Botse Safaries 2011
Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 7:38 pm
The past couple of days I spent hunting the Bushveld of the Vivo district at Botse Safaries. The farm being 11km long and 6km wide with free ranging white rhino and about 26 other species including Roan antelope and Sable antelope.
I again took along the Ruger No1 with 70 handloaded rounds. 400gr Hornady Interlocks and Norma cases. And these rounds have proven to be tremendously accurate and very hard hitting on soft skinned animals.
On the menu was everything on the farm excl Roan, Sable, Nyala, Giraffe, Buffalo, Rhino, Tsetsebe and Black Wildebees.
First afternoon we came across a lone Blue Wildebees bull standing in thick knoppiesthorn only his neck and shoulder was clearly visible and a single 400gr through the neck dropped him in his tracks, the bull measured 29” back at the camp, making it my first Rowland Ward BWB. About 30 minutes after that we picked up on the spoor of a large Livingstone Eland, and for the next 3 hours it was up and down
after this eland and plenty times got a good glimps showing us it was a good animal to shoot. Eventually just as the sun was touching the horizon he showed himself for just long enough to put a 400gr through both lungs. We found him about 60m from where I had shot him and the bullet was sitting inside the opposite shoulder, the shooting distance was approx 50m. Back at the skinning shed this eland measured an 1/8th of inch under 40" and the carcass weighed at the butchery 431kg. Again the
Ruger delivered a trophy animal without any hassle and was not lost due to poor bullet performance. The recovered bullet weighed 355.1gr of the original 400gr.
I went on harvesting 3 more warthog, a Red Hartebeest (shot at 288m) a lovely 24" Impala ram on the run and a large cow BWB all with single shots and all but the BWB dropping on the spot.
In total I managed 8 animals in 5 hunting sessions; our session on Thursday afternoon was ended by 2" of rain in an hour and drenched everything and everyone to the bone.
I am today even more convinced than before, the only rifle you need for Africa is a .416Rigby.
I also had the first proper opportunity to use my Steiner Merlin on a hunt and I could not have been more satisfied.
I again took along the Ruger No1 with 70 handloaded rounds. 400gr Hornady Interlocks and Norma cases. And these rounds have proven to be tremendously accurate and very hard hitting on soft skinned animals.
On the menu was everything on the farm excl Roan, Sable, Nyala, Giraffe, Buffalo, Rhino, Tsetsebe and Black Wildebees.
First afternoon we came across a lone Blue Wildebees bull standing in thick knoppiesthorn only his neck and shoulder was clearly visible and a single 400gr through the neck dropped him in his tracks, the bull measured 29” back at the camp, making it my first Rowland Ward BWB. About 30 minutes after that we picked up on the spoor of a large Livingstone Eland, and for the next 3 hours it was up and down
after this eland and plenty times got a good glimps showing us it was a good animal to shoot. Eventually just as the sun was touching the horizon he showed himself for just long enough to put a 400gr through both lungs. We found him about 60m from where I had shot him and the bullet was sitting inside the opposite shoulder, the shooting distance was approx 50m. Back at the skinning shed this eland measured an 1/8th of inch under 40" and the carcass weighed at the butchery 431kg. Again the
Ruger delivered a trophy animal without any hassle and was not lost due to poor bullet performance. The recovered bullet weighed 355.1gr of the original 400gr.
I went on harvesting 3 more warthog, a Red Hartebeest (shot at 288m) a lovely 24" Impala ram on the run and a large cow BWB all with single shots and all but the BWB dropping on the spot.
In total I managed 8 animals in 5 hunting sessions; our session on Thursday afternoon was ended by 2" of rain in an hour and drenched everything and everyone to the bone.
I am today even more convinced than before, the only rifle you need for Africa is a .416Rigby.
I also had the first proper opportunity to use my Steiner Merlin on a hunt and I could not have been more satisfied.
