just go. Never regret that.

Bob, I am interested in why you are taking your 06 fwt instead of a 270?

Pat I have a perfectly good pre 64 FW 30/06 here that has never been hunted.

And a good supply of 165 gr Bitterroots.

It's been awhile since I hunted with the 30/06 and would just like to bring that rifle.