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Insisting on carrying your rifle before the game is sighted and the sticks are being set is idiocy and the sign of a first-timer.

That's your opinion and one I dismiss. This is purely a personal choice and if I can't carry my rifle all day then I don't need to be out there in the first place. I carry an eight pound rifle all day, every day during elk season in near vertical terrain at times. I have no interest in having anyone carry my rifle when I pay for a hunt, and since I paid for it nobody will.

I just did my first hunt in Namibia, and nobody offered to carry my rifle, or my 60 year old father's. I can only imagine the look that would have appeared on my PH's face if I'd asked him to carry my rifle all day so that I wouldn't look like a first-time.

I found it a thrill to carry my rifle while walking through the african bush.It's not something I get to do everyday(live in dreamland).I like rifles and hunting.Letting someone carry the rifle for you may improve your shooting, if you arms are very tired.However it may also be detrimental because carrying your own rifle will let your arms warm up and shoot better. When I am at the range and want to get some offhand practice with my 308 and I am lucky to be alone,I will shoot around 150 rds in about a half hour.The first half will be the least accurate and as my arms START to get tired,I will start shooting my best.A rifle with a 30 inch Palma barrel is quite heavy.

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Idaho Sharpshooter, if it works for you fine, but I hardly think you have any right to call the rest of us idiots.

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Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
shit, most of you guys couldn't pack a gallon of milk around the grocery store for an hour without having to set it down a couple times. Buzz Charlton and Myles McCallum are well respected PHs and have been at it for a dozen years. They concurred that a man who packs his own rifle all day is a detriment to a successful shot or a quick followup shot. I tend to take their word over the group here. I will carry an empty gallon milk jug to Reno with me, and hope to meet one of you who will fill it and carry it for ten minutes without having to set it down.

Rich
Buffalo Killer

Well, gee. I sorta defended your decision the first time you posted because I've hunted in Makuti and it is rough and open country and it was your first safari. If you were going to have someone carry your rifle, Makuti would be the place. Excellent visibility, some rough going, hot as Hades when you were there, which was not long after I was. Though I carry my own rifle, I even had a tracker grab mine on a couple of the steeper decents in loose rocks covered with slick grass, as much to save the rifle from damage as to save my butt from damage. But I've also hunted with Buzz, in Chete, and he never suggested that I have a tracker carry my rifle. I've heard him suggest it in his DVD, but I guess on the ground he figures some are up to it and some maybe not.

If it works for you, that's great, but it isn't the only choice.

JPK

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
shit, most of you guys couldn't pack a gallon of milk around the grocery store for an hour without having to set it down a couple times. Buzz Charlton and Myles McCallum are well respected PHs and have been at it for a dozen years. They concurred that a man who packs his own rifle all day is a detriment to a successful shot or a quick followup shot. I tend to take their word over the group here. I will carry an empty gallon milk jug to Reno with me, and hope to meet one of you who will fill it and carry it for ten minutes without having to set it down.

Rich
Buffalo Killer

Is this a joke???

Did you have the trackers wipe your ass for you too?

The reason they suggested someone else carry your gun was they probably because the feared for their own safety.

I'm relatively new here. And I haven't ever hunted in Africa or any place other than my home state (Oregon Cascades), nor do I have a desire to do so. I've hunted some of the roughest country that you may ever encounter. Jack O'Connor once said that hunting in the Oregon Cascades was the roughest hunt that he ever went on.

In my opinion, if you can't carry your own rifle all day, from dawn to dusk, you should find another sport.

I have carried a rifle with this method. An old friend had shown me the method after returning from a Brown Bear hunt in Alaska in the 70s. he said the guide would not allow him to use a sling in the thick stuff unless he used this method, as it was the fastest to get the rifle in use. You simply push the rifle outward with your left arm into position, and grab the grip with your right and your ready to go. If you also push your left elbo out to the left hard, the sling stays over the elbo for stability. Works great and is extremely fast.