Given some of the recent threads, I thought it wise to seek y'alls advice. I'm going to the East Cape in March for a short plains game hunt. I will be rifle hunting because I wanted to experience the more classic spot and stalk hunting style. I'm primarily a bow hunter and have hunted RSA several times with archery equipment. I hunt occationally with a gun at home though our shots are usually limited to 150 yards or less. I normally shoot from a rested position in a climbing stand. I am not a reloader, nor am I an firearms expert. I learned to shoot in the Army and concider myself a fair shooter. I have a 17HMR and a 30-06 available to practice with. There is no real range in my area but I do own 60 acres within 30 minutes where I can practice. The very maximum range I could safely shoot would be about 200 yards. I would be pleased to hear your suggested shooting regimens.

Here's the real kicker. the trip is primarily a vacation designed for my wife. We'll spend several days in Cape Town before the hunt and travel by train to Port Elizabeth. Because of that, I'll have to borrow a rifle once there. At this point I don't know what that will be, but I will insist that I get adequate time to zero to my satisfaction before I do any hunting.

I know, I know. I loof forward to your suggestions.

Cheers
Bob

Get that "ott-6" going ASAP.

180 grainers will be the bulet of choice (I like NPs)...Federal ammo is easy to get for this.

Get you zero @ 100 off a bench...get comfortqable with the rifle, then start practicing shots from off-hand...50, 75, 100 and so on. Also, get a decent pair of shooting sticks and use those as well. If you are only going over for plains game...your 30-06 will be great!

If you can hit a paper plate off-hand, off of sticks, leaning on the side of a tree - you WILL be good to go! Don't shoot anything past where you are comfortable with your abilities.

Most importantly - have fun with this - but make sure you do practice!

Jeff

Bob, Jeff has said it all..My only addition is to practice with a very careful precise first shot and follow up with a fast second...Once on target fire again quickly.. Just like boxing and quick left and right..Hit him and hit again...

Ammo is right on target Federals with nosler ..

Mike

You may want to consider zeroing at 200 yards. My shots in the Eastern Cape were usually 200 yards or a little further. Cape Town is great, make sure you make it to Table Mountain and Green Market Square.

I have posted this on 2 threads as I have a year
before my 1st BGH also. Is the book "The Perfect Shot" worth buying. Thanks
Gene

Yes "The Perfect Shot" is well worth buying, also try to pick up a copy of the African Hunter Shot Placement Guide. It is a handy little guide that fits in your shirt pocket. Practice, practice, practice, and then practice some more. Above all else, if you do not feel comfortable taking a shot the PH sets up for you, politely decline and wait until you are ready.

Thanks everyone. I've had those books for some time and I'm fairly familiar with shot placements though I study them before every trip. I keep my 06 zeroed at 1.5" high at 100. I've re-verified my zero and set up the .17 the same way. My intentions are to use the .17 to practice some of the fundamentals and then shoot a box of 06 each session. I will buy a set of shooting sticks and from this point on, practice exclusively off hand and stick shooting. Any other suggestions?

Cheers and thank you.

I do not know if this works or not. I went through boot camp with the M-14. Two weeks before we went to the range we started an exersise where we got into the off-hand stance. We ther droped the fodward hand and held it one handed for a long time. Did it help? Who knows
but it seem to.
gene

Bob

I don't really want to discourage you but if you practice with your guns and then hunt with someone elses your practice may be all for not. I did exactly that one time and I know I muffed 2-3 shots just because I was not used to to the crappy trigger on the loaner rifle. Try to bring your own gun if you can. Also often the loaner guns in safari camps are nightmares in themselves that noboby has ever taken care of and who knows what ammo they will have.

Regards,

Mark

The hunting and shooting part is easy, I’d practice on the wait in line at the airport without getting pissed off, set in cramped set on plane for a long time, patiently stand in line to get permits and most of all practice not to piss your wife off by hunting too much .

I told my PH and my wife that sitting on the couch in front of the television for long periods was practice for the leopard blind. It was probably what I did best on my trip.

I have been telling my wife that crushing empty
16 oz cans is great the trigger finger.

Bob

It was my experience that the first shot has to gotten off pretty quickly too. Those spot and stalk animals know something fishy is going on and won't stop and pose for you very long. The tricky part of this is making a good smooth squeeze on the trigger with all that adrenaline pumping. Slapping that trigger has to be avoided at all costs.

Elmo

Thanks again guys.

Mark, I had (have)the same concerns you have outlined. But I can't find a way to get my rifle to the concession. We fly into Joberg and connect to Cape town. The hotel I'm staying at can't or wont safeguard the gun. I suppose I could find another place to house it while we're in Cape Town but the next problem is that we take the Blue train to Port Elizabeth and I'm not allowed to take the gun on the train at all. I'm told it's illegal for anyone else to travel with my gun. Given the above, I punted and will borrow a rifle. This trip is primarily for my wife's enjoyement. This will be her first time over. I've never been to this part of the country so most of our itinerary is "touristy". That's fine and I'm looking forward to it. I figure I'll just be damn cautious about the shots I take and try to stay well within my comfort zone. I'm going to hunt at the Kikuyu lodge.

Bob,
Funny you should bring this up, I was groundhog hunting with my buddy today and as we're getting ready for an elk hunt he asked what kind of practicing he should be doing. I told him to practice shooting 200 yards and out and to try to get the shot off in less than 3 seconds.
Before my trip to RSA I had a walk-thru rifle range. I shot at 5 inch metal squares at approx. 100 yards. Let's say 75 to 125 yards. I had a couple targets out to 200 yards. After a couple months doing this several times a week I was pretty good at hitting targets off shooting sticks(the bamboo ones T.Carr has directions for).
When I got to RSA I felt ready, except! The shots were way farther than I thought they would be. I shot 11 animals and I'd guess the shots averaged well over 200 yards. AND most shots had to be quick! I had maybe a 3 count to get shot off or the animal was gone.
Concerning using a borrowed rifle, all I can say is that I took my own rifle and will again, but if it meant hunting with someone elses rifle or not hunting I would gladly hunt with someone else's rifle. The rifles that were at the 2 concessions that I saw were well taken care of and in good repair. Luckily I didn't have problems with mine but I wouldn't have hesitated to borrow one. I think it would be a good idea to try to practice with it first, even if only a few rounds.
As far as practice, go buy a case of cheap military ball ammo at a gun show. You can buy it for like 50 bucks for 500 rounds and it's not bad ammo. My one buddy uses it for practice for competition, so it can't be that bad. I reloaded all my own ammo but still shot at least 30 to 40 rounds of 375 H&H at each session of practice. Start out at 50 yards and keep working out, eventually you'll be shooting well at farther distances. Good luck and have a great time.
Joe

Bamabow

Here's what I would do. Find out what you can about your borrowed rifle, what scope and what mounts, what rifle. Copy his set up as best you can. If your rifle and his have different scope rings and mounts,the hold over or hold under for any given range will be quite different, even with the same ammo and barrel length.
If he use high mounts and a 30 mm scope do the same. Find out what his ammo choice is for that gun and use it for pratice. If you can buy a set up like he has do do so, then sell it or the other rifle after the hunt.
You want to learn the combo, not just how to shoot.

You will have a short time alloted for hunting, GET IN SHAPE!!!! I walked 5 miles a day carrying a 12 lb bar on a leather sling getting ready for Namibia. Once a week I did 10 or 12 miles. I broke in my boots ,toughend up my shoulder and feet, lost 35 lbs all at the same time. I found that after a 3 hour walk and a brisk jog, followed by a 100 yard crawl I could get on vitals quick and hit spot on out to 275 yards as fast as I needed to.(eland and gemsbuck) I hunted 9 days and never got up to tired or stiff to hunt.

Bring a rubber rifle sling, Uncle Mikes makes a great one for 19.95, after traing with the leather one you will not know the rifle is there. Do not use it for pratice, use the leather one to condition your shoulder.
Dry fire .Dry fire.Dry fire for every round you send down range dry fire 10 at home, call your shots each and every time. Draw a 6 inch circle on some paper, with out breaking a shot try to keep the cross hairs on the paper for as long as you can, the reduce the size of the circle when 6" is to easy. This is a holding excerise,
it should not be stressfull in any way, learn to adjust your stance to help reduce the size of your wable area.

If you do as I suggest you will be able to leave those silly sticks at home. Takeing plains game after a stalk,
offhand out to 250 yards or so takes a lot more skill and prep then sitting in a suken blind at a water hole.

I know that was a cheep shot but I want to get you motavated. The traing will be fun, the hunt will be something to be proud of, the shot a after thought!

jd

I just returned from Zambia and here are my shooting observations relating to practice. I took two shooting schools and shot over 600 rounds with my 300 WSM and 375. I also shot over 500 with a Kimber 22.

I shot alot with shooting sticks at 100 and less. Consiquently I was very comfortable out to 125-150 with sticks and everything after was a hope and a prayer.

As you might imagine the animals I shot at a greater distances were the smaller animals, i.e. Lechwe, reed buck, zebra.

All were shot at over 200. I was able to make the kill but I was not proud of the shots.

Lesson: Proactice more at over 200 with sticks than you do at 100. When you get to 100 it will look and seem easy.

Bullsprig

Very, very good advice here, but I will add my $0.02 anyway.

I practiced shooting out to 200 yards off a tripod and resting up against a pole to simulate shooting off a tree trunk. I practiced a lot including the week I left for my hunt and it paid off. I was fortunate in that I took my five animals with five shots. While most importantly I made humane shots, I also quickly gained the trust of my PH and tracker. It was comforting to hear them both praise and brag about my shooting. Furthermore, it left no doubt in my mind that they would have tracked to the end of the earth if I had muffed the shot on my last animal because I had obviously practiced made their job easier early on. I was surprised to learn how much the trackers appreciate a good shot.

If I had to do it all over again (and I will within the next 2 years), first, I would practice shooting off a bipod more than a tripod because I shot most of my game without swinging out the third leg of the tripod. Secondly, I would buy "The Perfect Shot" as suggest many times above. As I said above, I was "fortunate" in that I took 5 animals with 5 shots. Being a north American hunter (primarily whitetails), and being that I have taken a larger number of these animals with a bow, I naturally placed the crosshairs behind the shoulder despite coaching to put them on or above the shoulder from the 2 PH's in camp. However, in hindsight, I now realize how much more forward the vitals are on African game animals.

Good luck on your upcoming hunt.

George

Great stuff everyone. Thank you very much. Your comments about the ranges of your shots are very eye opening, so first I'm going to have to find a place to shoot at extended ranges. (I live in middle Alabama therefore 200+ yards is an extended range)

JD, I remember reading your posts about training up and I have begun walking. As time passes I thought I'd add a backpack. Your idea of training with a bar is excellent. I'll let your cheap shot slide.

Cheers and thanks. This site is great.

To books to read for practice in real time are a rifleman went to war by h w mcbride and with british snipers to the reich they both have good sections on field position shooting two things to remember always if you can get closer get closer if you can get more stable get more stable i.e. use whatever rest you can find and practice being sneaky