You have been hunting hard all day for a "whatever." It is the end of the day, still plenty of light and you are driving back to camp. You come around a corner and 50 yards off to your left is a trophy "whatever." The PH says he is a shooter. What would you do?

Shoot from the truck?
Jump out of the truck and shoot?
Try to cut his track the next day?
Something else?

I am curious to hear honest replies.

Regards, PG

Similar situation happened to me (only that the animal was 150 yards away from truck) on the LAST day of my RSA safari.



I decided to let the 50+" Kudu free, as I had initially decided that I wanted nothing less than a 55+incher and as fair a chase stalk and excitement as I could possibly have. For me, I decided that it was better to plan for my next safari and keep kudu dreams going.

PG,

What I like to do is slip off the side of the vehicle away from the animal with the PH and let the vehicle pass on down the road. Often the animal will be watching the vehicle and will give you time to shoot or will not be too alarmed to prevent a stalk. This scenario fits my personal ethics and may not be right for others.

Regards,

Mark

Agree with Mark. I've earned but not taken more than a few trophies so an easy one once in awhile is a gift from the hunting gods and not to be turned down.

I'm with Bill and Mark on this one. Sometimes the big ones have rather dull stories behind them, you just get a lucky break.

I met a hunter on Saturday while touring his brother's trophy room. His brother had many trophy animals and some very large Mule Deer. One in particular stood out from the other monsters as being "el grande". I was talking to the hunter and he told me about how for 3 years he had been trying to get a shot of at that buck, but each time it gave him the slip. His brother denied their being a buck that big, but went out one day to see what all the fuss was about. Came home a bit later with the deer. (Nice brother, huh?) Moral of the story, you'll get a lucky break every now-and-then. (and others wont. I'd be furious, that buck could have passed as an elk...a big elk!)

Sevens

In your scenario you state "still plenty of light!". Another trick is to keep driving slowly past the "whatever" and stop further down the track, get out and stalk back. It has often worked for me.

Happy hunting!

Although most spotting was done from a high ridge or hill, what Bwanamich descibed was the fairly common on my last trip to RSA. If something "big" was spotted from the crusier, we would slip off and find a big bush or tree to hide behind and let the cruiser continue on without stopping. The stalk would begin.

On one occasion, it was getting late and we were heading back to camp with a nice Impala ram I had just shot, when we spotted a huge Springbok about 250 yards off the path, by himself. The PH motioned that he was a monster. best animal I took the whole trip...

I had almost the exact experience you described in Namibia a couple of years ago. I was hunting with a wonderful young Southwest German African, as he preferred to be called, who was one of the best and most ethical ph's I've ever had the pleasure to hunt with. He was the 10,000 ha (that's 100 sq. kilometers-no internal fences-and double fenced exterior required because the neighbor's ran cattle) farm's game manager, and knew the farm and its animals well. We stalked everything we shot, and they were good, hard stalks. Wonderful hunting.

We were cruising one afternoon after taking a nice Gemsbok in the am, driving through some really thick stuff on an area they were in the process of cutting back. It looked like our Florida scrub oak only thicker. We turn a corner, and right there, 25 yds away, on my side of the truck, is the biggest Kudu that I have ever seen, standing there with three females. This was a hugh animal.

The truck stopped, and my ph said in his thick German accent, "Mein Leiber Gott! Quick, Shoot Him!" I was shocked that he had directed it given his earlier approach and questioned him. His reply was that this was a once in a life time trophy, SHOOT. Even for the African hunter and professional, there are those animals that overcome scruples! I was unable to dis-ass the truck and get my scope covers off fast enough, and it got away. There was no way to track it in the hard rocky ground and scrub we were in, although we tried.

Afterward, he told me that he had never seen this animal before, and it was hugh. I had seen 60 inch kudu horns in Zim two year's before, and this one had been hugh. I do't regret not taking the animal, but I do not use that type of scope cover anymore. Ku-dude

HAd the exact same thing happen to me with a Tsesebee. So I jumped out of the truck, set up the sticks ( by my PH) and I gave him one in the shoulder at 60 yards. No issue here. jorge

Carpe Diem
I shot this duiker 5 meters from the Landcruiser. Just jumped down and TCB in a flash.

Not grand sport but great trophy 4 7/8"
Cheers,

Andr�

I usually don't like to shoot from a vehicle but have done so a couple of times. In that instance of the example I would have got out and shot it from the ground. In fact my kudu was just such a shot. Off the 'cruiser and as it turned and started to run, a round up its arse and another couple to the chest as it turned from the shot. Actually did exactly what the PH 'advised' in the heat of the moment.

Yes it was an easy hunt but was more than matched by several earlier unsuccessful hunts after kudu without even a shot fired, the longest being a tracking job of nine kilometres.

Take the easy ones to make up for the hard ones.

PG: Sounds like we have somewhat of a consensus. I've done the same thing hunting antelope and deer. Wasn't road hunting, but just happened to be there as I drove to or from the hunting area.
Gary T.

There are at least two good reasons to shoot from the truck, and they relate to time, or lack of it, and perspective--



1. The game is spotted. You stop the truck. At some point before you can get off the truck (sometimes instantaneously) the game also spots you and clearly will bolt if you delay to dismount or stalk on foot. I have sometimes taken and sometimes passed on this shot from the truck.



2. The game is spotted, and because of topography, high grass, etc., the truck affords the best or only vantage point for a shot.



All in all, under these circumstances, it matters little to me whether the shot is taken from the truck or right beside it or a little distance away from it. To my mind, under these circumstances, the truck is the same as my own two feet, or if used as a vantage point, might as well be a large boulder or tree stand.



So, why the controversy?



I don't think that anyone in his right mind would advocate that using trucks for hunting should be banned. Trucks greatly expand a hunter's ability to spot more game by extending his "reach" to a much wider area in much less time than he could cover on foot. And let's face it, time is always a factor on safari--no one goes on two or three month safaris anymore. So, no one says that trucks are evil and shouldn't be used in hunting. But it is illegal in some places to shoot game from a vehicle. I don't break the law. But, to paraphrase the beadle, in some instances, it is fair to say that "the law is an ass." This is one such instance.



It's important to remember that laws banning shooting game animals from vehicles generally date from the days when motor vehicles first showed up in the hunting fields. These laws were a reaction, or over-reaction, to the fairly common practice at that time (in some circles) of using hunting cars not just to spot game animals, but to pursue them. Some hunters would use their cars to run the animals down, sometimes to the point of exhaustion. Then they would shoot them, sometimes even from the moving car.



In some ways, this practice was a natural transition from hunting and pursuing game on horseback, but with a motor vehicle, which is much faster and never tires, the advantages are too great. Rather than simply banning this practice, game departments found it easier simply to ban any and all shooting from any and all vehicles.

I am also one who really hates shooting from the vehicle. Your scenario is almost exactly what happened to me. Hunted hard for (2) days & saw only immature Kudu bulls & cows. Driving back to camp the tracker thumps the roof & tells us Kudu. We had driven by a pair of bulls about 150yds off teh track. A short stalk & an easy 120yd shot & I had my Kudu. Boring hunt, but like I said, hunted hard for (2) days, sometimes the hunting goddes smiles on you & you have to decide.

Thanks to all for the responses. I think they are most interesting and well presented. It has given me some insight that I had not thought about. I prefer to not shoot from the truck, but some days it just works out that way.

Best Wishes, PG

same situation happens to us all the time.

last trip i had a bunch of impala that had a nice ram, they where 150 yards to the road and i dismounted and had the shortest stalk ever and took him. I made the decision not cos of his horns, but becos of the meat.

likewise same trip i had a 50+ inch kudu within 15 yards from the door of the truck. I often self hunt, so it was my decision not to shoot. Girlfriend and i felt that the shot whether from the vehicle or outside it would have been unsporting. This particular kudu bull is so tame his family and him now graze in the garden. Waking up to such a majestic sight is really a wonderful experience.

If you are on a commercial hunt and you've spent the last few years saving for it, its your last day and this truly a magnificent trophy, then shoot it if you want.

One of my guests recently expressed regret about a kudu bull he took as he says that it was too noble to shoot from a vehicle. This was after he took a fine 180m shot in the early morning gloom. To each his own, i know i'll be going back so i reject things that i feel are unsporting.

cheers, tm