AFRICA HUNTER QUEST©   

    Chapter 34 - THE PILGRIM’S SAFARI: DAY 5   

    Donny got up and was in the dining hall well before sunrise. His PH was already there, just getting his coffee. His PH indicated that the day’s primary focus would be blesbok, with any prime opportunities for Donny’s other animals given priority. They had breakfast, then Donny went to his room, gathered his kit, and met the PH at the truck. By then, the sun had just cracked over the horizon.   

    They were to hunt the property around the lodge. Donny rode on the back of the truck with his PH. It was cold, and he had on all of his ‘stuff’, wishing for gloves. His PH was still in shorts, with a hunting jacket and his head partially covered by his tube neck warmer as the only homage paid to the temperature and wind chill.   

    The road transitioned through gently rolling terrain covered with widely spaced brush to a ridge with closely spaced brush approximately head high. Donny could see abundant cobbles strewn on the surface. Try as he might, he hadn’t spotted any animals.   

    The road gradually made its way up the ridge, then began an equally gradual descent as it curled to the left around the ridge’s nose. Off to his right he could see a broad expanse of grassland extending as far as the eye could see. He quickly focused on the grassland and could see a herd of yet undetermined animals. Donny reckoned they were between a half mile and a mile to his front, and at least 400 yards into the grassland.   

    Donny looked at his PH who was scanning the herd with his binos. His pH pointed and said “blesbok”.    

    By then the road had transitioned down almost to the flat grassland area. The road was now paralleling what could have been an old fence line as indicated by limits and linearity of the brush/grassland transition.   

    At a point where the road was offset about 75 yards from this brush-to- grassland transition, his PH signaled to the tracker to stop the truck. His PH quickly dismounted from the truck and signaled to Donny to do so as well. By the time he was ready to dismount, the tracker was on his side of the truck ready to receive his rifle. Donny saw the PH whispering to the tracker in Afrikaans. Shortly after he

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Africa Hunter Quest©, Chapter 34, Page 1 dismounted, the truck had been turned around and was headed back up the ridge. The intent was to hide the truck beyond the curvature of the road.   

    Donny didn’t know if the shot would be from sticks. He couldn’t see the herd and had no idea what distance any available shot could be. He had his bipod and tool kit in his pack, just in case. His PH motioned to Donny to follow, abandoning his dry-fire protocol from the sticks.    

    They threaded their way through the brush and stopped about 10 yards from where it transitioned into the grassy plain. Donny peered through the brush and instantly knew why there had been no dry-fire practice:     the herd was directly opposite from them, walking briskly single-file, left to right, no more than 200 yards from the brush line. They were walking into the wind that Donny judged to be less than 10 miles an hour.    

    His PH surveyed the herd with his binos, then handed Donny the sticks.   

    PH:    (Whispering) If the lead one stops, take him.   

    His PH obtained a range with Donny’s range finder.   

    PH:    (Whispering) 207 yards   

    Donny set up on the sticks and panned his rifle at the pace of the herd. The lead blesbok never stopped. What had initially been a shallow rear quartering shot quickly transitioned into an awkward, sharp-angle rear quartering one. Furthermore, threading a bullet through an increasing length of brush had become impossible.    

    Donny’s PH whispered that the stand needed to be abandoned. As Donny came off the sticks, his PH took them and motioned for Donny to follow him. His PH walked back toward the road at an oblique angle, weaving easily through the comparatively widely spaced brush. Donny was amazed that their movement hadn’t started a stampede. The only thing Donny could figure was that the herd members were paying more attention to following each other than they were to the potential movement in brush over 200 yards to their right.   

    Donny and his PH walked no more than about 150 yards. His PH stopped within about 10 yards of what appeared to be another brush line. It was then that Donny realized that these brush lines had to have been along old fence lines, as this new brush line was pretty much at a right angle to the first one he had set up on. Donny

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looked to his right, and he could see that he was back within about 25 yards of the road.   

    Donny got lucky. The lead blesbok arced to its right, realigning itself with the new brush-line orientation. His PH presented him with the sticks, and Donny once again positioned his rifle. The wind was in his face. When he obtained his sight picture, his shot was a shallow front quartering, slowly transitioning into a broadside.    

    PH:    (Whispering) 215 yards.   

    Donny kept pace with the lead blesbok. When it finally stopped, it was a very slight rear quartering shot. Donny assessed there was no obvious brush obscuring his sight picture. He held a tad high and within 3 seconds after the blesbok had stopped, squeezed off his shot.   

    Donny immediately heard a satisfying ‘thwop’ from his bullet’s impact and saw the blesbok sprint forward. It ran no more than about 100 yards before it piled up.    

    PH:    Reload. Put your rifle on safe.   

    Donny then realized he had loaded only his initial round. He extracted and saved his spent brass, then fished around in his pocket for another round. He found one, chambered it, and put the action on safe. He followed his PH through the brush out into the open grassland. Although at least 300 yards away, he could easily see a dark brown blesbok lying in short tan grass. As they approached closer, Donny could see that the animal had not moved. His PH congratulated him as they walked.    

    The sound of the shot had alerted the tracker. He was there at the animal with the truck when they got there. Donny unloaded his rifle and put it in the truck, retrieving his phone for pictures.    

    From the blood at the entrance hole and its location, Donny assessed that his bullet had likely hit the heart or at least the plumbing on top of it. When they rolled the blesbok onto its stomach, Donny could see an exit hole about 3/8 inch in diameter was weeping blood. A complete pass-through with reasonable expansion. That the animal had run about 100 yards after the shot amazed him. Tough critter.   

    After the pictures, the tracker and his PH picked up the ram and tossed it into the back of the truck. Within 20 minutes they were back at the skinning shed.   

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    Donny could see from the innards deposited on the concrete floor that his shot had, indeed, taken out the top part of the heart. The actual hole again appeared to be less than ½ inch, with the blood-shot zone around it about 2 inches in diameter. The blood-shot zone was similar in diameter to the one produced in his gemsbok at 184 yards. It made sense; the impact velocities were essentially the same.     

    It was only about 10:30. They had their box lunches with them, so they immediately set out again to ‘see what they could see’.   

    They went in a new direction. The terrain ranged from relatively flat to gently rolling to moderately steep rock-strewn ridges. Vegetation in the flats ranged from wide-open grassland to moderately to widely spaced brush well over head-high. Vegetation on the ridges was mostly brush intensive, tending to be relatively closely spaced and head-high. The more rocky areas of the ridges had the same intensity of brush, but its height was noticeably less.   

    They spotted water buck and sable in the more savannah-like areas intermediate of the ridges. The truck startled a herd of red hartebeest in the thick brush on a ridge slope. They darted single-file across the road, heading up the slope. All Donny could see were periodic flashes of horn tips as they galloped through the brush.   

    As they were transitioning off the ridge, his PH spotted a herd of black wildebeest in the brush, apparently oriented at about 8 o’clock to the road. How he could so easily see them and assess their trek orientation mystified Donny. He couldn’t see a thing.    

    The PH snapped his fingers, indicating for the tracker to stop the truck. They dismounted and Donny went through his dry-firing routine. The herd was heading toward them, apparently intent on a late afternoon feed in the savannah below. The animals were judged to be walking into the light wind that was coming from about 2 o’clock. The wind had turned fluky, occasionally swirling unpredictably.    

    His PH confirmed the less-than-optimal conditions. He indicated they would try to loop behind the herd to get directly downwind and approach from the rear.    

    They walked briskly back on the road several hundred yards before cutting at a right angle into the brush on their right. The tracker had taken his customary leadership role at the front of the group.    

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    They slipped through the brush. As they did so, Donny became disoriented as to the direction relative to the road. He knew they had started at an orientation 90 degrees to it, but the constant weaving through the openings in the brush quickly befuddled his mental compass. He sensed they were arcing slightly to his right, but had no reference to confirm.   

    After about 20 minutes, the tracker stopped and pointed to the ground. His PH nodded. The tracker then turned almost 90 degrees to his right, fixating on the ground directly in front of them.   

    Within about 10 yards in the radically new direction, Donny understood why: even he could see the fresh hoof prints and scat on the ground. They were now directly behind the herd.   

    They continued following the trail for another 20 minutes or so. Donny was amazed when the road appeared before him. Hoof prints were plainly visible in the road surface. He looked to his right and saw the truck about 300 yards away. Wow!    

    Throughout the stalk, Donny had assessed that the wind velocity had continued to decrease. He felt that his assessment was pretty much confirmed as they crossed the road. He could detect no wind at all.   

    They continued on. Within about 15 minutes the tracker began walking with his hands behind his back, crouching lower as he went. Donny removed his rifle from his shoulder in anticipation. Within about 50 yards, the tracker stopped and kneeled down on one knee. His PH scanned in front of them with his binos. Donny could detect movement in the brush ahead, and he identified the rear of a black wildebeest at least 200 yards away.   

    They all kneeled in silence as the PH scanned the herd, trying to locate a mature bull. Donny felt a draft of wind on the back of his neck, then silently groaned. Sure enough, that eddy of wind carried their scent to the herd. Within 10 seconds they were in full launch mode, blasting full tilt into the brush.   

    The PH shook his head.   

    PH:    This will now be a difficult stalk. They know we are behind them. The wind is fluky, and it’s getting late in the day. They will likely run well into the grassland where there is virtually no cover to conceal us. If it’s all right with you, I want to head back to the lodge. We might get lucky on the way.   

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    D:    You know the percentage plays. I don’t. You call the shots.   

    His PH nodded. They made their way back to the truck, then headed toward the lodge. They encountered no potential opportunistic stalks along the way.   

    As they passed by the skinning shed, Donny noticed the Old Salt was there by the skinning rack. An adjacent truck obscured the animal lying on the concrete. Donny hustled to put his kit away, eager to see the Old Salt’s trophy and make inquiries about his hunt.   

    As Donny approached, he could see a sable suspended from the frame, the Old Salt intent on watching the proceedings.   

    D:    Congratulations. Fine looking animal. Very handsome, almost regal.   

    OS:    Yes. One of my true bucket-list plains game animals. Found him this afternoon as we were driving along. Made about a 20-minute stalk on him. Right front quartering at a little less than 200 yards. Dropped at the shot and thrashed around. My PH wanted an insurance shot. He has seen too many animals run off after an initial reaction to the first shot like mine. Plus, my PH told me they have a nasty disposition when wounded.   

    We circled to the side, and I broadsided him as best I could. He was still thrashing around, and my PH wanted a third. By the time I reloaded and drew a bead, he had quit thrashing and just lay there, head completely on the ground. There was one final twitch of his rear leg, then he was gone.   

    D:    Mind if I watch the skinning process?   

    OS:    Not at all. Our conversation last night got me to thinkin’. I have never paid much attention to how my bullets actually perform in terms of penetration and tissue damage, and how that could potentially relate to the animal’s reaction to the shot. I have always used iconic Africa bullets and just accepted the terminal performance I got as the best available. You indicated that your friend’s testing could potentially identify bullets with terminal performance more in line with my personal terminal performance expectations. Truth be told, I have a desired terminal performance expectation similar to your friend’s. I know a 100% drop-at-the-shot-on-the-shoulder isn’t possible and can tolerate the other 9 seconds, but not much longer. They are all warriors and need to be treated with that level of respect.   

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    Donny’s eyes got wide. He had been right about the man.   

    D:    My friend uses the same word. After being here only a couple of days, I know exactly what y'all mean.    

    OS:    One of the things I never got to ask is this:     does your friend even care about the retained weight of a bullet?   

    D:    As long as it penetrates through the boiler room, no. He seems to be happy with any relic bullet that is retained on the far-side hide. That is what he calls effective penetration. If the bullet does that, he believes that weight loss can be good because the resultant shrapnel likely enhances the potential for rapid bleed-out. He believes penetration is its own metric, controlled for each generic bullet design by its impact velocity. He wants heavy bullets to potentially supply sacrificial mass for shrapnel and to maintain some semblance of momentum, particularly for the frangible, poly-tipped match bullets he uses for long range.   

    OS:    What do you think about all that?   

    D:    I don’t really know. I never saw his gel blocks or his data compilations. I do know he wanted impact velocities with his match 240’s to be the same as the match 350’s he used in his 375 H&H. He wanted to be sure that the 240’s didn’t explode upon impact and got reasonable penetration at close range.   

    OS:    350’s? 350-grain match bullets?!   

    D:    Yep. He put poly tips on them to take four springbok. He used that bullet for the 364-yard shot I talked about.    

    The Old Salt’s eyes were wide with amazement.   

    D:    As crazy as he sounds, I think the last thing he wants is to lose an animal because of mad science gone wrong. That is why he tested that 240-grainer at 135 yards, the same distance as the other bullets he tested. If it didn’t explode and penetrated reasonably well, he was confident it would be good to go at his minimum range of 250 yards.   

    OS:    So, all his bullets were gel tested at 135 yards?   

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    D:    Yes.    

    OS:    And you say the 30-caliber, 180-grainer like my 200-grainer came in third among the 30-calibers, behind a tipped 240-grain match bullet?   

    D:    Yep. How he scored that is anybody’s guess, but he seemed encouraged by the results. To tell you how careful he is, he intends to use that 240-grainer only on broadside shots beyond 250 yards.   

    OS:    Hmmmm. Definitely not runnin’ in the conventional wisdom rut.   

    D:    So, how is your 200-grainer doing?   

    OS:    This is the first time I have used it in Africa. I've taken elk, white tails, mulies, aoudad, and nilgai in the States. All shots have been broadside to the lungs except the nilgai, as my guide said it needed to be on the shoulder so they don’t run too far. Typical pass-throughs on all the shots. The one nilgai I shot retained the bullet in the far-side hide. Shots on the deer, elk, and nilgai have all been less than about 250 yards. The shot on the audad was a tad over 300. Most of the deer essentially dropped at the shot, some staggering less than about 50 yards. The elk and aoudad all ran anywhere from at little over 100 to no more than 400 yards, with the audad running the farthest. The nilgai piled up at less than 150 yards. Never lost an animal.   

    D:    Sounds like very good performance. Were you happy with the meat damage?   

    OS:    Yes. More damage than with a solid copper bullet like my friends tend to use. But sometimes they have to chase theirs a long way or have even lost them in the thick stuff.   

    D:    Sounds like the bullets my friend wants to shoot in his 300 Winchester are potentially solutions in search of problems you don’t have.   

    OS:    Could be. But he is one of the few I know that wants to carry two separate loads for plains game. Dangerous game like a buffalo needs two, with the second being a solid. But what you have described is someone who wants to have both a dedicated short-range and long-range hunting load, both based on bullets that produce terminal performance in keeping with his expectations. The audad was my longest shot, and it also ran the farthest. Your friend’s approach has given me food for thought.   

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    D:    Have you been to Africa before?   

    OS:    Yes. This is my sixth time. My previous hunts were first dedicated to the big six plus a croc, then to the miniature antelope. The only other plains game I shot was either impala or zebra for bait. I’m now kindly doing catch-up on plains game.    

    By then the sable’s innards had flopped onto the floor. Donny could see that the wounding produced by OS’s 200-grainer at 200 yards was obviously greater than his at nearly the same distance. The combined larger-caliber bullet and higher impact velocity produced larger actual holes and blood-shot zones through the visible lungs and heart. The holes looked to be greater than 1/2 inch, possibly pushing 5/8 th’s, with the bloodshot areas ranging up to at least 4 inches in diameter.   

    Donny took out his phone and began taking pictures. The Old Salt watched him, then began fumbling for his phone.    

    OS:    Thanks. I needed to see you do that. Can’t play same and different without pictures. I also need to make some notes.   

    D:    My friend is emphatic that what we are seeing is related to impact velocity and a particular bullet’s generic design. If the impact velocity is significantly different, he thinks what we will see will be noticeably different. That is one of the reasons I asked my PH to get a laser range for each animal so I can go back and figure what the impact velocity was.   

    OS:    (Nodding his head) Good point.   

    The Old Salt went over to the carcass still hanging from the rack. Donny saw him eyeing both the entry hole and the one exit hole from his broadside shot. The apparent front quartering shot had just clipped a rib bone on its way into the boiler room and beyond. His broadside shot had initially missed ribs but shattered one rib bone on the far side before it made its escape.   

    D:    I don’t really know what I’m looking at to make any kind of judgments about terminal bullet performance. All I know is the holes and blood-shot areas I see in your sable are obviously bigger than the ones I got with my bullet. I suppose that is to be expected because your bullet has a bigger end area than mine, and its impact velocity is likely 200 to 250 fps greater than mine. So, I'm just going to catalogue what I am seeing as an excellent short-range performance from your bullet.   

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    OS:    Short range?   

    D:        My friend believes each generic bullet design has a range of impact velocities where it works best, in keeping with a premeditated design intent. He limits his shot distances to keep the resultant impact velocity well within his assessment of what that velocity range might be.   

    For example, the manufacturer of my bullet says its recommended operating range of impact velocities is from 2000 to 3000 fps. My friend has read online assessments from someone he believes is an accomplished practitioner that the knock-your-hat-in-the-creek performance for that generic design noticeably falls off below about 2400 fps. The distance at which that impact velocity occurs could have been my dividing line between short- and long-range. For my bullet and that 2400 fps threshold, short-range could be considered any distance less than 150 yards. If I truly wanted a 180-grain or so bullet that could be considered long-range for shots greater than 150 yds, it would have to be a cup and core generic design to max out wound cavity volume. The lower-bound impact velocity for that generic bullet is apparently around 1800 fps.   

    OS:    What did you say was your friend’s breakpoint yardage between long- and short-range for his 300 Winchester and his selected bullets?   

    D:    For the 200-grain, bonded-lead cell he selected, I’m pretty sure it is 250 yards. He wanted to use his poly-tipped, 240-grainer for shots greater than 250 yards.    

    Donny could almost hear the Old Salt’s processing pug mill kick in. He gave him a moment. He hoped he could help with an answer to any question the Old Salt might pose.   

    OS:    I've never considered the notion of impact velocity affecting terminal performance to the point where there would be a consideration for limiting shot distance. As you can see, I really haven’t paid attention to what goes on during the skinning process. I thus have no basis for deciding if that notion of terminal performance transition or fall-off is valid. If it is, I certainly don’t know at what impact velocity that might be for the bullet I’m using. I may have an all-rounder bullet or short-range bullet; I don’t really know.   

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    I need to start payin’ attention. Like you said, keying what I see during skinning to both impact velocity and animal reaction is going to be fundamental for that determination.   

    You have said more than several times that your friend puts poly tips on the match bullets he uses for long-range hunting. Each time I've kinda blown that off, not believing tipping had any real relevance. Gilding a lily, so to speak.  So, my question is this: why does he put poly tips on big ol’ match bullets?   

    D:    To get them to consistently open, then expand and be the effective grenades he expects them to be.   

    Silence   

    D:    I thought it was over-kill, too. Remember the hunter the other night talk about his gemsbok they had to track for a couple of hours? He used a 7-mag with a match-style VLD hunting bullet with no poly tip. I saw the carcass and innards. It looked like he lunged it. Complete pass-through. The exit hole wasn’t much different from the entrance hole. Puny hole through the lungs. Very little bloodshot meat.    

    OS:    Are you saying his bullet penciled like a solid?   

    D:    Those are your words, not mine. I've never done an autopsy on an animal shot with a solid. But I have pictures of the gemsbok.   

    Donny brought up the pictures of the gemsbok on his phone and showed them to the Old Salt.   

    OS:    Yep. Pretty much. Hmmmm…. Those VLD-style hunting bullets have a long nose, don’t they? Seems to me that the rate of expansion would be slowed for one of those bullets even if it did expand. Kind of a delayed reaction because of the long nose. Maybe the near-side lung wouldn’t be as buggered as the far-side one. Tipping them makes sense.   

    D:    They have just announced supper. We need to scoot.   

    The two made their way inside. Tonight, the entree was grilled wildebeest, tasty indeed. Donny wished it had been his.   

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    The conversation at their table was pretty much one-sided. The Cowboy had hammered both a red hartebeest and a black wildebeest. The red hartebeest had apparently dropped at the shot, with the wildebeest managing to stagger less than 50 yards. The Newbee once again allowed himself to be sucked into the ‘mine is better’ narrative perpetuated by the energy myth. Although mildly irritated, Donny refrained from comment. After all, the Cowboy had easily taken the animals. At the end of the day, that was the real objective and all that mattered.   

    After dessert, Donny politely excused himself to tend to his journal and preparation for the next day’s hunt. They would be leaving early to ambush a springbok.   

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