Gents,
I viewed some of the video clips for buff and other hunts,stored on this nice forum.Most apparently show Saeed as the hunter.I am impressed by his no-wait attitude ,seems there is never much time to "study" the animal or wait for perfect positioning.For off hand shots at 100+ y ,pretty good snap shooting.
I am viewing these clips to remedy any deficiencies I have as a North American hunter.Comparing ,I would say I usually have time to study the animal - often at length -for its trophy quality,almost never shoot a running animal and wait for a decent presentation.So I am a "deliberate" shooter.
I have a fair guess that this attitude doesnt get me into meat in Africa.So I am training my reflexes to use bird hunting mentality.
I noticed a fair amount of shots were taken with the quarry behind or in some brush.If this is correct,is it the higher bullet weight that enables thru-brush shots?
Are these type of shots "routine"?

2: the apparent lack of time for trophy evaluation /mulling?
do folks go with the PH's command ,"shoot"- and fill the ticket.Or is this just an artifact of the video clips.

thanks for setting me straight
sheephunter

Dear Sheep Hunter,


Being a fellow North American hunter ( and sheep hunter) and former outfitter I have noticed some differences with African hunting.
1) Game is almost never in the open, always behind brush or tall grass.
2) North American hunters have a difficult time seeing African game because they always expect them to be in the open.
3) Long distance,methodical observation is seldom possible.
4) Hunter must be ready to shoot quickly when opportunity presents it self. ( Not be looking through his binoculars when the PH says "shoot!"
5) Because of thich brush and tough large animals, a big, slow, heavy bullet is more effective than fast light ones. (.375H&H is perfect)


In summary: Quite different hunting, but don't be disuaded. Hunting Africa, especially in the wilderness destinations, is a hunting adventure you need to experience.
Jim

Sheephunter,

First off Saeed has shot an extremly large amount of buff..As for the distances I really do not think they were beyond 100yds and even closer..Yes those big 300 thru 500gr bullets drive thru the brush and do there damage...from past experience one depends of the Ph for trophy quality..You have got to remember their are oxpeckers and sometimes 100's of eyes watching the approach when you get close to a herd of buf..To signal danger...One must know where the Ph is looking and be prepared to shoot smoothly and quickly when the chance presents itself...High velocity is not the answer but somewhere around 2400fps...and a couple of hundred feet/per sec either way.. IMO

Mike

You are correct in that a deliberate shooter may miss many chances in Africa and damn near all the chances while whitetail hunting here in Missouri as well. I have a group that I hunt with in Wyoming and they travel back to our farm for whitetail and the first time they have a heck of a time with deer. They're always pulling up with binocs, while the deer heads off. Shooting through brush isn't a big deal if the animal is close behind the brush, the problem comes when you're trying to shoot a 150 yards through tree branches 75 yards away. If the brush is 10-15 yards in front of him, it won't deflect far enough to cause a problem normally. At least with my style of shooting offhand I lock on the animal and shoot as soon as the sight settles, the longer you attempt to hold the wobbles set in, as well as the game may move.

Gentelmen, there is no such thing as a brush bucking bullit, even a 500 NE 570 gr bullet will be deflected by brush. The reason the films look like the animal is being shot through bush is, because the camera is seldom looking from the same point as the shooter! You have to pick a hole in that bush to shoot through. The Brush bucking bullet is an old time wives tale, and is not available! SORRY!

sheephunter,

By the time we get into a position to shoot, the decision has already been made that the animal is a good trophy.

Once that small point is taken care off, I take the first opportunity I get to shoot. In Africa, you might only get one chance, and if you miss it, you might spend the rest of the day following that animal without see it again.

Regarding shooting through brush.

Anytime you do this you are taking a chance of deflecting your bullet. Frankly, I think most of it is sheer luck that the bullet gets through.

I've had a bullet deflected by a small twig no thicker than your finger. And I've had bullets that have gone through an 8" tree and killed the animal behind it.

I've shot buffalo ranging in distance from about 10 yards to over 300 yards.

One of the most important things to remember is that you have to know for sure what animal the PH wants you to shoot.

Apparently, sometimes this can creat all sorts of confusion.

As others have said, all bullets will be deflected by branches unless hit dead on, such as the tree example. Unless an animal of a lietime, better pass it up. But sometimes it happens because a branch isn't noticed at the time. The problem is that it is never known how much deflection will occur.



The first gemsbok I shot at took off in high gear, apparently unhurt, because it was. The bullet had hit a thumb size branch about half way to the gemsbok.



A story on the deflection of bullets should be practiced at home. Then, if you miss some animal, what better excuse could there be?

Sheephunter,
As said above, if you hit a twig, your bullets will deflect. I missed my eland on one shot because I hit a twig about the size of your finger. Eland are huge and I was shooting 300gr softs in a 375H&H. There couldn't be a better "brushbusting" bullet than that. That's why I took to keeping my scope set at 3X all the time. It still gave me good field of view and I could pick out the clear lanes to shoot thru.
Also unless you are a better judge of game than your PH (I certainly am not) when he says "shoot" you pull the trigger, as long as you know which one he is talking about!

My only two (known) experiences with brush deflection occurred in Namibia in 2001. In one instance I thought I had a clear shot but the twig was out of focus and I got a clean miss on an impala that was not more than 50 or 60 yards away, the twig being 15 or 20 yards in front of the animal. One of the bushmen spotted the burned twig as we walked up. The load was a 225 gr TBBC in .340 Wby. In the second instance the bullet hit and killed a warthog, but entered the thorax about 6 or 8 inches off the aimpoint down almost as low as you could hit and still kill in a shot taken at no more than 15 yards at a waterhole. The bullet was deflected by a stalk of grass. The load was a 200 gr Barnes X in a .300 Win Mag and the bullet struck the warthog fully sideways, did not expand, but tumbled across the chest and managed to wreck his lungs and heart.

Lessons learned:

ANYTHING that touches the bullet after it leaves the muzzle will deflect its path AND its orientation. It doesn't take much brush to create a lot of deflection and mis-orientation. "Brush busting" is a myth.

In Zim I shot elephant, buff and Kudu through brush. In fact, the elephant was shot through a tree top (short tree).

Those are some great questions.

A couple of thoughts from my perspective...

- I'd guess most of the time they had been following the animals for a while before the shot and have probably already gotten glimpses so it's probably not happening quite as quickly as you think.
- The PHs are AMAZING when it comes to judging trophy quality. It's a little different from North American game in that African game has just one beam with no forks. It's a bit easier to judge than trying to judge an elk with 5 or 6 points on a side. Most of the PHs have grown up with these animals and know them intimately and they know a good one when they see them. I'm pretty much the same way with deer, elk, and pronghorn. I can see an elk out of the corner of my eye and I instantly know what's there (5 point, 6 point, or a rag horn...) It's a strange "brain thing" and my PH was the same with his game.
- The shots and the game are a lot closer than you are used to... or at least a lot closer than I was used to.
- It's damn thick! Especially early in the season so yes.. it's common to shoot through a screen of brush. I had been warned about this so I was prepared but had I not been thinking about it for a few months I would have been very uncomfortable with some of the shots presented. It all worked out well for me.
- You need to be very specific with your PH about what you want when it comes to trophy quality. For instance 'My minimum is a 40 inch Sable' and yes... when he says shoot.... you shoot. He's going to be right.