Yesterday I killed two very young springbuck rams. Real “sopkoppiesâ€, as they are known in South Africa. This term applies to a springbuck that is just a few months old, with the horns still only about 4†long and curled forward, somewhat like those of a mountain reedbuck. Even though it was a part of a culling exercise, I actually “hunted†them, by stalking and crawling in very short grass and with little cover and help from the terrain to very close, much closer than the minimum required for a good shot. The first one was taken with a good headshot at 50 yards, no problem! Immediately thereafter, and from the same group, the next one I tried for was very skittish and unsure of where the sound came from and moved at the critical moment, resulting in a shot through the base of the ear. Even though it could clearly be seen through the telescope that it was just a “prickâ€, it was in fact wounded. My ethical rule of “when it is wounded all considerations of saving the meat or minimise damage to the trophy gives way to the requirement to dispatch it quickly†kicked in. I then took a shot at him running directly away from me! He dropped on the spot, stone dead.

The details about caliber, bullet, muzzle velocity, distance, bullet entry spot, bullet performance can all be given, but are not considered to be really relevant for this argument. Fact is that on closer examination, and after skinning and butchering it, I concluded that the animal could not reasonably be expected to die in a banflop from that shot. Yet it did.

Experience tells us that a wounded animal is filled with adrenalin, and can then cling to life for a long time. Even though this particular young animal was only very lightly wounded, it was at least possibly full of adrenalin. This one bangflopped from a shot that did not even touch any vital organ!

This got me thinking about other shots and experiences over 50 years of hunting for many different species in many places, both by myself and friends as meat hunters going for young tender animals, and as a Professional Hunter guiding clients on trophy hunts. With a lot of hunting, one unfortunately inevitably have some wounded animals. I always try to do a “post mortem reconstruction†to determine what went wrong, and how the wounding could/should have been prevented. So, I have done a lot of thinking about how to prevent wounding animals, and what way to best dispatch them once wounded. As a PH my clients shoot mostly at old trophy animals, so I have a fair experience of dealing with such old wounded animals. I came to the conclusion that with few exceptions the rule summarized in the heading applies, be it from the first shot, or after being wounded.

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

Question:
Young animals succumb easily: Old ones cling tenaciously to life. Is this true?

Choices:
No, I do not agree or my experiences do not support the statement.
I agree or my experiences leads to similar conclusions.
There are about as may exceptions to the rule as there are cases that support the rule.