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  1. #1
    User
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
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    JHB
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    38
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    Default Interesting Animal Observations

    From my last Hunt I experienced a few animal observations which I found interesting and hope some more insight could be shared by more experienced members

    1) Waterbuck cow, reaction to shot
    I shot a waterbuck cow +-150 meters from a weird semi prone position on top of rocks (more details on the shot in the bullet performance thread). Now after the shot, which I was pretty sure was good, I stood up due to the uncomfortable position.
    The cow ran and came to a stop staring at us (me and tracker) it felt long, but was probably less than 2min. I had already reloaded the rifle and was lined up a free hand shot as this cow was standing like I missed the first shot. I was unable to take a follow up shot as there was younger female behind the one I had hit.
    I took my eyes of the cow for a second to get down from the rock and looked up to see the rest of the group running away. Group consisted of 1x Large male, 2 big females and 2 small females. The male took off after the shot, females all stood and looked at us and I think the others ran off when the one I shot collapsed
    a) As there was no exit wound there was no blood to track, is it for this reason that Broadside shots are preferred, to offer more chance of an exit? I can imagine start of tracking would have been time consuming had she run off initially, finding the right spoor without blood.
    b) I do not think that I have seen a "hit" animal every stop and look like that, they normally run. Other animals in the herd might have a look back but this is was a first that the hit animal just stood there. Could it be the damage to the heart was not severe enough or the slowed down vital zone impact from penetrating from the stomach ie the impact to the vitals was not as "hard hitting" as a broadside shot?

    2) Impala "Hanging" out with blou wildebeest.
    We were stalking a heard of blou wildebeest and a small heard of impala were moving with them. Whenever the wildebeest ran from us the impala went with.
    The Owner of the farm says he has seen young kudu males "hanging" with nyala young bulls and Impala rams with nyala females (I actually shot an impala male with a group of nyala females a few year back on the farm but didn't think much of it). Is this just a random thing that happens or is there a possible reason?

    3) How soon after the shoot should you start tracking? would it depend on where the shot is and/or by indications in the spoor?
    From what happened below, I think if you find bright red blood indicating a good shot a few minutes be given before following and if you find stomach contents you chase the animal would this be correct?
    The kudu female I shot, while it been about 100m away from where it was hit the 100m was in thick bush and actually over a period of time 10min max. ( thinking about it now the 100m was as the crow flies actual distance the kudu traveled would be more as there was some zig zag)
    We start tracking quickly as we got to blood en-route to the place of impact and found a 3 or 4 spots where the cow stood still, there was a lot of blood while tracking.
    The cow was definitely moving away from us and stopping a short distance away . To my eyes where it stopped there was more blood (bright red with bubbles) vs the amount of blood between the placed it stopped. In my view if we left the cow for a few min before tracking we would have found her down in the first spot
    I was with a buddy when he shot a impala female a little too far back, it took the tracker about 15 min to find the right spoor, I went with for the tracking. Long story short this one was the opposite of the my kudu cow, the impala was loosing more blood when it was running as we were getting closer to it as we chased. We eventually got to the impala about 40 meters from it and it ran but only about 30 meters way and a coup de grace was sent.
    Looking at the initial shot trajectory it just hit the left lung and exited with some intestines(some of it was hanging out the body). In my view if we did not follow it like we did we may not have recovered the ewe, I think chasing it caused more internal bleeding as after a while blood was coming out the entry wound as well.

  2. #2
    User
    Join Date
    May 2016
    Location
    port elizabeth
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    60
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    2,509

    Default Re: Interesting Animal Observations

    Rule no.1 Never assume a miss. Always follow up on any shot at an animal.

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