Hunting - By Messor - Part Six

[Koebelwagen]

Slight hijack but in line with the OP: shot placement is almost everything? It beats the "which-calibre-discussion", secures a clean kill, prevents wounded animals?

Definitely. Poor shot placement results in lots of hiking. Having said that, shot placement becomes more critical using borderline calibers, for instance I would not attempt a shot where I have to shoot through heavy bone on a BWB with my .243 but then I have killed a Zebra with my .243 with a head shot.

Animals react very differently on any given day to being shot and even a very good shot doesn't guarantee a bangflop if you don't hit the CNS. In 2001 I was fortunate enough to be invited to go hunting on a friend's farm. I used a loan rifle in 9.3x62 and my friend was using his .375H&H.

Whilst out stalking we came across what we though were two warthog in a clearing i.e. I could see two and my friend could see two. We decided to try a double and took up positions on two sides of a large tree, he would aim for the one on the right and I for the one on the left. As it turned out there were three hogs and we shot at the same one.

The shots landed two inches apart on the chest, one bullet exited on the opposite shoulder and the other towards the rear of the rib cage. I think it is fair to assume the hog took a lot of punch from two powerful rounds and yet that pig, mortally wounded as she was managed to run 80M from point of impact. If I tell you we were picking up chunks of bone and lung tissue and following a river of blood I would not be exaggerating. She was however aware of our presence and I think had already had a shot of adrenaline in the system when we let fly.

[singh17]

Remember I asked how will the average person know how wounded the animal is if it didn't drop, or failed to drop after some time, and the answer is he cannot.

Your question is thus best answered by saying take all the factors of the hunt into account, and act upon that.
There are definitely different degrees of lethal shots, but who will be the judge of that?
.

That was going to be my next question. How do you know, Is experience the only way?

So I was told to listen for a "thud" that way you know if the bullet hit. Watch how the animal jumps at the reaction to the shot, "it sort of cringes" then you know its good. So 6 shots at 5 animals did not hear the "Thud" nor seen the "cringe". The two impala I shot this year did not even jump, they both sort of walked dizzly away and dropped.
The kudu I shot jumped and ran off in the opposite direction. All 3 occasions I seen the shot hit the animal and it hit where I aimed, was not sure if it was lethal(still learning). Set off immediately after the animals. The guide on the Kudu was smilling from the start saying good shot, assuring me the animal was down.

So for me I agree, because I am too inexperienced to know what I did i need to follow up immediately to give best chance on getting a potentially wounded animal.

[Ds J]

Singh, it takes time and experience to see the cringe or hear the thud, but those are not always a clear indication. I grew up hunting and it was only during the last ten years or so that I started hearing the thud clearly. It was only the last year or two that I recognised the cringe. The reason for this is that I was calmer on the hunt and not so full of adrenaline as I used to be.