What is the best shot you ever made during a safari?

I have two. The first was on a Tsesebee in Zim during a 2003 safari. I made a 200 plus yard frontal shot using my friend's Winchester M-70 loaded with 200 grain Norma bullets. I had never fired the rifle and ask John Harris before pulling the trigger what his zero was for the gun. The shot landed exactly where I intended it to and the animal flipped over backward. The second was on a Blue wildebeeste running flat out crossing in front of me about 40 yards. I hit it right behind the shoulder on a slight quartering away angle with the first barrel of my 450 NE #2 loaded with 480 grain Woodleigh soft and nearly knocked it down. The wildebeeste and I recovered in about the same time and I hit it again high in the shoulder as he was getting back in 4th gear with a 480 grain solid causing one of the most spectacular nose dives and flips I have ever witnessed. Both shots landed where I intended them to go.

I won't talk about the kudu shot I muffed at 25 yards or the mountain reedbuck I missed with John's rifle as those shots seem to have faded from my memory.

Perry

Fun thread. hmmm. 110 yarder on a quartering away warthog in afterburner. Shot entered between the last rib and exited center of chest. 300 Weatherby with 180 Partitions. WEnt ass-over-teakettle. My best "pressure" shot was an "insurance" shot on a "hipped" eland at 175 yards. Took the shot offhand and hit him at the juncture of the shoulder/neck with a 300gr Swift out of a Model 70 375 H&H. Let's hear more! jorge

Mine was a 150 yard running shot on a wounded hartebeest. My son had hit him the day before at 10:30 and he jumped out of a ditch running at 1:30 the next afternoon, the PH shot behind him, then I hit the trigger and heard the whack, and he staggered for a bit and went down. We'd worked hard enough for him I was sure glad to see him hit the dirt. I can still remember the rifle swinging by him and hearing the whack of a .375 bullet hitting him, sounded like you swung a shovel against a sack of horse feed.

My best shot was on Kudu. We were shooting Kudu on a friends farm for biltong. We spooked up a small herd and I took two off hand when they were on a dead run with my custom 375 Mdl 70. My all time greatest shot was on an Elephant. Face to face at 20 meters with the same 375. His ears were out and he was sniffing the air but couldn't see us. The PH and Trackers talked me into taking a frontal shot. I took the shot and you can't believe the rush when he promptly sat down. Of course he got just as promptly back up wheeled around and was gone. I got a second shoulder shot in but he made it to the park boundary and we lost him as we couldn't follow. It will always be my greatest shot because it proved to me I could stand eye to eye and TAKE the shot.

My best shot was a poachers dog at 180m with a borrowed 30-06, unkown load and plenty of luck!

I think everybody was a bit suprised!

Vaal Rhebok in South Africa quartering away from me.

The range was over 320 yards and the wind was blowing very badly. I held more than a foot into the wind and the bullet took him just in front of the left hip and exited at the base of the throat. I was using an old Remington Model 700 ADL in 7mm Mag and a 160 gr Nosler Partition.

Mac

A charging ele cow at 16 yards in the jess of the Zambezi Valley with my beloved Sterling Davenport .416 Rigby. Brained her and she dropped on her nose. Might make Buzz's new elephant video...

quote:

Originally posted by MAC:
Vaal Rhebok in South Africa quartering away from me.

The range was over 320 yards and the wind was blowing very badly. I held more than a foot into the wind and the bullet took him just in front of the left hip and exited at the base of the throat. I was using an old Remington Model 700 ADL in 7mm Mag and a 160 gr Nosler Partition.

Mac

Just goes to prove once again that you dont need a 10k rifle to be successful in Africa or anywhere else for that matter.

350 yard shot on a trophy Black Springbok. They start to look very small out at that distance, but it had horns of 13 inches and I couldn't pass it up. One shot with the .300 WSM.

Three shots, all on my first trip to RSA.

I had used Nosler Protected Point bullets by mistake - they were too tough for the 2600 fps 308 and were not opening. It made for a miserable trip as my first couple of shots had no apparent affect and the crew thought I could not shoot.

I finally took an offhand shot at a warthog facing me at 80 yards and he again ran off without sign of impact. Snapshot at his disappearing ass was a clean miss. Running down his path (no blood) I found him tits up. The bullet had entered the right front chest and exited the left ham. 30 caliber in and out, even though it had crunched ribs going in. Not that fantastic of a shot, but at least it proved the bullets weren't vaporizing!

Second shot was at a running warthog. I saw him disappear into the brush and the PH pointed to an apparently arbitrary window into a 10 foot clearing on a completely different angle and said shoot him when runs across there. Sure enough he appeared and I popped him broadside right through the heart.

The last shot of that trip was at a rabbit-sized varmint sunning himself 300 yards off and up on top of a 200 ft cliff. Bingoed his butt from a sitting position.

I'll never forget the kudu that ran off (first shot of the hunt) and the very nice bull wildebeast that I never pulled the trigger on because he wasn't giving me a perfect broadside presentation. Turned out to be the only wildebeast and kudu I saw on the trip!

About 97.5% of them have been good, but those aren't the interesting ones. As for the rest, well . . .

As Michaeleen Flynn once said, "I could tell ya blood-curdlin' stories about 'em, but . . . me t'roat, me t'roat . . ."

Smacked a buffalo at bad breath range with a .470NE during a charge. Dumping his butt right DRT with a 500gr Barnes solid.

(The one in the picture as a matter of fact.)

Smacked a black wildebeest at 218 lazered yards with same .470NE on a bet.

Got totally lucky one time with a blessbok runing hard for the heavens straight across

passing at 180 yards with a .308. he rolled up into a nice little ball and used his nose for a dirt break. the round took him through the shoulders and busted his neck. Very dramatic. My wife was watching and didn't even make a comment. She thought that's how it was supposed to be.

Of course the reason he was running is because I had screwed up on the first standing ahot at like 80 yards!

I'd rather be lucky than good.

Running warthog off handed at 240 yards with 300rum 180gr factory loads. First shot spined him just in front of the hind quarters second shot took out the lungs.

Mine was a 53" Kudu shot at 185 yards with a 375JDJ contender pistol. Longest shot I ever made with a handgun and it was a one shot kill.

I will never in my life forget my best shot. It was in RSA this past june. I was using a rem. 700 in .308 using a 168gr. barnes tsx bullet. I shot a kudu from the top of a large rocky outcrop. He was at about 350yds. when he stopped and I let him have it. To my amazement he dropped dead in his tracks. The trackers and my ph were hooping and hollering to no end. It was my alltime best shot. I stayed in a state of uphoria for what seemed like a lifetime!

Two shots come to my mind.

The one was in 2000, I was hunting for a young Kudu bull or a cow. I found 2 bulls, but the wind was in their favovour, I backtracked to aproach them with the wind in my face. I had a good idea where to ambush them. I waited under a tree, hoping my guess was good. The wind brought the smell of a Mopani tree to me and I started dreaming away, next the Kudu was standing about 20 m from me, I could not move or he would be gone. He turned and walked in behind a bush. I thaught that was it. The next I saw the horns moving behind the bush and I got myself ready, he walked out in a magnificent stride like only a Kudu can do, at that moment I hit him in the chest, he went backwards head over heels, fell on the ground and up it came again. I found him 30 m away tucked in under a bush, perfect heartshot. I shot him with my friends CZ in 375

My second shot was a Springbok at 300+m in Namibia. My 308 was zeroed at 200 m. The Springbok faced me and I aimed at the point of his nose. He dropped at the shot, the entrance wound was about 8 inches lower than where I aimed. It was the longest shot I have ever taken. Kinda felt good afterwards.

Charging Leopard at 6 yards and at night. (Masailand 2005)
Charging Buff at 7 yards (Masailand 2005)
Jumping Lion at slightly less than 20 yards. (Selous 2005)
All previously wounded and all shot in the face. The Leopard & Buff were both shot simultaneously by myself and another PH (Colin Kirkham) who works for us. The Lion was shot just outside camp. The client had asked me to shoot on report as it was so close to a camp full of staff and at his shot, it bounced straight up in the air and I hit him at the top of his bounce......

.... Funny thing is when I try to replay the moment of the shot in my mind, - It's just a blank. I remember the tracking and I remember the animal laying dead but I don't remember the bit in between....... weird huh?

The best shot I've ever seen is Jim Nixon who I saw take a warthog at 450 yards & a hartebeest at 400 yards.

Equally good was a Brit client who I saw take Zebra and waterbuck at 450 yards.

I gotta preface my great shot story with the following. I've killed about 50 animals in 40 + years of hunting. None of the above animals were shot further than 50 yards. RSA last June. Told the PH my lack of experience at long range shots. He says shoot this silhouette at 100 meters offhand. I do, he checks and says I would have killed the animal.
That helped my confidence. Shot 10 animals with 11 shots. 80 to 175 yards off sticks and offhand. The best shot, a black springbuck at 300 meters. We were in the bottom of a draw and the PH spots him up near the top of the ridge. He says "take him", I says "are you nuts, he's a mile away", He says "no, 300 meters". As luck would have it, the only plant without thorns seen in 10 days of hunting was a tree, about 3 feet to my right. My left hand knuckles against the trunck of the tree, my right foot in a hole, my left foot up on a rock, the crosshairs on the animal. Here I stand, in an unstable position, sighting on an animal half hidden in thorn bushes. I got into this position expecting to pass on the shot. When I had the animal in my sights, my opinion changed from doubt to confidance. Quick mental calculations: 300 meters, 20 to 30 degrees up, quartering towards me, crosshairs at juncture of neck and top of back, lower vertical hair right side of heart, lungs, pull trigger. Dropped like he was poleaxed. Total elapsed time, about 10 seconds.

Dave

I have two, the first was a neck shot on a running Gemsbok, the second was a 15 yard shot on a lioness.

My best was at 30 yards on a running Steenbok with my .280. Absolutely the luckiest shot ever - running and caught him in the neck.

My best shot was at a little thomsons gazelle in the Masailand. It was a 250 yard shot as he paused just long enough to get the cross hairs on him. He ran about 10 yards after I whacked him through the heart.
I think my best shot ever, however, was last week. We have too many raccoons on my farm and they are a real menace to my quail. Last Saturday night I was checking my duck pond to see if it was full (I grow corn in it during the summer before refilling it) and saw some glowing yellow eyes high in an oak tree across the pond. At the top of this tall oak up on a hill was a 'coon. In the darkness all I could see were eyes glowing in a hand-held spotlight, yet I still pulled out a little .22 rifle. With one hand holding the light and the other holding the rifle, I'll admit I was shocked when that coon fell from the top of that far away tree with one shot from the little gun...I was glad my son was there to witness it as no one would believe the story otherwise--including me....

The next one.

Regards,

Terry

8 oz. of amarulla in a water glass at 8:00 pm in Hoedspruit with an Italian PH in 2002.

Urdubob

All of my Africa shots this summer were one shot kills, but here in Alaska, I had a couple of interesting moments. One was while bear baiting. We just peaked in on a bait stand right at dark and a large cinnamon bear was leaving. My friend wasn't ready for a shot so we quickly got him in the stand. He was nervous being by himself, but I had another stand to check. I waited for about five minutes and decided to head back to the 4 wheeler. As I was walking down the trail, the bear and I met at less than 10 feet! I was shootin my 8mm Mag. We met eyes and a quick shot from the hip and the bear was running away through the trees! I put the scope on his ass and took the Texas heart shot! It went ass over tea kettle! That will get the blood flowing!

Another was when a buddy and mine were moose hunting. We were heading toward 50" bull. From about 400 yards, we could see the bull heading to our left, so I sent my buddy to the left to cut it off. I waited. The bull then appeared back in the clearing. I got about 140 yards from it and let it have it with my 8mm Mag. It dropped like a ton of bricks. I walked over to it and when I was within 10 yards, the bull jumped on it's feet and was heading towards me! That is a lot of animal at that close a distance. I was really looking up at it. I had no time, so I flipped off the safety and took a quick shot off the hip. It was enough to turn the moose and then I shot it in the back of the head as it was running away.

Not Africa, but pretty exciting in itself!

I have two drop dead shots with my 375 H&H and 260 Nosler AB's from the Namibia trip last year, and on video too! A 310 yard shot on 13" warthog off sticks with arm braced against PH, and a rested 360 yard shot on an old 17" blesbok they'd tried to kill for 2 years.

Cape buff in TZ hunting with Geo. Hoffman.
160 steps and one shot with 416 Hoffman, 350 Barnes X.
Second best was 9.3 x 62 and Black Wildebeest at one side or the other of 300 yards. Knocked the animal down with four feet in air...twice... four feet in air...the third time it went down I walked up and shot it with a 40 cal. pistol. Total of 13 shots fired (some missed with animal running) and twice the PH said the animal was dead. The only bullet recoverd had super expansion...just met a critter that was not interested in dying that day. I still don't like the Norma Alaska bullet that I was shooting that day. Had them all reloaded with 286 Nosler Partitions and 250 Barnes X now.

This is definately one of them.
http://www.texaslso.com/leopardshotedit.wmv

Alpha male baboon RSA
241m (lasered)
0700hrs in the morning just after my first fag and coffee, from sitting by the fire and breakfast table.
borrowed rifle used blaser r-93 300wm
ziess divari scope power unknown... not so fond of the blaser its just a little strange...

he was on a cliff top, i shot him in the upper chest exactly where i planned. He actually threw his hands up in the air and did a hollywood back flip off the cliff and into a river ravine (kliene olifants river). Prompting the whole days conversation of cliff jumps ranging from butch and sundance to wilye coyote in the road runner cartoons.
hahahaha

had massive pat on back from PH and family as the johns had been raiding the camp frequently and getting really stroppy with guests. etc

I am not sure if I should call this my best shot. Maybe I should call this my luckiest shot...

It was on my first safari- Zimbabwe 1991. I was hunting plainsgame and leopard. My PH was disappointed that I had arrived with "only" a 338. In his mind, if it wasn't at least a 375, it wasn't a safari gun. His strong opinions had been fully formed without having even one client ever hunt with a 338! But its what I use on everything in Alaska and felt comfortable with it and my handloaded 250 Noslers.

Of course I had to listen to his stories of how much tougher African game was than out soft North American stuff. Well, he started to keep his opinion to himself when kudu, wildebeest, zebra and eland fell to one shot each.

One day after checking leopard baits, we were walking back towards the Landcruiser and decided to rest briefly on a large log near a small lake. On the far shore, we noticed some movement. Looking through our binoculars, we could see a troop of baboons coming out of the brush and heading for a drink. The PH started to razz me. "If you think that little gun is so great, lets see if you can hit that big baboon over there." I declined. I thought it was way too far for a decent shot. I really had no interest in shooting a baboon. After some more good natured harassment calling into question my manhood, and an offer to buy me dinner at the best restaurant in Harare, I accepted the challenge.

Now I generally am the kind of guy that would rather have a challenging stalk and a short shot than fire off long range volleys. However, I do practice shooting at the 300 meter range at our local gun club. But this shot was much further than that. Being the early 90's, we did not have a laser rangefinder. I do not know how far the shot was. But I laid the back of my left hand on the log and carefully cradled the Ruger 77. There was very little wind- more of a soft, swirling breeze. I steadied the crosshairs of the 2x7 Leupold about 4 feet over the top of the baboon's head. I squeezed off. The baboon fell over. Then I heard the hit. He thrashed briefly but stayed down.

After a long walk around to where the baboon laid, the PH rolled it over for an inspection. Bullet through the heart. He thought my gun was a death ray and I was quite a sniper. I usually don't waste much time arguing with someone with such strong opinions.

I never told him how much luck was involved in a shot like that. By the way, the meal was fantastic.

PWN375,
Have 2 from my 04 safari, 1st has to be Leopard, 30 yards, 300 Weatherby,180 Trophy Bonded. 1 shot and it was over. 2nd Kudu, 320 yards same rifle and load, 1 shot in neck and he was down for good.
Bobga

quote:

Originally posted by T:
This is definately one of them.
http://www.texaslso.com/leopardshotedit.wmv

Absolutely awesome footage!

quote:

Originally posted by T:
This is definately one of them.
http://www.texaslso.com/leopardshotedit.wmv

Amazing footage, and very lucky to have had it filmed!

Guys,

I really kinda hate to be a dick but it would seem in some cases we are talking about shots we made that are a little beyond our ability and perhaps should really not have been taken. Yes! I certainly have taken some of these myself and luckily they usually turned out fine.
To me though the best shot is the undramatic one where the stalk has worked perfectly, the first shot is through the engine room and the folow-up is short or not necessary.

Regards,

Mark

I thought my best shot while on Safari was not that big a deal, but after Mark's post I have decided to tell about it. We had been hunt several days on a 10 day Buffalo and plains game hunt in the Selous of Tanzania. Pierre' van Tonder my PH had done a yoeman's job of getting my animals including a very nice Buff the very first day of the hunt, but the Impala had proved elusive and available only when I was focused on another of my licensed animals. Finally about the 7th day a nice one was spotted and we decided on a stalk that took us on a large downwind jount when suddenly Pierre' spotted a nice set of horns in the opposite direction the trackers were leading us and we quickly switched gears and pursued the new boy in town. I was impressed that Pierre' spotted the animal himself with some very fine trackers present. We slowly approached the Impala in a fairly thick area and when the head tracker, Twiga placed the shooting sticks up I knew it was my time to do the shooting. I placed my rifle, a .358 STA with my loads of 270 grain North Forks on the sticks and far the life of me I could not see a blessed thing. Pierre' said, can you see the Impala, I replied that I could not see it, more than once, embarrassed that I could not see it at 90 yards. Pierre' said, can you see it now, I replied once again that I could not see it. Pierre' said, can you see the red spot in the brush, and I could see it plainly and said, Yep I see the red spot. Pierre' very patiently said shoot the red spot right in the middle. I fired and the Impala callapsed and the congratulations started. Upon inspection the bullet had gone smack through the heart, which is rather low on any animal but a very efficient killer. I thanked Pierre' for his quick thinking about the red spot, because I don't think I ever would have seen the entire animal, and would never have made the shot. I will always refer to my Impala as the red spot shot and remember that as a good day, because within three hours I also took my very nice Zebra, because the right one had also proved to be elusive up to that point. Good shooting.

From the point of view that you make a shot that you and others can't believe, I've had two real eye poppers.

The first was on my first trip to RSA in 1996. It was really cold, had been snowing in the Winterberg, and we were hunting vaal rehbok. It was very early, and the sun was just rising after three days of storm. Because of the weather, I'd taken the scope off of my M70 and was shooting it with open sights. The previous day, I'd nailed two baboons on the same farm, single feeding my rifle as it was unloaded since we were riding in the cab. The first one was standing at about 75 yards and the second running full tilt up the side of the mountain at over 100 yards using iron sights.

But back to the story, we surprised a herd of vaal rehbok on a high valley, and they immediately headed for the really high country. We jump out of the front of the truck, and I took my first shot with my M70, and missed. I really could not see the target animal after the first shot, and asked my brother to change rifles with me. He had been loading his Sako 7mmRemMag which was equipt with a Leupold 4 power scope.

I fired my second shot with it, and saw the bullet hit behind the buck. I worked the bolt and the rifle jammed. I cleared the jam, and chambered a new round. By this time, the herd was going diagonally across the face of the mountain. My third shot was behind and low and I sensed the bullet strike. I worked the bolt and cleanly chambered a fourth round. I held above and ahead what I'd been low had behind, and fired.

The vaal rehbok was really moving, after the shot low and behind him. He was fully stretched out when the bullet hit him and broke his spine. He dropped like a sack of bricks. The lasered distance was over 400yds. And my ph got the entire sequence on video tape!

The second shot of an incredible nature was in the same area of Africa in 2001. We were back hunting with Chappie Scott for antelop, and coming in one evening, our ph spotted a variety of meercat near one of the bore holes. These are verocious little predators and really decimate the bird population hitting both the eggs and the chicks.

The ph asked if I could shoot it. I said that I thought I could. Again, I used my brother's 7mm. I braced myself on the cab of the truck, and held dead on the little target which had a profile like a 16oz Coke bottle. The range was long, but I don't know how long, exactly, but about 220 yards. Just as I shot, the animal dropped from the standing position on to all fours. I say the bullet strike right on, where he'd been.

I reloaded and the meercat must have frozen in response to the sonic crack. The next shot, I held right on his butt, which was about the same size at that distance as a coke bottle as he was facing dead away from me. My next shot entered his rear end dead on and exited through his right eye. The shock knocked about 1/3 of his hair off, and his body was just totally limp.

When you impress a ph with your shooting, you've generally made a pretty good shot, and both of these shots brought immediate exclamations of surprise and delight from the ph's. Kudude

My first shot. (120yds on an Impala) fulfilled a life long dream, was certainly my best.

Kind regards
Carl