Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Zebra

In my limited experience, zebra is usually a top choice of African animals to be pursued, and taken. Looking through my old notes, I realized I had shot fourteen zebra. More than half of these were not shot as trophies, but rather as meat for the local councils. (Usually, zebra or buffalo were requested by the councils for celebrations.) Since I had shot a good number of these animals, I discovered I had shot three with a .308Win, three with a .375H&H, and three with a .416Taylor. Now I don't have a lot of empirical data, only three each shot using these three different calibers. The rifles were model 70's. Factory ammunition for the .308Win was Federal Premium 180gr Nosler partition. Factory ammunition for the.375H&H was Barnes X 270gr . Hand loaded 400gr Swift A-Frame for the .416 Taylor.

Consider the following: All nine of these zebra were not running, and were virtually broadside, shot placement was on the "sergeant" stripe, distance between 80-100yds. Obviously, these nine zebra were shot in different locations, on different days.

Results: Two of the zebra shot with the .308Win fell within ten yards of where they were shot, the third flinched, and took three steps, stumbled, and fell over. The three zebra shot with the .375H&H fell within twenty yards. Two of the zebra shot with the .416Taylor dropped in their tracks, and one ran about fifty yards, and fell dead. None of these nine zebra required a follow-up killing shot.

Which of these rifle/bullet combinations was the most effective? The results were the same for each combination. Best choice...you be the judge.

Bullet placement was/is the great equalizer. Bell had it figured out a long time ago.

Look on youtube under "Black powder zebra kill"to see what a hard cast flatnosed 480 grain bullet at 1244 fps from a 45-70 will do. Top of the chevron at 161 yards with iron barrel buck horn sights.

Good info, thanks for sharing.

I'm curious what you shot the other 5 zebra with?

The other zebra were shot with a .270Win (2) .284 (1) .30-06 (1) and .338WM (1) .270-160gr NP, .284 (?) .30-06 mil ball, and .338 250 NP

Sharpsguy, hell of a shot on your zebra! I’ve only killed 3 White tails with my Shiloh #1 sporter, all with cast bullets and black powder. All 3 died quickly, but not like the zebra in the video!

Youtube may have pulled the video re: "Black powder zebra kill" That title didn't show in the youtube index.

It’s still there “ black powder zebra hunt with Bill Bagwell”

I haven't killed as many zebra as TSIBINDI Has, but I have killed three. Two with a Shiloh Sharps in 45 2 7/8, and one with the 45-70 in the video. the other two were shot with a 511 grain round nosed paper patched bullet at 1382 fps. One of these went 10 yards and the other about 20. The 45-70 zebra is the only zebra I have on video.

It's kind of amazing (well, not really) how supposedly extra-tough African plains game dies if they're shot in the right place with a bullet that penetrates sufficiently.

One thing about the Sharps--with traditional loads, you WILL get penetration. On my first trip with my 45-2 7/8, I shot two kudu, a black wildebeast and then a blue wildebeast at 312 yards. I had one shot kills and complete pass through penetration on all of them. Up comes the zebra, and the PH says that this one's gonna break your string of pass throughs. I shot the stallion quartering to me at 96 yards square on the on side shoulder, and the bullet exited his off side flank just in front of the ham. After two trips with the 45 2 7/8, I decided to take one of my Sharps in 45-70. I thought I would give up some penetration, but that didn't prove to be the case. The 45-70 shot all the way through everything as well, and I have yet to recover a bullet either here or in Africa on game shooting a Sharps. Works for me.

Very interesting--but not surprised!

My experience on zebra, including my own animals and those of hunting partners I witnessed, involves four countries and zebra of various sizes and two species. Have not seen any particular difference in how they stop bullets compared to other plains-game animals of about the same size.

In Tanzania shot a Burchell's at around 80-100 yards with a 9.3x62, 286-grain Partition at around 2500, quartering slightly on, so put it into the top of the chevron. At the shot, a tree around 15" in diameter 12-15 yards behind the zebra dropped a bunch of leaves--and the stallion staggered 25 yards before falling. Found where the bullet bounced off the tree, tearing a hole in the bark, with what looked like blood in the hole. Turned out it was a "bloodwood" tree, a variety of teak with red sap.

The only bullets I've seen recovered from zebra were either angled a long way through the body, or expanded very widely.

Interesting that the Zebra shot in RSA by my hunting partner with his 30-06 was a one shot kill and the meat was sent a meat market in Thabazimbi; it was not kept and consumed on the farm property where we stayed and where there were considerable staff. Is the meat not good to eat?

We ate steaks from the blue Wildebeest we shot and it was very tasty.

Btw, though there were many opportunities, I have not shot a Zebra. They look too much like the Welsh ponies on our farm.

I've shot a few zebra but am no expert, by far. What i was told is that the plains zebra is not very good because of the large amount of yellow fat in the animal. The mountain zebra I shot had none of that, had a reputation for being excellent table fare (thanks Ingwe) and I found that to be true. The meat looked more like pork.

What I can say for certain is my mountain zebra hunt was one of my favorite hunts I've done in 5 trips over there.

Two Zebras, with with a 375 H&H Model 70 and 300gr Swift Aframes. Both one shot, both DRT.

Have only taken one zebra, a Hartmann's Mountain Zebra, in the mountains of Namibia. A 200 gr. Swift A-Frame out of my .300 Weatherby landed on the 'chevron' at the shoulder, and the stallion was DRT and all 4 hooves in the air. One of the quickest kills I ever made with the .300.

JG,

I've eaten plenty of "plains" (Burchell's) zebras in various African countries, and it's always been good--but have also encountered many people who won't eat it, and not just safari clients but African natives.

Went on a big cull hunt on a huge ranch in 2007 in RSA, and the vast majority of the meat went to a market in Kimberley. They could NOT, however, sell any of the zebra meat to the locals (black or white)--until somebody came up with the brilliant marketing idea of calling it "zeebok" instead, as if it came from another sort of antelope "bok." It then became VERY popular, especially after word got around town about how great zeebok meat tastes.

Over the past 15yrs, I've taken a couple of dozen of of each. A couple of the Hartmann's Mountain were trophies and the rest, mountain and planes were culls - some head shots, some broadside and a couple of Texas heart shots.

308Win with 150gr TSX @2950fps - some head shots so expected results. Most were broadside, mostly because the way they will bolt away a hundred meters or so, stop and turn broadside to see if you, or anything else, is following them. All broadside shots thru the shoulders were all pass thru out to 200m. Never took shots beyond that - personal choice.

30/06 with 180 Speer Grand Slams @ 2625fps - Same results as the 308. Put thru the vital triangle and they don't go very far - maybe 100m max.

Majority culls have been with those two above.

375 Ruger with 270gr TSX and 300gr Hornady soft RN @ 2750fps and 2630fps. Same, same. Only difference was the visual reaction to the impact was very obvious, especially with the 300gr softs. I did shoot one client wounded (gut shot) mountain zebra with 270gr TSX with a going away Texas heart shot and the bullet stopped just above the heart and messed up the arteries well enough.

45/70 and 450Marlin in both lever guns, bolt actions with 300gr TTSX, 350gr TSX, Remington 405's, 330gr Barnes Banned Solid (discontinued), 325gr CEB Solids. 425gr Cast Performance WFN. Not going to list all the velocities, but they were all between 95%-98% of published max
loads. Only one that was recovered was the 300gr TTSX out of a Siamese Mauser. I was very surprised. The wound channel was huge and it did get to the heart but didn't reach the off-side chest wall. Visible reaction at impact was like it was tassed with a stun gun and and couldn't move for a few seconds. It had only just started to stumble away by the time the second shot hit and put it down. The 330gr BBS was just something to try. Animal didn't even flinch. We watched the bullet hit way down the hillside and with the echo off the mountains and boulders, it just took one or two steps while looking around and then just collapsed. I wasn't even sure I'd hit it until it dropped.

As far as eating/taste goes - I've eaten fillets of both and zebra is some very fine eating. While I didn't have them side by side on the same plate, they were both pretty much seasoned and cooked the same way over a braai and they've always been excellent. Now, there are some PH's who don't LIKE to eat it themselves and IF you've been in the skinning shed or butchery you'll maybe have seen why. They have a propensity for being susceptible to botflies inside the nose and roundworms in the abdominal cavity. NEITHER have any impact or effect on the meat itself but to see either while butchering can be a bit....off putting to the appetite, so some PH's just choose to move them to the market unless the client specifically ASKS to have some.

Zebra may be my favorite African animal to hunt. They have always in my experience been alert and fun to stalk. Plus there's something joyous about shooting a horse given all the times I've been stepped on, bitten, pushed into a tree, cactus or thorn bush, etc. Mine have been taken with .30-06 or .300 mags all with one shot each. The meat is possibly the best wild game I've eaten and the zebras I've eaten have always had red meat like an African antelope or NA deer. It seems that the zebras I've eaten had a little more fat than many wild game animals and were always tender with great flavor.

I have eaten both the Hartmsanns and the Burchells zebra, and hunted and killed both. Zebra are ALWAYS an interesting hunt, right next to Kudu, and always fine table fare! One of my favorites!

Johnny, we need to go hunting again! and compare nites!

The one I could shoot the best. Actually, I would have probably used my 9.3x62. But then again, I doubt I would shoot a zebra being it looks too much like Flicka or is that Trigger I'm thinking about. I'm wierd like that.