Roy:
No worries. The EC is beautiful province and a bit varied in terrain and cover. Tends to be a bit more open but again, huge variation depending on what specific area.
GENERALLY, most shooting in most of Africa is "generally" inside 200m. Most hunters/US clients don't practice nearly enough on standing shooting sticks before they go and honestly can not reliably hit the vitals very much beyond that - generality and there are always exceptions. Your PH may let you shoot beyond that, depending on the proficiency you demonstrate. Next, you have to ask yourself are you willing to pay the trophy fee if you wound the animal and it's not recovered because YOU buggered the shot. Can get a bit expensive and it may count against your "quota".
I kind of have to agree with JorgeI regarding the 300 RUM. No question, it is a fine caliber and you'll not be "under gunned" if you take it. Question will be more of how you handle the recoil and the shooting sticks. Just to give you an idea, a simple 308 Win with a 150gr TSX (not the TTSX they open too fast) at 2950 fps will do complete broadside shoulder pass thrus on everything on your list except eland out to 200m. On eland, inside 125m it may pass thru and beyond it will likely be just under the offside skin.
African PG have a reputation for being "tough". That is somewhat deserved and maybe a little myth. There are a couple of reasons they've obtained this reputation.
One is, depending on the species, they do have somewhat thicker skins than a typical American deer species. Mostly because they retain their horns year round and don't just fight during the rut. If you ever get a chance to see a couple of big gemsbok bulls REALLY go at it, it is seriously vicious!!!
The next reason is all PG species have a very thick "subcutaneous membrane". This is a white kind of fatty layer of tissue that lays between the skin and the muscles and covers their entire body. The purpose of this membrane is, it acts a bit like puncture sealant in a car tire. If the skin is broken/scratched/punctured etc it fills in to help stop bleeding/infection etc. So, sometimes with very small caliber bullets, you could make a perfect heart shot that passes completely thru but, there won't be a visible drop of blood on either side or on the ground.
Third reason is....hate to say this but....it's due to poor shot placement by the client. They don't actually take the time to study the bone structure and organ placement in PG. They simply "think" it's just like all the whitetail deer they've shot and end up putting the bullets too far back and hitting between the lungs and guts and nothing "vital" and the rodeo is on. Give the afore mentioned subcutaneous membrane sealing up holes, unless you happen to hit the liver and it bleeds out over the course of several kilometres, it's gone. And if you clipped the stomach or guts, it will be dead in a week but not before a lot of suffering.
Another reason for pour shot placement is, not enough time practicing off standing sticks and not being confident in being able to put the bullet where it is supposed to go and ending up just trying for a "center of mass" hit thinking that just putting a bullet anywhere in the critter will be fine. Again, can be a very expensive trigger pull for you and a prolonged and agonizing death for the animal.
Just my simple thoughts and others will have other opines and thoughts too.
Michael
