Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa African Game Toughness

Not really intending to start a pissing match argument thing.......but I often read of how tough African game is. I'm not saying it's not, because I've never been. However I have shot lots and lots of aoudad sheep here in TX, and they're obviously African game. I've found that any well constructed bullet of a reasonable caliber, put in the right place does the trick.

Specifically talking plains game here.......are they really that tough or does it just make for an enhancement to a good story? Are they that much harder to put down than a bull elk for example? As I say, I could be way wrong, but it seems any well placed premium .270, .284, .308 bullet will put one down, right??????

You answered your question already.

Oh but you will...just stand by..

Although this is certainly not a scientific or legal description, I have seen some differences that I think do stand up, or at least justify some further thought. You only need to do this job for a few weeks and listen to the comments made by the hunters with you. I won�t type dozens of them here now, but common statements like this from my hunters for example: �I�ve killed a lot of big game but I�ve never seen an animal hit that hard stagger begin to fall and then run off requiring several hours to track up and still need another shot.�

For starters, many of the animals in Africa live in herds. This is a significant difference then the big game hunted in North America. Far fewer are hunted in large herds . When a single herd animal spooks and runs so will the whole herd at the same instant. They don't perk up to see if it's the idiot of the group that is just being stupid again, they trust even the most insecure and jumpy member of the herd when it spooks. This results in the whole group bolting through the bush to crash through branches and trees somewhat blindly.

Would anyone debate the will to live difference and resentment for being shot between a cape buffalo and a North American Bison? I've seen some rather unruly and wild bison, but they are the exception, buffalo on the other hand are almost all living on the edge! Take for example wildebeest, zebra, and gemsbok. These are arguably the tougher PG species to flatten. They are also the tougher ones to stop once hit and running off. These animals have very thick rubber like skin. It's far more elastic then an Elk, Deer, Bear, sheep, etc. This puncture resistant stretchy hide will seal up holes and stop the blood flow with extreme precision. A Deer or Pronghorn will have explosive exits from a typical hunting rifle, yet similiar sized game in Africa may fall and require you to look for several seconds to even find the entry or exit holes. Same with the Kudu, they are very soft and much like the construction of a typical Whitetail deer, just much larger in size. You can see the bullet holes in them very easily.

Why is that? In my opinion it's due to the kinds of trees, and the habit of running blind with the herd. The dozens of species of almost lethal thorn trees, and the frequency of these herd animals crashing through the bush may have caused them over 1000's of years to develop this type of skin that will seal up punctures, or be more resistive of punctures. Giraffe is clearly designed this way. Once you have skinned the chest of a Giraffe and seen that 3-4" thick "cartilage like" skin with Acacia thorns embedded into it you can see why.

There is a desire stronger then life itself for many of these herd animals. They can never be left behind of the group when it gets spooked and runs. Compare this to the soft, and quite fragile Kudu. An animal so large, yet so easy to kill, and very little will to live. Kudu have very soft skin, and are built very frail when compared to the herd animals.

A Kudu, is very much like a whitetail deer. They will carefully pick and choose the path through the bush, often not making much noise. They can also vanish like a ghost, leaping and turning to avoid any contact with the bush. Compare that to the wildebeest which will crash through everything in the way letting you hear them depart for a 100 yards until out of earshot! Is it simply coincidence that the crashing herd mentality of the wildebeest makes it so much harder to drop and follow up then the soft lone fragile pick the path Kudu bull? I think not.

There are always comments about African game being harder to kill. Maybe that's not 100% true, however they are absolutely harder to find dead. Finding a single elk, deer, bear, or sheep is a much less difficult undertaking then finding an equally hit African animal that lives in a large herd. As I was taught in PH academy, read the whole page not just the first word. There is much more to this puzzle then simply saying African game is tougher then North American game. A poorly hit lone Bull elk is a tough animal that can travel a long way.

They also live in a habitat with so much natural ground litter and rock that follow ups using only tracks can be very complicated. Mountain goats and moose are also quite difficult to make die and drop quickly. However when shot your looking for a single animal, not a massive herd that has created a dust bowl and left the scene with all the tracking evidence covered in dust and sand. With the dozens if not thousands of tracks to follow how do you know which animal you shot?� Has he peeled off from the group as he became sick and you have tracked right past him and followed the herd?

Once you find the herd you scan with your field glasses for an hour looking them over for blood, nothing found? Hours have now gone by. Your animal is either in the group, or you have passed it by and need to start over. If this happens at last light will you have much of a trophy remaining in the morning? In North America the population of predators is greatly reduced. Odds are fair or better that if you find the animal the next day it will be fine. In Africa with a low temp of 75 degrees at night, will it will be hair slipped, and with the massive populations of predators, odds are low it will be in one piece.

Just a blanket statement here is not realistic. There are some very tough species in both places. However having hunted for my living in both places, and seen quite a number of animals harvested in both places....... Well I've struggled more to find well hit game in Africa, then I have in North America. There are however lots more species there as well. The debate will never be apples and apples, it would be better to just pick a specific animal you�re interested in comparing them. With the diverse species, distances, dangerous game, and of course the blood tracking that will be needed, the larger bore cartridges stack the deck in your favor by a large margin.

Those under .308 diameter will require the greatest time consumed in follow ups, and the greatest risks for lost game. With a 7-14 day hunt, you sure don�t want to be spending any more time then needed on tracking and follow up. This is especially true when hunting two on one. If your partner is searching for lost game, you�re not hunting either! Plenty of folks make the mistake of comparing cartridges used in North America for hunting with what they perceive the needs in Africa to be. I wish I had some recorded statements from the hundred or so people who have said to me. �Wow you were right about the conditions and the choice of the gun� I�m not special in this regard, just observant.

We have seen the struggles and the success for many years. It just comes from experience. I�ve not known a single PH in my whole career that sees this any differently. Bigger bullets make finding game not only easier but possible in very poor conditions. Higher Velocity bullets crumple game faster with body shots then slower bullets. There are without question exceptions to these comments, but by and large these are rules to live by with hunting bullets. When you have big diameter and high velocity you have a magic wand of death. Probably why cartridges like the 375HH have been around so long with such an amazing history of success.

Great post JJ!

Read Kevin Robertson's "The PPerfect Shot" for the anatomy physiology lesson JJ has given. Placing the round through the vitals or spine will drop your game more quickly than through the viscera. Knowing where to place the round is the ticket.

I shot my white tailed gnu the same as I would have a bull moose. I took out the lung, liver and cut the aorta above the heart. The off shoulder was extruded through the skin on the off side. A perfect shot for a moose but I was not hunting moose. I was above and back of the necessary shot on the wildebeast. I shot instinctively not intelegently.

The beasty boy was followed for five miles. The blood trail was obvious but I can tell you I was shamed by the suffering he must have experienced. He was alive when we got to him but not able to stand. By this time I asked where to put the finishing shot. Before that I had lined up to head shot it when the PH shouted to stop. Duh! darned meat hunters . I followed instructions and the shot instantly killed it. Very low and forward put it through the heart. The herd mentality is incredibly strong.

Randy

Four pages at least...

+1

These two critters are tougher than any thing on our side of the pond

Excellent post JJ and I agree with you on two tenets of your posit:
1. Every animal is different and a "blanket" statement does not for accuracy make. Hit the animal, any animal in the RIGHT place and he'll die.
2. Given the same weight/caliber speed kills, just be sure you have the right bullet that meets the velocity parameters at impact.

Since when???

Bastid.......

Great read JJ. Also from what I've read from others, African game have their vitals farther forward. To me this means it's more likely than not you're going to need to punch through the shoulders. This alone would make them harder to kill and make caliber/ bullet choice very important. I may be wrong in my assumption but it seems like common sense, not that NA elk are a cake walk.

Let me throw something else out for perspective.

Many of us learned to hunt from our fathers and grandfathers. I know I did. The sacred directive on placing a broadside shot was "hit him right behind the shoulder". That seemed to be good advise. Deer hit there never went far. The men in my family used that guideline to fill up the freezer every Fall.

Once I took my studies to The Medical College of Georgia, I did a serious study of anatomy - of humans. The behind the shoulder shot made sense. Put a human on all fours and the heart lies behind the front shoulder, along with lungs, liver, etc.

I went to Africa for the first time. Shot everything behind the shoulder. Damned things ran more than whitetail deer and elk did before going down. We cut them up and my inquiring mind wanted to know why they didn't drop. Did I need a "bigger gun"?

I noted that the heart was never touched on any of these behind the shoulder shots. Make me realize that we always ate the heart of the deer we took (tasty!), and it was always untouched. Not being a farm boy, I never butchered any livestock. Cadavers - yes, livestock - no.

I met Kevin Robertson just as he was putting together The Perfect Shot. The photos and drawings were fantastic! It finally dawned on me that the heart of carnivores - lion, leopard, cheetah, humans, lies behind the shoulder. The heart of non meat eaters is directly behind the shoulder, being shoved forward out of necessity to make room for the GI tract which is so much bigger.

I decided if it eats grass, shoot it through the shoulder. If it can eat you, shoot it behind the shoulder.

That moment reduced the tracking time on shot game enormously. I have often wondered if others were raised on the same shooting principles and found similar results.

The things JJ says about herd animals is very true, along with the basic temperament of African game. Cape Buffalo are born pissed off at the world, and stay that way. Plains Game are food for cats every day. Natural selection and practice staying alive keeps them wound up.

For JG - I am in the camp that African game, pound for pound is tougher. They aren't bullet proof and they don't wear Kevlar. That conclusion many of us arrive at after hitting them with a good shot and watching them run off. The next reaction is "Damn they are tough!".

Follow the rules above, and they will drop and you will think the rest of us are crazy.

I'm a "through the shoulder" guy anyway. Maybe same thinking, just a little lower, huh? Nice post hatari.

Shoulder work all over the world!

Simple enough to remember.

Yes they are tougher
Yes you have to buy a new gun for Africa as your gun for white tails and your gun for elk and your gun for timber hunting and your gun for long range hunting and your antelope hunting rifle WILL NOT WORK in Africa.
You have to have a plains game rifle, a dangerous game bolt rifle, a bolt rifle that is a little too big for plainsgame and not quite big enough for dangerous game but will work if you just have to, and a double rifle. In some cases a drilling or combination gun is required.
And if you every meet my wife at DSC and tell her otherwise be prepared for me to call you a liar because you are very wrong!

The shoulder is another whole can of worms. I've not run into many people who clearly understand "shoulder"

You cannot break the shoulders yet that is the common statement. The shoulder is a geographical region, not a bone

Ask 50 people where the shoulder is and you get a pile of various opinions. It's clearly not like asking where is the foot, head, paw, tail.

Are people talking scapula or humorous neither of those bones are named shoulder but its what folks usually refer to. 99% have no idea that they float inside the body and have no joint connection to the rest of the skeleton.

Those bones can move a foot fore and aft from center. They can be darn close to Parallel not vertical. There is a mess under that skin that you cannot see but it's almost always referred to as the "shoulder"

What are you trying to break? Scapula? humorous? The region of muscles?

I think the humerus is certainly humorous.....especially if you tickle in the armpit region...