BigGameHunt.net Hunting Forums

[Don Fischer]

I talked with RifleandReel a good deal thru PM's and believe me, he got one between the eye's. Hearing everything I gotta think he did a good job. If you want to hear the whole story, he'll have to tell you. Believe me there's more to it.

[DUGABOY1]

RifleandReel wrote:
Fred did indeed bring 125gr ammo for recoil reasons. I had no problem letting him use this ammo on the smaller animals (impala, blesbok etc.) but when he told me he wanted to hunt kudu after killing the blesbok I decided to let him use 180gr ammo.

I personally sighted the rifle in with the new ammo and didn't let him shoot the rifle from the bench because I didn't want him to become gunshy.

As you would know, recoil is something that isn't felt (within reason of course) when shooting in the field. This was affirmed when I let Fred use my .375H&H to dispatch of the blesbok and asking him how it felt afterwards he said he didn't feel any kick.



Gentlemen there was diffinently some balls dropped here, and the first one was dropped by the client, in even considering 125 gr .308 bullets in a 30-06 for anything in Africa. The second was not doing a lot of stump shooting before he left home, from hunting positions, with the proper ammo to start with!

Then the other mistake was made by the PH! the quote above in red, is a real zinger, if the rifle was equipt with a scope sight! This is because no man can properly zero a scope in for another man, and expect that rifle to shoot properly for the other man. This rifle should have been shot from the bench, by the client,after the re-adjusting of the scope, to make sure it was on for him, and I'd bet the price of my next Safari, it wasn't! I think this, and the client's fear of his rifle, along with his inexperience at shooting game, combined to install disaster into this safari! Too bad, because a man's first safari should elicit better memories, for the PH as well as the client! :roll:

[BBarnes]

It has been said that professional hunters always use too much gun while hunting. I firmly believe that what is goon enough for the pros is good enough for the amatuers. Always use more gun than you need. But I hunt elk, muley and whitetail deer with a .338 mag. Never had to look for a wounded deer in the brush either.

[bassman58]

hey don, i'm going to nmibia in july for the first time. i'm shooting nothing but plains game i.e kudu blessbok, zebra, warthog etc. my question is is a 270 good enough to use ? i shoot lights out with and i really want to bring it . if so what loads should i bring. i can pop a quarter @ 200 yrds consistintly with it and have shot tons of deer and moose with it. i'm also bringing my 30.06 , which is the best loads for both.

thanx lou horn

[Romey]

We have had the same issues guiding in the states as was suggested already in the thread, Im not entirely sure there is a absoloute fix.

We to require, that clients fire on paper targets before taken out for same reasons given here in the thread. Often times equipment is banged around and what not and can cause missed shots. Many times and probably more so I have found people, even dedicated hunters ARENT dedicated shooters and is where much of the the problem is.
I have good friends that i preach off season shooting to and time and time again have seen missed shots or bad shots., to the point with one who is a dear friend , that I refuse to hunt with him or guide for him. It has caused some heated discussions.

Its a rare thing that a client carries the same or more powerful caliber then I and am often asked be said client "why so powerful, I seen you shoot your a excellent shot". My reasoning is I want to take advantage of my shooting abilities AND exsploit the shot.

When i was a kid, and it still happenes today, we did alot of antelope guiding and most of the clients we had brought .223, .243 ect even a clean vital shot the antelope oten would run up to a mile away, not a good thing to anyone who has eaten pronghorn antelope. I learned young to use much harder hitting cailber AND make the shot clean. Drop them where they stand as best one can.

I am also a firm beleiver that there is 2 kinds of recoil, real recoil, actual energy being transfered from firearm and preceived recoil , with proper shooting skills very very few people should have any trouble putting ANY caliber on target AND should just need to do it ONCE. For instance another friend who is a dedicated hunter complains that is PORTED .270 hurts his shoulder. I went out, shot it several times then handed him a ultra light 300 win mag and said hit the bulleye ONE time. He did , for him the recoil was crazy hard but i noticed his shooting position sucked,regaurdless he hit the center mass of the target and promplty said " I wouldnt want to soot it 3 times" where i returned" look at the target and exsplain to me why youd HAVE to" that same year he went out and bought a caliber better suited for elk and shoots a bit more then once a year. Recoil is no exscuse for a miss.

Add poor shooting skills, people coming out of shape and under equiped makes for a miserable time to all quite often, All things that we as outfitters do exsplain in detail,over and over. Just this last year the words came from my mouth to a client
"I told you this aint no kansas cornfield"
Don, its more then apparent you are very knowledgable about your hunting and shooting and Id like to take the chance to say i greatly enjoy your posts.
Like Don said there is likely much more to the story like there always is. A outfitter can only do so much and it truelly is up to the CLIENT to come prepared.
RifleandReel Thanks for the post, posts like this may make our jobs as guides and outfitters a little easier.
Bbarnes, all i can say is, you must be a carpenter because you hit the nail on the head.

We are blessed as sportsman to have the chance to hunt and fish and enjoy our outdoors and its a great responsibility in my opinion to take the harvesting of game seriously and give the game the respect they so deserve, to always make clean quick kills and never leave a wounded one behind.

[ironmike]

Makwa,
I am a fairly experience N.A. hunter (Whitetail, muledeer, elk, pronghorn, mountain goat, black bear). The lungs of most of these animals are significantly more posterior than african antelop, if my copy of "the perfect shot" can be trusted. With the exception of bear. I am going on a plainsgame hunt next june (09) and I am trying to develop a "front third, lower third" mentality.