What is the smallest legal caliber that I can use to brain shoot a hippo when I hunt Zimbabwe this fall ? Also, how small is the target - how accurate must the rifle be ? I'm trying to decide if I can use my Searcy 450/.400 with a scope, or do I need something that will shoot under two inches at 100 meters. Thanks for your help.

These might help:

http://www.shakariconnection.c...g-hippo-on-land.html

http://www.shakariconnection.c...-hippo-in-water.html

http://www.shakariconnection.c...shot-placement2.html

http://www.shakariconnection.c...o-and-crocodile.html

http://www.shakariconnection.c...-shot-placement.html

Well since you ask , 375 is min. the target is about the size of a golf ball. You choose. I don't have a web site with all the balistic info. JME

your target area is about the size of a large orange ...the brain itself is encased in a hard bone and a crack in that bone will kill the hippo

if you can hit a 4x4 inch square at 100 yards you will be fine

A scoped 338 with something like TSX's works well- better than a double for hippo in the water. Many PH's keep a 30-06 handy with appropriate ammo for this task. Hippo on land...9,3 is the legal minimum and for good reason. They are alot harder to bring down than an ele or buff

Frank: I'd recommend something different than the double with a scope...unless you get the chance to take him on land. Go with a bolt action which you shoot accurately and factor into the shot...that the hippo bobs up and down when he's in a river. It may look like he's completely still but there might actually be movement.

Sometimes he moves forward then back, based on the river current. His movements are rhythmic however, so you can time your shot accordingly.

I missed one in Zim in '05---a frontal brain shot. Shot a half inch over him as he bobbed downward. Had the proper rifle but it was bad execution.

Frank - How about a .404 Jeffery?? Ivan is right on about the target size. I shot mine last September on the Zambezi with my 9.3 X 62 using 286 gr. Barnes TSX at just over 100 yards. I was off about one inch of center and the shot completely destroyed the brain box. Two hours later the locals had him secured and waiting for our return. I think accuracy is the key here.

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

yup, not minute of hippo in the water, minute of hippo brain. Big difference.

Speaking of hippo on land, how appropriate is a double? I haven't had the opportunity yet, and don't know how appropriate open sights are, nor how much firepower would be needed. What are typical ranges? Double or magazine big bore?

Hippo with a double on land is very do-able. Just like shooting a buff with a double. I like solids in both barrels for a hippo but softs work too.

Hit him in vital zone and he'll plop right to the ground. Frontal on shot...go right for the brain.

WARNING: When shot is properly placed kill scene gets very bloody.

I wanted to take a double rifle, but will probably end up taking both a SXS and probably a 9.3X62 in a bolt gun. Ed, what will you be taking ? I may use your bolt gun for the hippo, if that's OK with you; then I could get by with only one rifle for the airline to beat on.

The POA is directly between the eyes. Brain him and he will sink immediately and after the gases build up - 30/60 minutes - he will float to the surface and may then be recovered. Miss the brain and you will have a mess to sort out and it can get ugly. Superior Ammunition will load solids for your PG rifle caliber; I always have some along for different applications.

I've made the brain shot with a .375 in Zambia and I've also missed it slightly high and had to then sort him out with a .416 in Tanzania. Much easier and more pleasant to make the brain shot work right off. If Crocs are present, which is likely, a shot placed near the carcass after it surfaces will keep them away while the staff goes into the water to push the Hippo to shore.

Hippo are tremendous animals. Best of luck.

I shot my hippo in the top of the head with my 375. It was about like Shakari's second link for shooting at a hippo in water, which shows the spot as being higher on the head than the eyes. I could not tell where the bullet exited or if it hit the brain when I examined the wound. I would have like to have spent some more time to examine it, but the skinners were in a hurry to get it caped out and remove the panels of skin. We were on the banks of the Zambezi, and crocs were being attracted by the blood. I read somewhere that many hippos die from a concussion of the bullet to the head, rather than the bullet actually penetrating the brain - kind of get knocked out and drowning. If that is the case, it seems the target area would not be as small?

Frank,

I've shot 3 hippo in the water with side brain shots. For my money I would never consider anything other than a scoped bolt rifle that shot around an inch. That 6X setting seemed about right to me for hippo. Even a 30 caliber with a good bullet will work as the penetration does not have to be very deep. I shot two with 300 gr SAF and one with a 300 gr solid. The softs stopped in the brain cavity and the solid shot completely through the head.

Mark

If shooting a Hippo in the water, you're wasting a great potential hunt. They float on the water, you brain them, wait 20-40 minutes for them to float to the surface (hopefully) and tow them to shore. If you just want to "collect" one, that's fine, but in the marshes and reeds, it's more like a Buff or Ele hunt. I'd hate to forgo the opportunity for an exciting close-range encounter.

I'd recommend the .375 w/ Barnes X or similar bullets. Or maybe the 9.3x62 with the same bullets.

I shot mine in the water and got that concussion, cracked brain box, drowning scenario. No follow up shot was available.

I do not recommend it, it's an ugly scene!

On the land I had to pass on one as I could not make the calculations fast enough
[Target = golf ball, scope 1.75 inches above bore, drop + or -, range 5 yards, closing speed of angry Hippo?] I'd say the unscoped double or unscoped anything else for close in hippo on land!

Les

I shot my Hippo on land with my .375 H & H. We tracked him from a mud wallow into the thick bush. I shot him in the brain at 12 yards and he dropped dead. It was in Zimbabwe in the Zambezi Valley. Pretty hair raising. I used a 300 grain Trophy Bonded Solid.

You know people talk alot about hunting hippo on land. I'd like to do it myself but there are only a limited amount of places where this is possible and if your needing to get a lion bait up quickly a land hunt is completley impractical. I personally represent only one outfit that will agree to even try this and that is our own Tanzania Bundu Safaris in Tanzania. Hunting hippo in the brush along the rivers of the Selous is prime sport.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Beller:
I wanted to take a double rifle, but will probably end up taking both a SXS and probably a 9.3X62 in a bolt gun. Ed,

I have used this combo with the 9.3 used for my Hippo Lion bait.

Two hippos first in water at 35 yds. 375H&H TSX lights out DRT. Second got between him and water at daylight. I was on the end and Ph leans over to me and says, " Mike, you are the first line of defense." 20 feet and kiboko was on the ground and he looked angry as hell for I was in his way. Exciting!!!!!
Frank your double for up close and a bolt gun for longer range. 3.5 /10 iluminated German #4 perfect set up for chui and hippo the dot is where to hit him.
X bullets all the way.

Mike

Winchester Model 70, .375 H&H, with a Leupold VX III 2X7, with .300 gr. Trophy Bonded Sledgehammer Solids.

No Vaughn lets get to the 21 century TSX all the way.

Mike

I got to first get through my 1000 years' supply of the Sledgehammer Solids!

Thanks Biebs for TELLING us all about how we wasted our time by taking a Hippo in the water. I know I enjoyed MY hunt and feel most of who posted on this subject did also. It seems it's always "ME and MY WAY" or the highway with some here. You hunt your way I'll hunt mine. That way we are all happy, right?

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
If shooting a Hippo in the water, you're wasting a great potential hunt. They float on the water, you brain them, wait 20-40 minutes for them to float to the surface (hopefully) and tow them to shore. If you just want to "collect" one, that's fine, but in the marshes and reeds, it's more like a Buff or Ele hunt. I'd hate to forgo the opportunity for an exciting close-range encounter.

Larry, I don't think that Biebs meant it that way, even though it did sort of come out that way.

No one who's done it doubts that hunting hippo on land beats hunting them in water hands down. It's far more challenging, dangerous and exciting. As Biebs says, it's very much like an elephant or Cape buffalo hunt.

It's not always possible to hunt a big bull on land (as Mark says above, sometimes it's not practical, given your location and other objectives), but when it is, you owe it to yourself to give it a try.

As for bullets, on body shots, I have used solids (Woodleighs), but I would be happy to use TSXs nowadays - as long as I could drive them fast.

For brain shots, any premium soft or solid will work.

I shot mine with a 458 Win loaded with a 500 grain X bullet. I shot him side on in between the ear and eye at 35 yards in the water.

He died instantly... Surprising to me, he bullet did not exit....

Larry, No harm, no foul...just saying that shooting a Hippo floating out in the water is pretty much the standard these days. As Mark Young said above, there's only a handful of outfitters that can offer such an opportunity to hunt them on land. But a Hippo on land is a big mean animal, and hunting one in the reeds and marsh up close would create a whole different adventure for those that want to hunt a Hippo. Hey, if your hunting Pheasants, would you rather shoot one on the ground in front of the dog, or try to hit it when in flight? I don't care how someone wants to hunt an animal, as long as it's legal. Just didn't want all to think that hunting Hippo was only about the river deal.

I'd have to disagree with that to a large extent.

Pretty much every hippo in Africa comes out the water around dark every night of it's life, spends most of the night feeding on dry land and goes back to the water when it's done feeding, usually an hour or three before dawn.

On cloudy days, they often go and lay on the beach and/or occasionally feed near the water.

It's never easy to take one land pretty much anywhere in Africa but I'd say there's few places it's impossible....... If the client is willing to devote the required time to it.

Biebs - Point taken - no harm no foul here either. I also didn't mean I would never hunt Hippo on Land, would like to try it as well. Until I hunted them didn't know it could be such a challenge and fun no matter how it's done.

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
Larry, No harm, no foul...just saying that shooting a Hippo floating out in the water is pretty much the standard these days. As Mark Young said above, there's only a handful of outfitters that can offer such an opportunity to hunt them on land. But a Hippo on land is a big mean animal, and hunting one in the reeds and marsh up close would create a whole different adventure for those that want to hunt a Hippo. Hey, if your hunting Pheasants, would you rather shoot one on the ground in front of the dog, or try to hit it when in flight? I don't care how someone wants to hunt an animal, as long as it's legal. Just didn't want all to think that hunting Hippo was only about the river deal.

Larry: By the way, I haven't ruled out using the CZ .404 that I bought from you for the hippo hunt. As soon as this blasted winter weather clears a little here in WVa, I'll begin shooting the .404 along with a couple of other rifles that I'm considering taking on the hunt this fall. I like the .404, but I'm really leaning toward taking only a SXS ...... we'll see when I get a chance to start shooting some.

Frank - I know what you mean, sitting in about two feet of snow here in NM, temps in the teens at night. I have a retrofitted .375 H & H that just arrived and really want to start working loads etc for it. May take this one to Moz this year, but the 9.3 X 62 took the Hippo, Croc, Sable and Leopard last September so why change, huh?

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Beller:
Larry: By the way, I haven't ruled out using the CZ .404 that I bought from you for the hippo hunt. As soon as this blasted winter weather clears a little here in WVa, I'll begin shooting the .404 along with a couple of other rifles that I'm considering taking on the hunt this fall. I like the .404, but I'm really leaning toward taking only a SXS ...... we'll see when I get a chance to start shooting some.

I think to answer the question on what type of rifle, it would depend on if you plan to shoot your hippo in the water or on land. I would prefer a 375 scoped for the water, where I would suspect 90% of the hippos are shot. In all the time I have been in Africa, I only saw one hippo out of the water, and by the time we could start a stalk, it was back in the water. Don't know if it was a male or female. We spent several hours laying in the mud glassing hippos in the water and trying to judge a large male, either waiting for it to yawn and show its teeth, or looking for external signs that noted a large male. As to just floating in the water, the hippos I saw were continually bumping up and down, coming up in different spots from where they were before. Sometimes you would lose track of the one you were glassing. Having said that, when you do pick the spot for your shot, I would think it is bigger than a golf ball or an orange, as many hippos drown from concussions rather than a direct shot into the brain.
If you were set on shooting your hippo on land, as has been said, they feed at night, the rest of the time they live in the water. At Kariba, the grasses and reeds were eaten down near the water, and they were going inland at night to feed; there were visible paths were they returned to the lake every morning. If you were to place yourself on one of these paths at first light, I am sure you would have a very exciting hunt when you place your self between one or more hippos returning to the water. In this case I would want the largest double rifle I could comfortably handle and maybe Mark Sulivan standing beside me to back me up! You would certainly have a story to tell your hunting buddies when you get home. Of course you would have to shoot the first hippo you saw, and would have little change to judge trophy quality!

It's not as difficult to sex them in the water as first appears.

Males have lots of scars and hooded eyes. Old ones are often missing tails and ears etc.

Females look like they're wearing pink spectacles and have slightly popping out eyes as though someone has just pinched their arse in church.

You gotta know what to look for!

I talked to Pierre von Tonder in Dallas, whom with I've hunted before in the Selous in Tanzania. He said he had a client late last season, during the droughts, that shot a Hippo that was 14 km from the river. He had found a rather large puddle while foraging, and had made it his home. The puddle was now drying up, and the Hippo was starting to show the signs of blistering skin and dehydration, so it was a timely kill.

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
It's not as difficult to sex them in the water as first appears.

Old ones are often missing tails.

You gotta know what to look for!

Sorry, I did not see his tail until after I shot him! Or any of the other hippo's tails that were bobbing up and down in the water! And then the PH cut it off and threw it in the river! Something about the trackers thought it would never rain again unless you cut the hippo's tail off and throw it in the river! Don't know what in the heck that is supposed to mean?? Anyway, thanks for the info!

Frank, present plan is the Ruger #1 9.3X74R. I think I have some solids for it.

quote:

Originally posted by RBHunt:

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
It's not as difficult to sex them in the water as first appears.

Old ones are often missing tails.

You gotta know what to look for!

Sorry, I did not see his tail until after I shot him! Or any of the other hippo's tails that were bobbing up and down in the water! And then the PH cut it off and threw it in the river! Something about the trackers thought it would never rain again unless you cut the hippo's tail off and throw it in the river! Don't know what in the heck that is supposed to mean?? Anyway, thanks for the info!

The eyes and the scars are the biggest give away.

Once you get to look at the eyes of a few, you'll see how evident it is.

given a choice in the water a good 06 will sure do the job, given on land i think something like a 106 would be fitting. that said i did shoot one on land with a 470 and a soft (cause thats all i had) and shot him in the back of the head, which did indeed kill him

Walking slowly, parting the reeds with the barrels of a 577, listening, smelling, looking, waiting. Oh damn...just woke up. Great dream !!!!

sounds like a wet dream.