This question is directed to those who have had hands on experience using a SHOT GUN for the little antelope Dik Dik, Duiker, ect.
What type of loads,shot,guns and chokes did you use? What combination gave the best results with the least amount of damage to the mount?
Thanks

Dave, Although I mainly use the .223 for pygmy antelope, I have used the shotgun for many years on small game and varmints. Recently in Zim I used it to take Genet to Jackal sized varmints. On small fry antelope, one should consult his PH and then use common sense if you've had a lot of experience with a scattergun. I once used a 12ga w/00 Buck on a Caracal that was perched about 50 feet in the top of a tree. I did not want to use this combination. Doing as instructed, I felled the cat with one shot: 9 pellets going in and 9 pellets going out. This was overkill and I had my .223 with me. However, we were using dogs on that hunt and if the cat had fallen out with any fight left in him, he would have been torn to pieces in a matter of seconds. My point would beg to differ: 1. careful aim of my .223 would most likely killed him just as dead as the 00buck. 2. If not dead, chances are great the Tom would have held on until he fell dead. 3. and foremost, all you have to do is put the dogs on a lead and tie them off, holding only one dog back in the ready in case the cat bolts upon hitting the ground. Apparently no one had ever thought about this. Having successfully guided 300 wild boar kills in my younger days, this was a given anytime we bayed a hog. My point is, match the choke and shot to the animal. Normally, #2's will take out any pygmy antelope at reasonable ranges, choked properly. At 40 yards with a full choke, you should have no problems taking out Steenbok or Blue Duiker with this combo. Bush/Common Duiker would be a mistake unless you get lucky. BB's or 000buck would be better but #1, know the gun, choke and load. It's the excepted method in some African hunting but give me a .223 anyday. Aside from the possibility of crippling an animal, lead pellets have the nasty habit of ruining cape/skins and knocking off horn(s). Wouldn't it be a shame to bust off the horn of a top 10 or record Suni? Best of luck on your venture.
David

I have seen a shotgun used, mostly on dik dik, and I must say, inside 40 yards, using AAA shot, it is deadly. The only time I saw it "fail" was when the client willingly aimed for the rump, as he told me afterwards, because he wanted to limit damage to the cape/ horns. We lost that one. His second one was taken at less than 20 yards, and believe this if you will, he again aimed far back, and was lucky to spine it! Some people just never listen.

quote:

and foremost, all you have to do is put the dogs on a lead and tie them off, holding only one dog back in the ready in case the cat bolts upon hitting the ground.

David, I would like you to come and try that on a leopard!

The only pygmy antelope I have shot with shotgun is blue duiker, and only due to the hunting method (driven). It worked fine. Distance 25-20 meters, 12 gauge and AA shot if I remember right.
I would suggest using a small caliber rifle for most of them, mainly to avoid scattering a horn. In my experience the shotgun won`t damage the skin, unless very short range. But the small caliber rifle, like .22`s and 6mm`s won`t create to big an exit either. I have shot grysbok and dik-dik with .223 with no problems. And on bush duiker, klipspringer, oribi and the bigger of the tiny`s I have used .30-06 actually. I haven`t had any problems with damaged skins, but I might have been lucky. Use a .223 or something and try to avoid hitting directly on the shoulder, and you should be fine. And a good taxidermist can handle more or less anything you bring in, without replacing the cape..

I haven`t hunted the varoius species more than once each, so please take my experiences according to this. But I have taken most of the pygmies as described above.

Who exately are the small five?
So far I´ve got the duiker and the steenbuck, but got different answers what the other three are

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Originally posted by Arild Iversen:
Who exately are the small five?
So far I´ve got the duiker and the steenbuck, but got different answers what the other three are

Arild,

May I predict that your perfectly innocent question is going to cause a bit of a match between the Namibia guys and the rest in camps. Most will happily add red and blue duiker to the list. Then the Namibia guys will add dikdik while the South Africans will add Cape Grysbok. Some northern guys will want to add Sharpe's grysbok. Yet others may have something else endemic to their particular region. I have not yet seen any real "official listing" of the tiny 5. If there is some such official list, I'd like a reference to it.

This thread may become very interesting from here onwards!

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

quote:

Who exately are the small five?
So far I´ve got the duiker and the steenbuck, but got different answers what the other three are

There is no absolute answer to this, as Andrew has stated. It is what you want it to be, there is also the Tiny Ten, made even more famous by Peter Flack, but even then, it is sort of what you like it to be, as there are so many answers.

Some of the lists also includes antelope that I personally think is a bit too big for pygmies.. Like vaal rhebok, oribi and mt. reedbuck..
They`re fun to hunt and beautiful creatures, but a tad to big for the tiny`s I think..

What do you guys think?

I hunt the deep forest of Western Africa a lot. We "call" in the duikers. you can get up to 8 species, the largest of which is the yellow back coming in. I have also had golden cat and leopard come in. I use a 12 gauge single shot full choke. I use #2 bird shot or #4 buck shot and it works well. You can use a small rifle but will lose a lot of game as it can go incredibly far with a lot of lead and tracking them is very difficult unless there is blood as they are so small.
Camshaft