What is considred a far shot on a hippo?Mine was 111 yards,is that a normal range to shoot a hippo?How far was yours?Or how close.

White North

Mine was a good bit less than that, probably between 60-80 yds. I took my hippo the easy way, laying on my belly in the mud, rifle braced on a log, and waited for a big bull to bob up and down in the water of Lake Kariba. Hit him in the head right between the eyes, don't think I penetrated the brain cavity, he probably suffered a concussion and drowned. He floated to the top in about an hour after feeding on reeds and grasses the night before. I really wanted to shoot one on land, but was not able to do that. I imagine this is how most hippos are taken in Africa today. Maybe one day I will be able to go back and face one on land and take him out close and personal.

RBHUNT

Mine was half out of the water.I got it in the luwanga river,shot the brain,with a 375H&H using 300g a-frame soft point. I now have the skull at home with a bullet hole to the brain cavity.
That arises another question,did you use soft or solid?

White North

I used a solid. I have the skull in my garage, there is not a hole in the brain cavity, so I am pretty sure he suffered a concussion and drowned. I stuck my finger in the bullet hole, and it must have just creased his head. Not the way I wanted it to happen, but that's the way it did.

I think all the hippos I have shot have been between about 15 yards to 80 yards.

I have shot crocs from about 40 yards to a measured 210 yards.

In hunting, one sometimes have to take whatever shot is offered in the circumstances.

On land, you can stalk them and get close, which is where the challenge and the fun come into the picture.

You can't generally get as close to a hippo on land as you can to an elephant, but you can get close.

I shot my two at 30 and 35 yards. Both knew exactly where I was and one was staring right at me.

I love to hunt hippo on land.

This is the one that was staring at me.

]

Mine was shot at about 70 yards right between the eyes. He went down and we waited for him to bob to the surface. Three days later we were still seaching for him. So, we relocated the pod and I shot another big bull. This one did the same thing, except two hours later he bobbed to the surface. When we got him up on the bank, we noticed two separate bullet holes. It was the very same hippo! The hippo's head was angled slightly up on the first shot, and the bullet, upon entering the hide, ricocheted up, following the skull without penetrating, and exited at the top/back of the head, apparently giving the big bull nothing more than a bad headache. The second shot, three days later, went directly into the skull, through the brain and out the back.

Use Enough Gun

Must have been 3 long days,you must have been happy they let you get another one,and they must have been happier you shot the same one.The next time I get one I hope it is on dry land.

Saeed

I wish I can get the same number of hippos you have gotten.

Mrlexma

I envy you,you lucky you got your hippo on land.Did you get it with MS?
White North

It was definitely a long three days. We poled the entire area in two boats with long poles, dragged a cable between a boat and a vehicle and did various and sundry other things to see if we could find him. I even tried to bribe the trackers with some extra cash to dive to the bottom and probe for him. However, the crocs were too close and visible for any of them to take the chance. Yes, the idea that I didn't have to pay a second trophy fee and then eventually ended up with the same big bull was gratifying and amazing.

Now that I recall, it was probably 2 hours or maybe more before mine came to the surface. PH said he should surface within an hour because it was mid morning, and his stomach would be full of grass, and that was what brought them to the surface. We waited a while then the trackers poled the area where he went down, they found him on the bottom, but thought the other hippos may have been standing on him, so we took a boat back to camp, had lunch, and when we got back he was floating. When we took ropes and pulled him ashore, then the crocs started showing up. I fired a few shots to keep them away.

I took mine last week on land up in the Caprivi at about 15 yards with a side brain shot...DRT. I used a 416 Rigby and a Woodleigh soft. Hippo on land is one of the great, often missed, hunting opportunities of Africa.

I haven't ever shot one. Yet another sore point on my last hunt!!

My two hippos where shot at 35yds and 25 feet. I used X bullets with brain shots. really turns them off.

I agree chasing them on land just takes patience and finding tracks and knowing where one can find little pools of water.
Definately exciting.

Mike

quote:

I agree chasing them on land just takes patience and finding tracks and knowing where one can find little pools of water.
Definately exciting.

Mike

If I ever do get the chance to hunt hippo this how I'd like to do it. Whenever I mention it to my PH's they tend to look at me like I'd just grown a third eye. I've gathered that there are few PH's who want to hunt hippo in that manner.

It is just so hard to find them out of water. All the years I have hunted, I think I may have seen one hippo on dry land. I guess you have to get up early in the morning when they are returning from feeding that night.

quote:

Originally posted by white north:
Mrlexma

I envy you,you lucky you got your hippo on land.Did you get it with MS?
White North

No. I shot both of mine in the southern Selous with excellent PHs who believe, as I do, in stalking in close, shooting straight, and giving the animal absolutely no choice in how he is to die.

My first shot was about 80 yds, side brain. Knocked him out, but the rest of the pod scrambling over him woke him up and he headed for the Zambezi. I didn't have an angle for followup shot, but PH put some body shots in him.

These pissed him off and he came back at us. My second shot at about 60 yds found the brain and he was down for good.

Any of you take your hippo skin back home?If so what did you do with it? Next time I get one I want to get the whole back side and get it tanned to put on my couch.

White North