Dangerous Game Range

[WAB]

Strictly my opinion - and yes I well know they can move fast - but a bear at 300 feels less like DG and more like simply 'game'. (though it does point to pretty decent shooting skill)

I’ve seen black bear shot at 300, but never brown bear. I think typical is well inside 200. Personally, I want to get as close as possible to maximize the chance of a good first shot.

 

[mdsalern]

Thank you all for your replies.

Kevin, your words describe exactly my thoughts. The romantic view?

IvW: I was pretty sure DG is defined at the Big five…plus Hippo

 

[Rell]

Closest bear was 6 yards in a corn field, average on over 50 has been 50 yards.

The longest buff was maybe 50m, closest was 9m.

Now bushbuck, maybe not dangerous really but certainly royal game!! Closest was at the end of my rifle barrel maybe 2m and farthest was 700m.

In open country sometime yoy have to take bears way out there, but … it’s not optimal.

 

[50Gunner]

Cape Buffalo at 26 and 16 yards, Hippo 18 yards with his lady by his side with calf while the bull was fussing with another bull hidden just behind him in a Karongo?..........what a rush! that said, i had been told of some very large Buffalo in the area, had i saw a monster and couldnt close the distance with my double, i had along a scoped 400 H&H firing 400gr A-Frames at 2400 fps. i would be happy and blessed to have a monster bear, but taking it at close range would have been much more satisfying and most memorable.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

IvW: I was pretty sure DG is defined at the Big five…plus Hippo

But you did mention bears in your OP.

 

[ARHinAK]

How close should one expect to be to be while hunting dangerous game? Someone recently told me that they got their trophy bear at over 300 yards and their guide wouldn’t get closer. That definitely didn’t seem dangerous.

Thank you for the replies.

“Trophy bear”, what does that mean? I’m sure it means different things to different people. A fresh out of the den spring black bear, or a scared up old brown bear. Big difference in animals but either could be a trophy in the eye of the hunter.
And the guide wouldn’t get closer or couldn’t get closer? Seems awfully odd if (wouldn’t get closer) is the answer. Maybe he should look for another line of work.
Bears are just seen as game by most people I know. Everyone knows they can kill you, (lost a soldier to a grizzly this week) but I’ve never heard anyone say they were going hunting “Dangerous Game” when going bear hunting. It’s just not common parlance as far as I know.
Being close enough to make an ethical kill is what should be expected.

 

[Red Leg]

Depend on the game, I think you be as far as possible hunting wild cats, Those things are fast and things can go south very fast.

A leopard or lion will be shot inside 100 meters - often closer to fifty (or less) than 100. A puma will be shot out of the tree you are standing under. Tigers aren’t hunted any longer, but that too was a close range experience. To what “wild cats” do you refer?

 

[mcaustin]

I shot my Mulchatna Drainage grizzly up in AK at 22 yards, after stalking him from about 800. Whether we classify that as DG or not, that hunt was a rush!

 

[Gemsbok45]

I shot a Mt. Griz in the Yukon at 150 yards. I was good with it. Elephant and Buffalo,the whole experience is getting close.It’s a great experience getting right into their kitchen. 45 inch buff at 100 yards. Your call!

 

[Big5]

My first Africa hunt took place in Zimbabwe (Chewore) in ’92 for cape buffalo, lion and leopard. Although several years have now passed something the ph told me about dangerous game hunting has always stuck with me. He said, and I quote; “Dangerous game should be taken within 50 yards. To do otherwise is unsporting”.

What that ph said may not suit everyone but I strongly agree with him. Taking dangerous game at 50 yards or less can be a real challenge at times and may not always end as we had planned. But I believe hunting hard to meet that challenge is what dangerous game hunting is all about.

Just my 2 cents . . . . otherwise good hunting to you all.


.

 

[willbaforce]

A leopard or lion will be shot inside 100 meters - often closer to fifty (or less) than 100. A puma will be shot out of the tree you are standing under. Tigers aren’t hunted any longer, but that too was a close range experience. To what “wild cats” do you refer?

And Cheetah ? They are super fast and the wrong shot could get them running towards you in anger.

 

[IvW]

And Cheetah ? They are super fast and the wrong shot could get them running towards you in anger.

You are clueless.......are you a hunter or a troll?

 

[Spooksar]

And Cheetah ? They are super fast and the wrong shot could get them running towards you in anger.

Shot my Cheetah at about 20 yards, it didn’t go far with one through the heart. As always shot placement is the key, if you can’t place your shot where you want don’t shoot

 

[geoff rath]

There is something very special about getting close. There are two circles of comfort, the animal's and yours, and when those two just overlap I reckon you have the true essence of the hunt. That is not to say further shots, particularly on PG are to be discounted, but we are talking DG here. Most of my encounters with DG have been on safari walks without a rifle, and DG are different, especially buffalo, lion and elephant. They have confidence that they can do you in any time they so desire, so they have presence. In almost every case my circle runs out before their's does, which is a good thing. Once with my Ruger No1 on my one and only buffalo we stalked right into a herd looking for a non trophy bull. It was very close. Then they came closer... The accuracy of you shot or sighting system is a given at these ranges, the thing that is on test is your nerve. We never got a shot that day but when you can smell them and see their ticks, you have hunted them anyway

I greatly admire a hunter, man or woman, who hunts Buff/DG wit a single sot, falling block rifle. Justifiable confidence demonstrated ...

 

[Red Leg]

And Cheetah ? They are super fast and the wrong shot could get them running towards you in anger.

I now regret wasting my time on the first response.

 

[Tom Leoni]

I now regret wasting my time on the first response.

Your responses are never wasted, Red Leg.

I'm 100% with @Kevin Peacocke on the issue of distance. I have a theory that the innate, evolutionary pleasure that Natural Man derives from hunting is inversely proportional to the distance at which we hunt. Getting close to an animal without its detecting us will therefore produce a much stronger natural response in our system than the more artificial pleasure we may get at potting game at 300+ yards. That's because our ancestors evolved to hunt at close distances--and that's the vestigial instinct that we still have. I want to make it plain, however, that I'm not knocking long-range hunting--it's just something that does not interest me.

I seem to remember reading in Brian Herne's modern classic White Hunters that, even between the wars, a 100-yard shot at lion was considered long--and this during a time when a lion license was relatively inexpensive and a wounded beast that got away, while still an undesirable and embarrassing situation, was not considered quite as much of a nightmare scenario as now.

If hunting plains game at long distances is something I wouldn't do, hunting dangerous game from farther away than a vigorous stone-throw I find downright unthinkable. I doubt even most PHs would encourage it.

 

[Tanks]

The biggest problem I see with sniping at dangerous game from a distance is when things do not go right and the PH and maybe the client have to chase a wounded animal in the bush. Heck, even from close up if that first shot is not at the right place things can go South.

It came out that a recently deceased Zimbabwe PH Smythe was after a wounded elephant (missed side brain shot) alone (US client refused to follow up), and now 3 kids (3rd daughter born a few months after his death) are without a father.

 

[Troubleshooter]

There is something very special about getting close. There are two circles of comfort, the animal's and yours, and when those two just overlap I reckon you have the true essence of the hunt. That is not to say further shots, particularly on PG are to be discounted, but we are talking DG here.

And this is the difference between "hunting" and "target shooting."

One of my buddies shot an 8 footer in the rain... in his boxers... at 20 feet... with his .44. Killed it dead as a hammer. I saw it unfold: I was there.

Can't say as I blame him. If I saw a bear wearing my boxers, I'd have shot it too!

 

[Newboomer]

And this is the difference between "hunting" and "target shooting."


Can't say as I blame him. If I saw a bear wearing my boxers, I'd have shot it too!

Spot and stalk, stalk being the key. Get as close as you can without being detected. The closer you get, the more accurate that first shot. The farther away, the more the muzzle wavers and the more chance of the shot missing vitals. Not a good scenario with dg.

 

[Nevada Mike]

And this is the difference between "hunting" and "target shooting."

... and animals are NOT targets. They deserve respect, care and a clean death.