Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Africa's most difficult hunting/shooting test

OK, this is what I believe is the most challenging test in Africa; a real test of your hunting and shooting ability. Usually impala males are found in small groups with other males. Look for a herd of females. It will include females, their young, and one or two young males. These young males have horns about as long a their ears. On your own, stalk within 100 yards and, with one shot, kill one of the "spiker" males. A clean miss is one point lost, killing a female or its young is a two point penalty, and shooting two, even if you get the young male, is a three point penalty. If you do it succesfully then you get a cold beer on the spot and a lot of respect from the ph and his staff. For each point lost you don't get a single beer for a day per point. Comments or ideas?

Hypothetically speaking, how many points are lost for not getting a big male and killing a female and a spiker, all with the same shot? Not that I know anyone who has ever done that.

You are suggesting a "test" that just about every average biltong/ meat hunter hunter does every weekend during the hunting season on most farmland in South Africa.

I believe that the "average" South African biltong hunter is pretty darn good. My friends who live there have been passing this test since they were 6 or so. Their dad gave them each one 222 cartridge and off they went. I believe it requires a lot of skill and the love of hunting which is much different than banging away at game at a distance. In addition, I find as I get older and have more experience that the best things in life may just be the simple things that are often overlooked.

Why would any safari client do that? The trophy fee is the same for a good buck. Local meat hunters are different.

I disagree. I think this is a relatively simple test for a competent, disciplined shooter to pass.

A better African hunting/shooting test would be:

Find a herd of zebra. Stalk to within shooting range, identify the 5-yr-old stallion the PH wants shot, separating him from the 3-yr-old and 7-yr-old stallions he does not want shot, and make a killing shot without hitting any other zebra. Do this in thornbush with belly-deep grass (no fair peeking).

That is a test I failed, FWIW, after succeeding on gemsbok, impala, kudu, blesbok and Cape buffalo. The zebra and blesbok were cull hunts, and despite the tracker and my best efforts -- we couldn't bust the stallion we wanted. Every time we got close, the wind shifted and off they went. Since they were constantly kicking and biting one another and milling about, they were constantly stirred up and nearly impossible to stalk.
Add in the difficulty of sorting out the stallions -- as they lack headgear -- is also a trick.

That's my take on the toughest plains game hunt...

Dennis

muledeer...I think you have persuaded me yours is tougher. Will try it soon. Thanks for the input. I can tell you love the hunting.

Springbok, on the move, in the Karoo, in the wind.

You can't get close, they won't stand still, and the wind blows hard enough to send your hat flying.

That's my toughest test.

Wounded bear, thick spruce swamp, 1/2 hour before sunset. I was called in to kill a wounded bear that an outfitter's client had shot. Could see only 10 or 15 feet and knew I would have only one shot. The bear weighed 650 pounds... I bought a heavier gun for the next year. Not a hard shot but to execute a spinal on a charging bear at 15 feet does not give one much time. As I recall I sighted down the barrel like a shotgun and destroyed the skull and a foot of spine. The bear came to a stop six feet from me. The client crapped himself, and the only reason I did not was because my anal sphyncter was tightly clamped. Still not one of my fondest memories. Yours are both more challenging to me as I don't shoot far off very often. Stalking open country animals is drastically different from in thick ones.
Randy

12,000lbs of pissed off elephant bursting through the bush at 7yds with fire and hate in his eyes, and coming, upwind, at between 20 and 30mph. His head, the size of the bottom half of a farm house door, is dropping so he can gore and then crush you. Depending on how his head is held at the monment you shoot to save your life, the point of impact required to reach his brain might change three or even four feet from when he first sees you to when his head is full down to crush you. Anywhere from three + feet to a mere 10" behind that POI somewhere on that kitchen door size head is his brain, which, front on, represents a roughly a six inch or so circle.

If you make the shot, you can have a beer, might even need a beer, when your hands stop shaking. If you miss the shot, but are close and using enough rifle, you might survive, but now have a duty to kill him and you'll need to skip the beer because you've got hours or days of the most nerve racking tracking, never knowing until its over if he is waiting for you around a bend in the tracks. If you miss too much, or at all with a too light rifle, you're friends can drink the beer at your wake, after what passes for your closed caskett funeral, but you fit in a shoebox now.

JPK

You are fortunate to have had that experience. I was chased by one last season in Zim and that was exciting. Man can they cover ground.

Are we talking test of marksmanship or tests of courage?

Bears and elephants and other DG at close quarters is a test of courage and determination and nerves.

IMO, hitting a rapidly moving target, and one that you see at the last moment, that is close with great relative motion, needing to envision the actual target and not the exterior POI giving a three dimensional relative motion problem are elements of marksmanship.

Not running or crapping your pants is courage.

JPK