Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa We need a Zebra thread!

The Zebra tenderloin on the barbie was my absolute favorite out of the 8 or so "wild game" I tried while in Namib.
When I mention this people make a face and ask "Does it taste like horse?" Heck, I don't know, never could bring myself to eat a trusted steed!

elkjaeger

If any of those people making a face over Zebra have been to Europe they have probably eaten horse. Google horse meat.

Anyone with pics of their zebra with a levergun?

Ya did'nt look close enough at my 1st pic. Taken with a Marlin 45-70 Guide Gun, and Doc's was taken with a Marlin XLR 308 MX. Evidently yer bifocals are as dirty as mine.

maddog

Damn, I hate when I don't pay attention. My apologies! That's what I get for running through these too fast. Awesome!

Now that I've been suitably chastised, and, boy I hope I didn't miss anything so,

How about shooting one with open sights?

Don't see why not, just get close enough. Of all the plains game I shot over there, them zebra are tough boogers, if you don't place yer 1st. shot right...and I didn't.

maddog

Zebra tastes good. I have had both burgers and steaks. It tastes like, uh, meat.

BUt there are prejudices against eating zebra even among many Africans, both black and white. I took part in a big commercial meat hunt in South Africa in 2007, and heard that the local game-meat shop had a hard time selling zebra until they advertised it as "Zeebok," whereupon it sold out quickly--and customers came back for more.

I can't post pictures, BUT. I got my zebra on the Eastern Cape of RSA in April, 2008 with a 45-110 Sharps and a paper patched bullet. 96 yards, and open barrel sights.

That sounds like a story. From load development to kill, I would love to read the details.

taken 2008 with 375h&h m 70 235 gn tsx

HS, Ive only shot two zebra...both with open sights....one a .300 Win and one with a 7x57...of course...

And yeah...they taste GREAT!!!


Ingwe

HS--I don't know that it is that much of a story, as I have used a Sharps as my rifle of choice for over 20 years.

I took the zebra on my second trip to South Africa, using a Shiloh Sharps Business Rifle in 45 2 7/8, often called a 45-110. The load was 106 grains of 2f black powder pushing a 511 grain round nosed paper patched bullet out of one of my Steve Brooks molds. It pushes the bullet to 1380 fps. This is pretty much the old buffalo killing load from the American west in the 1870s. I use the standard buckhorn barrel sights and a blade front sight made from a copper penny. The Sharps sights are a buckhorn with a ladder that stands up and a sliding leaf for long range. I have correlated it with a Leica CRF 1200 rangefinder. These sights are much more capable than most people suspect and in conjunction with the excellent set trigger give the Sharps its well earned reputation for long range accuracy.

I have had good results with the Sharps, and had gotten complete pass through penetration on every animal I had shot on the first safari. I had shot a blesbok from end to end the previous day,in the chest and out the base of the tail on this second trip. When we spotted the herd of zebra and began the stalk, my PH commented that he thought my string of pass throughs was about to come to an end. I asked him why, and he said that his 375H&H would not consistently shoot all the way through a zebra and he doubted the Sharps would.

I had a pretty good string of pass throughs going, and I told him that I would shoot the zebra on an angle to maximize the penetration distance as a sort of penetration test. We got within 96 yards, and I shot the zebra from sitting cross sticks as it quartered toward me, taking it on the left shoulder. The paper patch bullet exited just in front of its left ham after traversing the body from front to back on a diagonal path. The animal went a bit over 100 yards before it died on its feet.

It is a beautiful skin, and I had it made into a rug. It covers the bed in our guest bedroom.

This one in Limpopo SA in 2007

This in Namibia 2008

It's a hard animal to hunt.

B&W sepia tone pic is really nice.

That's really neat. I plan on using a Model 71 on my hunt, but I now feel like I'm cheating a bit after reading your description!

HS--You're not cheating. When you take a zebra with your Model 71, you will have earned it. I actually feel the Sharps gives me an advantage.

O I am a hunter I know that when you have a tag anything your after gets scarce - it was just a joke because we caught them during a migration period.

Believe me I will be thrilled when my day to take one finally comes.

Thank you all for sharing your pics.

There's nothing like having confidence in your rifle.