Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa 30-06 in Africa

I don’t have a lot of Africa experience but on my one trip, in 1990 & the 5 animals I took, including Wildebeest & Kudu, the Zebra was the only one requiring a second shot.

I used a pre-64 model 70 in .300 H&H magnum with 180 gr Interbonds on everything except warthog, which I shot with a .25 WSSM.

The Zebra was one I intended to skip because I ignorantly expected it would be like shooting a horse in a pasture.

After several nights of hearing how many of the three PH’s war stories involved Zebra & witnessing the difficult stalk I was in on for another hunter, I changed my mind. This was helped along by my wife mentioning she’d like a Zebra rug & the safari owner offering me half off the fee when we came across a Zebra with an injured leg from a poacher’s wire snare.

The shot was at a lasered 100 yds from a solid rest. I had passed the time in camp looking over a book of African game shot placement which described using the chevrons on a Zebra shoulder to determine the heart’s position. I felt so confident of the placement that after working the bolt, I began a silent count to see how long it would take him to fall. When I got to 30, I placed a second shot a bit further back to double lung him, upon which the fellow collapsed.

When we processed him there was a silver dollar sized hole directly through the center of his football sized heart.

He had stood in the same spot, only shifting his weight on his legs a bit for over 30 seconds with this wrecked heart.

I came home with my Wife’s Zebra rug and a healthy respect for Zebra. They certainly are much more than some funny colored horses in a field.