I am an avid hunter with rifle and Bow and have been hunting for more than 50 years. I have taken big game such as whitetail deer, red deer, elk, Moose and African Plains game
such as Kudu, Gemsbok, Springbok, Blesbok, and Impala and wrote an ebook entitled African Safari -Rifle and Bow and Arrow on how to prepare for a first safari. Ed is a serious cartridge reloader and ballistics student. He has earned two degrees in science and has written hundreds of outdoor article on hunting with both bow and rifle.
Is Africa Safari Hunting on your Bucket List? Maybe now is the time…
Safari Packages for 2021 and 2022 are ready.
Quote on COVID from website below.
“There is currently NO COVID vaccine requirement and NO quarantine for travelers who present a negative COVID test. There are currently direct flights running to South Africa from the United States, Europe, Dubai (UAE), and Doha (Qatar) on United, Delta, KLM, Emirates, and Qatar Airways.”
If Africa is on your bucket list, now is the time to do the research. Below is Big Game Hunting Adventures in Africa.
I published my African Safari e-book Kindle edition and it is sold on Amazon for only $12.99. It was a father son hunt in South Africa and was worth every penny. The link is African Safari Rifle and Bow And Arrow. I share our first time Safari hunt experiences, dangers, surprises, joys and getting your mounts back home.
I hunted with bow and rifle and scored high in SCI like my Gold Medal Kudu below.
We visited a place called Wonderwerk Cave and saw cave painting and stone spear heads and learned about our ancestral roots dating back tens of thousands of years and more. That’s in the Kindle book too. All together we took 1 Kudu, 1 Gemsbok, 1 Red Hartebeest, 3 Impala, 2 Blesbok, 1 Springbok, and an Ostrich. in a weeks time. We got to eat wild game prepared for us from our hunt each day and had a roaring campfire every night. Check it on the net, you’ll be glad you did.
Each big game animal hunt in far off place has its own check list. Common to all hunts is clothing, safety, communication, hunting laws, and tools to care for game meat and away to get your game back to your car or truck.
Getting lost or turned around in the north woods happens every day even by experienced hunters like you and me.
Clothing
Clothing is perhaps the most overlooked area. Camo or Orange depends on laws and timing of the hunt. Dress in layers so that after the sun comes out and you climb a hill you don’t sweat. In the deer woods, wearing a white or a tan colored shirt as an under garment should be avoided. Folks over the years have been killed or wounded as a novice hunter thinks its a deer tail or even a deer. I like green and darker colors so that if I have to change a layer, I am color safe. Today there are many choices of jackets and pants. You want them to keep you warm but able to breath and wick moisture away as well as have some water repellency. Socks should be thick enough to keep feet warm yet fit not too tightly in boots. Boots are vital so spend money and get the best for your feet. Water Proof and Warm. Hats are essential in cold weather as much of your body heat is lost via your head and neck. I was able to harvest a moose in Newfoundland just because I paid attention to clothing and a thermal head and face mask. The wind was blowing at least 20 mph every day and gusts to 30 mph making it feel below zero. It was only October!
Safety & Survival
Safety is having piece of mind that you have covered all the bases. Maine Hunter Ed Offer a checklist that is comprehensive. See the websites below.
I must admit that I hunt big game more often than I squirrel hunt. But when I do, i recall my youth and get out my sharp shooter skills with .22 rimfire, it feels good. Years back when my kids were learning to hunt, squirrel was on the menu all the time. A chest shot is fine to take them down but a head shot is better. Accordingly, the head shot is what we strive for, but it doesn’t always happen. Missing a shot at a squirrel is easy to do.
I am fortunate to have recently bagged three grey squirrels and was going to make a stew for my grandkids. But, alas we were having difficulty with family schedules as they live an hour away and are homeschooling.
Skinning a squirrel is a straight forward proposition but the skin takes work to pull away from the meat. Once complete everything else is easy. I use a small knife and sharp small game shears.
I decided to cook all three for my wife and I , besides I thought it was best for my son to take one of his children hunting for their own full experience from field to frying pan.
I separated the legs from the body and halved the body for browning all parts together.
I dusted them with flour and browned the meat in a large skillet with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Then, on to pressure cook the meat for 14 minutes with 2 cups beef broth or bullion infused water with some salt and pepper, garlic powder, thyme and a bay leaf. It was perfect time, 14 minutes, as the meat was very tender. Some folks debone the meat after cooking. I like it on the bone.
I chopped stew veggies like carrot, celery, onion and potato and pressure cooked those for 7 minutes. Mixing the cooked meat and veggies allowed the flour to help thicken the stew. Below is a small tasty meal.
OMG it tastes like leg or thigh chicken meat and no hint of wild to it. One squirrel makes a meal but I would cook more for leftovers.
“Most of y’all know I have hunted around the world for a lot of different species. I have seen different cultures and the way of life in other countries. It has truly been life-changing, and I am forever thankful for these experiences. It’s something you can’t really fathom until you experience it for yourself.
One of the most common questions I get in regards to hunting “exotic” species is, “Do people really eat that?”
I can assure you, people in rural third-world countries eat EVERYTHING! For us, in America, it’s hard to understand that people really do eat elephants and lions instead of just going to a local grocery store down the road and grabbing beef. It’s important to realize that not everyone has access to places like that and/or can’t afford it.
Hunting in countries like South Africa or Zimbabwe, locals rely on hunters to get meat and protein. For those people, it’s their way of life.
I have seen firsthand local village tribes showing up once an elephant is killed to help skin the animal so that they can take some of the meat back to their village. When I harvested an elephant, I witnessed over 300 villagers show up to do their part and get the reward of the animal’s meat.
I came across this post from blood origins that is very powerful:”
See the website above for the post:
I responded with these comments:
Kendall, Your a brave woman to write this article. It is much needed to thwart the crazy lefts idea that we are killing just for fun. Conservation of the species allows us to hunt the excess or land damaging population and connect with the local culture with money, gifts and friendship. As a lifelong deer hunter and one time hunter of Africa, I saw first hand the 100% utilization of game meat. The dollars spent go toward supporting those animals. Without those huge hunter funds, these animals an the land languish and wither. Here at home we have a family rule, if you kill it, you eat it unless it is a pest animal. In Africa we cannot bring the meat home but rest assured, it is hugely welcome by villagers. My wife is a non-hunter and over 50 years she is very supportive of hunting, cooking and consuming delicious organic game meat.
I was in my local NH sporting goods store a few days ago and say a very nice looking rifle with a synthetic Monte Carlo stock with cheek rest and jeweled bolt. It was super nice looking. As we all do, I looked at the price tag and my jaw dropped.
It was a CVA in 6.5 Creedmoor and was $489 dollars. Holy Cow! All those extras for $489.00. Buy that one now for hunting season and have the Mrs. wrap the box for under the Christmas tree. CVA has been in the business for many years and a trusted source.
CVA Rifles come in other calibers and stock styles and camo too. Check it out!
“The CASCADE is CVA’s first ever bolt-action centerfire rifle. Long the leader in both muzzle-loading rifles and single-shot centerfires, CVA has applied it’s nearly 50 years of experience into making what they feel to be the best bolt-action on the market at $600 or below. The CASCADE’s 4140 carbon steel barrel is finished in a rich, matte blue. The series also features a threaded muzzle, making it ready for a brake or suppressor whenever you are. The bolt design incorporates a 70° throw for smooth and fast operation, plus generous scope clearance. The two-position safety is conveniently located for natural and instantaneous operation. And loading is a breeze with its four round, flush fit, detachable magazine.”
Today hunting bullet designs are changing rapidly especially rifle bullets. Accordingly, a mechanism of ballistic gel is used to see the potential terminal ballistic damage done to the gel as it simulates wild game body parts and fluids. One can see the track voids left in the gel to signify the radial damage to surrounding tissue. Historically, water or melon like a water melon, or containers of water was used to demonstrate the power of the round but had difficulty capturing the bullet damage track or level of penetration. Thus standards and gel formulas were created.
Below was a pistol bullet track in gel. Note the larger track damage at the entrance.
From www.gundigest.com
The gel often made of either clear 10% silicone gel like the FBI uses or a 10% amber gelatin to track and recover the bullet. If you look at my last article, you can see the tremendous and violent track done in the first 10 inches and often throws the 20 pound gel block in the air and in slow motion it wants to explode with very high velocity rounds. That is a lot of bruised meat!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mjiqGPwrIwA
On entrance to the gel the bullet may encounter bone thus experiments are performed at different speeds and different bone-skin or skin and no bone. Most of todays bonded bullets will mushroom. Monolithic copper bullets, on the other hand, are designed to open and flare like a banana peel into petals. And some of the peels flare like an aircraft propeller while others fold to either make a mushroom or some are designed to peel and detach to make a mother bullet that peels off the smaller copper petals to radiate additional bullet damage.
Those of us that see faster bullets, see gel blocks correspondingly explode thus giving the impression that faster is better. That is partially true, but if your deer meat is all bruised and blood shot from your super fast bullet, then it won’t look or taste well after cooking. Will it? Thus ideally we want it all, a fast (dead right there) kill, but less blood shot meat and more edible deer meat to eat. Right? A compromise is needed and that means you need to try the bullet on game too.
Gel test to simulate a long range hit is also important. What does the wound track look like at slower long range velocities like 1800 fps. Did the bullet mushroom or flare as advertised? What about bone? All this needs experimentation and examination to reach an edible conclusion if we are going to cook it.
Choose a caliber that you shoot and handle well for deer and it begins with cartridges like the 243 Winchester, 7mm-08 Winchester, 6.5 Creedmoor, .270 Winchester, 308 Winchester. The .223 with heavier than 55 grains will work but I prefer the .243 as a starter caliber. The most popular today is the 6.5 Creedmoor and very similar to the .270. A favorite of mine is the 6.5 as it has moderate recoil and can kill deer size game out way past 400 yards.
If you are a seasoned hunter, then you know, all of these cartridges will work fine. And all will work on many African Plains Game species too, though the 243 is perhaps a bit light.
However, if you are strictly hunting here in the Northeast then you can include the venerable 30-30 Winchester and 35 Remington lever guns which are good for brush type environments like mixed hard and soft woods to 150 yards, have moderate recoil and with a flat nose, pack a real punch. Or step up to the 30-06 Springfield which is the same caliber as the .308, just faster and more recoil.
After that we get into magnum like cartridges that have more energy delivered and more recoil. Many hunters add newer recoil reducing pad such as the Pachmayr Decelerator or SIMS SVL Pad, which reduces felt recoil up to 50%. A real smart thing to do!
Short range big bore brush rifles like the 444, 450 and 45-70 are great but pack more recoil. Change the recoil pad.
Bullets and Ballistic Gel Tests
Now choose the bullet. Ballistic Gel Tests are a help in evaluating mushrooming and penetration. I have included some below.
Federal is one of those cartridge companies that use bullets from many manufacturers.
Bullets are the part that does the killing, thus you want good bullet construction. One of the mainstays of deer hunters has been the Remington Core Lokt bullet since 1939 but there are dozens more. See the ballistic gel test below. part 1 and part 2.
The best bullets today are bonded bullets, where the lead is bonded to copper and mushrooms well. And also monolithic copper which often flares into propeller like petals and maintains nearly 100% of its weight. Newer copper bullet designs are coming out every year.
My favorite bonded bullet is the Nosler AccuBond. See ballistic gel test below.
Below is the Nosler Expansion Tip (E-Tip) Gilding Copper Monolithic Ballistic Gel Test.
and Hornady GMX gilding copper monolithic very similar to the E-Tip
A new one, I hope to test is the Hammer Hunter an all copper monolithic hollow point which at high speed creates petals that separate into four 25 cal bullets and still has its parent bullet hammering even more penetration.
Swift Scirocco II monolithic copper bullet ballistic gel test below.
There is some movement in the hunting bullet industry toward monolithic bullets which often maintain much of the original weight, flare well, and drop game fast.
If you go onto the net and to YouTube you can see more gel tests too.
Today my own main go-to bullets are Nosler AccuBonds and E-tips. They shine for accuracy and have great weight retention and punch!
New Hampshire Rifleman Magazine will soon be testing hunting bullets for the 6.5 Creedmoor made by Hammer Bullets Advanced Technology. Check out their website by clicking on the logo.
As I wrote in a recent article, copper bullets are aren’t just for California. They have no lead and have penetration and weight retention features even for their so called light bullets e.g. 85 grain bullets clocking 3400 fps and seemingly drop big game as if hit by lightning. Yes, and we all like that!
My cleaning issue has historically been that some brands of copper bullets smear the barrel. This patented design offers more than reduced fouling of the barrel. It offers;
Higher and consistent velocity
Superior accuracy
Less engraving pressure
Less barrel heat and erosion
Minimal game waste
I look forward to testing a range of bullets for my 6.5 Creedmoor soon and sharing the results with you. Who knows, it may turn your thinking more towards copper for hunting… We shall see!
I looked back at my notes and decided, even though very pleased with the accuracy of the loads in the article, I felt as if I should have gotten more velocity and energy out of the 129 grain Nosler AccuBond Long Range bullet. This is where reloading your own cartridge can be so helpful. The round nose load is perfect but on the Nosler ABLR , can I get more velocity and energy? Yes!
Discovering that Hodgdon’s H4350 has velocity limitations with this bullet, I went back into research mode and compared notes by both Hornady and Nosler Manuals and found that Winchester 760 powder (a ball powder that meters well and in my powder cupboard) should be tested to increase delivered energy and speed, yet maintain accuracy. I gave it a go working up a max load, (read the manuals) and found that I could increase my muzzle velocity by 300 fps to an average cold barrel velocity of 2968 fps and a 3 shot Standard Dev. of 10, thus increasing delivered energy by well over 300 ft-lbs.
My rifle, a Weatherby Vanguard with a 24 inch barrel handled this new Winchester 760 load with the Nosler 129 grain AccuBond, in good order and maintained near MOA accuracy. Inspecting the cartridge and primer are important. Point of impact at 100 yards was essentially exactly the same as I had already established. Nice. What is great about the Nosler AccuBond Long range besides being a bonded copper/lead bullet that stays together is how it holds it’s long range energy for deer to 600 yards say on a western hunt. And has a Max point blank range MPBR of nearly 300 yards if you zero for 250 yards. Where you put your crosshairs on the shoulder or just behind and shoot at 295 yards if you are practiced at those ranges. See the table below.
When I deer hunt with my recurve, I use an attached bow quiver that shields and hold my arrows with cut-on-contact broadheads.
For safety sake I test my quiver to ensure that arrow don’t inadvertently slip down or pop out of the shield or rubber grippers.
A loose broadhead can severely injure you or your bow string. It is wise to carry a First Aid Kit with Pressure Bandages. I do!
I practice with the quiver attached because it can effect shot placement and gets me used to navigating the woods with broadhead arrows. Vibration can loosen your well protected broadheads thus, it pays to inspect the quiver and incorporate a visual check as you hunt or stump shoot to ensure they won’t come loose on the hunt. I look at the arrow length at the nock when it is in the quiver regularly and ensure no movement.
I have an attached recurve bow quiver that shoots quietly but it is not holding my arrows as tight as I would like. Often, arrows are either smaller diameter than the rubber gripper or the gripper is showing wear. These grippers are parts that can normally be purchased from folks like 3 Rivers Archery or from Lancaster Archery et al. If your rubber gripper is worn then buy a new one or address the loose issue pronto.
This kind of problem is not new to bowhunters. With the advent of smaller shaft diameter and stiffer carbon spines, this is a common problem but be acutely aware that arrows that come loose an out of the shield are dangerous to you and your bow.
Accordingly, I created a tighter fix for my, one of a kind, 6 arrow rubber grippers by crisscrossing elastic bands inside the arrow grip slots thus making my arrows snap in tightly. I tested my setup and inspect it regularly, you should too.
If you are target shooting a lot when not hunting, I suggest you remove any broadheads from your quiver for safety sake and put the broadheads on when hunting.
