Taking my M70 .375 scoped with a Kahles CL 2-7x for PG and as a backup for my .450 to Zambia this fall. I hope to also hunt hyena over bait and was thinking of taking a Bushnell 4200 3-9x as a backup scope for the M70 (both are in QR mounts) but am thinking that my Kahles CL 3-10x50 may be a better choice if sitting on bait early morn/late eve for hyena.

Anybody hunt hyena over bait? Is scope selection as critical as I hear it is for leopard?

Thanks,
Andy

This single time hunter to Africa (about 4 weeks) always regretted not being quick witted enough to pick up his PH's Colt Python on a trip back after retrieving a zebra after nightfall. The hyena popped up -and I kind of panicked.( OK, OK, I was startled and didn't react quick enough! Are you Africa old hands satisfied!) Instead of picking up the Colt (he was that close, just maybe 10 feet in front of the LandCruiser which was barely moving along in rough country) I went to reach for the rifle and forgot the pistol which was in my lap. (Yeah, I'm ashamed of that simple fact) I was totally familiar with pistols since I was about 14 and, to this day, I don't know why I reacted as I did -unless it was because the hyena scared me that much that I wanted to use a rifle. (He really literally "popped up" and even my PH admitted that he never saw him before) My PH hollered at me about it afterwards. (He had trusted me with the revolver in the first place) I really had no answer to him. In short, why want to waste time in Africa sitting out to shoot at hyenas unless you want to shoot them at night with a pistol from the truck? They were despised as much as crocs when I was in Africa some 15 years ago. Honestly, when you get to Africa, you may find better uses for your time. (I will admit that the dried skull of a hyena is a kind of out of this world picture. {The jaws are awesome} I took a picture of one and have never had anyone identify what it was back here in the States)

I've killed three hyhena over bait. I think your 2x7 Kahles will do just fine. Either back-up will work with the 3x10 Kahles probably being the best of all of your mentioned scopes for hyhena over bait.

Hyhena hunting does not put as much premium on scope preformance in very low light as leopard hunting, but the better the scope works in low light the higher your chances for success. Leopards demand better shooting and so a better sight picture, hyhenas need a good shot too but the shape of the hyhena seems to draw you to the chest area anyway, and the possible results of needing to follow up a hyhena are not so risky as with a leopard.

For my 375H&H I really do not like a large objective lens scope and prefer straight tube scopes but you need one hell of a good one to compete with a pretty fair large objective lens scope.

The first hyhena I shot was with a 375H&H and a Leupold 1.5x5x20mm scope. A great all around scope for the 375H&H, imo, but this scope is FAR from perfect for low light use. The shot was made as the light came up in the morning. The PH could see hyhenas through his 10x40 binos a good ten minutes before I could begin to make out movement or shapes through the Leupold. I couldn't see the several on the bait, just a mass of darkness. It took his coaching for me to find one standing off to the side several yards and he needed to confirm for me which direction the hyhena was facing. One shot managed to do the trick. I would not have taken that shot on a leopard. About fifteen munutes passed between shot and photo for this one.


The second hyhena was shot with my 375H&H, this time wearing a 1.1x4x24 Schmidt&Bender with the illuminated reticle, which worked just great. This scope was leagues better than the Leupold. There were no hyhenas on the bait, but there was one off to the side about fourty yards or so, seen by the PH with his 10x40 binos. We needed to move out of the blind and around its side to get a shot. After we had done so it was still dark enough that I could not see the bait, the elephant skull the bait was chained to or the hyhena with my naked eye. But I could see it through the scope plenty well enough, but I also would not have taken that shot on a leopard. Ten minutes passed between shot and photo for this one, you can see the benefits or a better scope, its still not light yet, but we're taking photos after the truck arrived and after moving the hyhena too.


The third hyhena was taken at 7:30 in the morning in bright sunlight. We had abandoned the morning hyhena hunt after finding no hyhena on the bait and waiting until light with none showing up and we'd gone on to check a nearby river bed for elephant tracks. We spotted the hyhena as we returned.


Hyhena hunting is fun, its great to hear the changing of the gaurd as diurinal and nocturnal critters change gaurd in the mornings or evenings.

Hope this helps and good luck!

JPK

JPK,

That was an awesome reply and most helpful!!

As you've shot three of the bad boys you must like them as well as I do and thanks for the pictures!

Cheers,
Andy

Hyena are cunning animals and its often the young males that are last to eat as the first light appears. This is where a good European scope comes in handy.
Sometimes you might be lucky enough just to stumble on to one.

I made good use of the illuminated reticle on this Schmidt & Bender 1.5-6x42 for this Hyena.

i shot a couple in zim. one on a leopard bait and another coming into a call to a dead donkey that a lion had killed. in both cases i used a illuminated dot and in both cases it was late at night. I could have shot a dozen in zambia a bit ago over a lion bait, they'd come in as dusk and you could see clearly plus they were right under the tree we were in. the lion did a couple or three in for us

I for one prefer 30mm tubes and objective lens of 42mm or larger for the light gathering ability and my one has a German #4 config with illuminated dot in my Leupold...
I had a 20mm tube Leupold and thought I was looking thru a little 22 rifle scope.. Then my 458 Lott shattered the front lens...
All of my scopes are now 30mm tubes...
The illuminated dot is just like a laser your eye goes right to the dot and it is super fast for aquiring target...

Mike

I'll be trying for hyena next year in Caprivi after the elephant hunt. I will probably buy a Trijicon Accu-point scope for my backup .375, which will also be used for plains game.

Hi,
I shot a brown hyena a few years back using a 9.3x62 with a Kahles 1-6x42 (I can never remember the exact mod or magnification even though it´s one of my favorite rigs) that has a red dot. The dot was perfect for the hunt.

I used a 2-7X32 on a .375 and had plenty of light, granted it was close to a full moon and we were hunting a dry river bed.

I'll never forget the sound of those massive jaws crushing bone. It sends a chill up your spine.

One warning, it's easy to want to move up on your scope to improve your visibility when hunting at night. Just don't forget to pull back when you touch one off or you'll have the telltale half moon scar.

Good luck and keep us posted.

In 1998 on our trip to Zim, I shot hyena over bait by moonlight. That day we had taken my buffalo, and the ph suggested that we save the stomachs and try hunting hyena as he had on another occasion on a full moon like we had.

That afternoon, after taking care of the buffalo, we went to an intersection in the bush where to tracks intersected, the sand was very white, and there was was very little bush. We built a blind from small trees, grass, and the ubiquitous black plastic screen. Three chairs were placed in the blind and gun ports cut in the covering.

After dinner, the ph, a wildlife biologist from RSA who was visiting, and I went to blind area and started dragging the guts behind the Land Cruiser, first up one road and back and then up the other. When we reached the intersection after the first leg, a hyena was already on the trail. We made our other pass, got dropped off and the blind by the ph, who went to park the truck, and settled into the blind.

In a few minutes, the ph was back and the moment he got in the blind he announced that should a lion or lions come in on the scent, approach the blind, or even stick a head in the blind, we were not to shoot because we did not have a lion permit. It was about then that I wish I had stayed back at camp and had another single malt. (In fact, I'd have accepted a little "Dutch courage" right then if it had been offered!)

Very shortly after this chilling announcement, the ph announced in a whisper that the hyena was lying on the far side of the junction checking things out. The full moon made everything look like a photo negative. With his help, I found this very black lump outlined against the white sand. I had with me two 375HH's on the trip, and had selected the CZ 602 because its scope, a Weaver 3x9, was the brighter than my Leupold 2-8 on my M-70; however, in the available light, I could not tell which end of the lump was the "head end." Finally, he passed me his Zeiss 10x40's which were at that time the choice of ph's everywhere it seemed.

Through the Zeiss glasses, I could tell which end was the head, but more importantly, I could see that the "hump" in the lump, was the shoulder. Seeing the cross hairs was no problem, and I aimed at the lungs using the hump as a reference. At the shot, the muzzle flash blinded me; however, the ph announced that I had hit the hyena dead on and it had kicked once and expired.

We dis-assed the blind, and went over to the hyena. It was well and truly dead, and it smelled ten times deader than it was. The ph handed his rifle to the biologist and said to watch out for lions and he ran to get the truck. Because he left without a rifle, I thought that the warning was to add more drama to the situation; however, when I asked the biologist about it, he explained that the ph was deadly serious. That it was night, the scent of the guts were all around, and the lions owed the night.

I had exhanged rifles with the biologist so he look at the CZ, but upon hearing his pronouncement, retrieved it and put a round in the chamber and slipped the safety on. Soon he was back and he and the biologist chunked the hyena in the back of the truck. They would let me touch it because it was the end of the hunt and they opined that it would take a week of hand washings to get the smell off. I believed them.

If you get the chance, try hyenas in the moonlight. It is a poor man's leopard hunt, and really exciting.

Having observed the difference great glass makes, I'd use a high end European scope if I were doing it again and had the money. An illuminated reticle would be nice but not required. Kudude

Kudude, that is a great story. Thanks!

Thanks to everyone else as well, I am really looking forward to this.

What Kudude says about the excitement is true. The evening prior to killing my first hyhena, we pulled the plug on the hunt as it was getting dark because while hyhenas were laughing on one side of the bait, lions were roaring on the other.

We left fearing that one or the other would begin to circle the bait to get down wind and the game would be up - or on depending on the lions' mood.

We did have a lion quota in hand and when we crept back to the blind in the morning, we weren't sure which we might find.

JPK