23 July 2002, 12:40
SlingsterTrophy Pics from June 2002 Hunt
I did a 14-day hunt with Bush Africa Safaris, Schalk van Heerden, owner and PH. I used a .376 Steyr Scout with handloads of 300-grain Woodleigh SPPPs at 2300 fps.We first went to Zululand, Zuka Ranch, near the Phinda Reserve for nyala. I got this one on the second morning there. He was standing in dappled sunlight under some trees 12 yards away when we rounded a bush and saw him. "Take him," Schalk whispered. An off-hand snap shot took out the arteries at the top of his heart and he fell where he was standing.
After driving back to BAS near Ellisras, we ran across this waterbuck while hunting bushbuck along the Limpopo River. The sun had set and Schalk spotted him behind some trees in a meadow. After a 20-minute sneak-and-peek, I set up on a shooting stick at 150 yards and waited. When he stepped out from behind the trees I hit him just inside the point of his shoulder on his chest. He ran 80 yards before dropping. The bullet hit the top of his heart and skidded along the inside of his rib cage. We didn't find it in the gut pile. (It was dark by the time we found him, so this picture was taken the following morning.)
I was unsuccessful when we hunted eland on a nearby ranch, but the next morning I took this bull on Schalk's property. We'd built a blind 65 yards from a trail crossing. The bull and three cows walked in after we'd been sitting an hour. I shot him behind the shoulder when he was clear of the cows and trees. He only got 20 yards before going down. I'd hit the arteries at the top of the heart, and the bullet stopped under the skin on the far side, 96% weight retention.
Finally, on my fifth outing after bushbuck, I got this nice typical ram. We were on our hands and knees next to a tree and behind a bush. All I had was a frontal neck shot at 50 yards. I used Schalk's shooting stick for post rest support, and at the shot the bushbuck disappeared. We jogged over to find him down in the grass where he'd been standing. The bullet passed through the neck just right of the mid-line, breaking the spine.
Last but certainly not least, we hunted buffalo near the Klaserie Reserve, and here's my first buffalo, taken with a .470NE Merkel. After stalking and tracking a bachelor herd of four bulls for almost three hours, we spooked them, then decided to walk back to the truck and try to circle in front of them. We spotted them from the road and sneaked up on them. Schalk picked out the one I should shoot, and I lined up for a frontal shot at 30 yards, but he turned and started walking to my left. I tracked to his shoulder and fired just before his head went behind some trees and brush. Schalk said I hit him, so we waited and listened. Less than two minutes later we heard the death bellow. He'd run between 50 and 60 yards before falling and was dead when we walked up on him a few minutes later. The 500-grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw had entered behind his shoulder, broken his upper leg bone, punched through a rib, perforated the top of his heart, and embedded itself in a rib on the other side, with 91% weight retention.
[ 07-23-2002, 06:24: Message edited by: Slingster ]
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