I think the 45 was great on the zebra. Would have I been a more experienced hunting shooter, these animals would have dropped much earlier with a shoulder shot. Not sure if lung or heart shot would make them drop as fast as they had a lot of adrenaline to keep them going.
It made for an entertaining hunt, having to chase them around to get close enough for a shot. I’m flat to about 120yds, drop 4” at 150yds and 12” at 200yds. Being able to range them would allow proper drop compensation. The crew told me they heard a very nice smack as the bullet hit the zebra (I couldn’t hear it with ear protection tho). Easy tracking due to the big hole pumping out blood.
On our first day, as I was being curious about where to shoot my animals, my PH said: “Don’t worry. With your gun, if you shoot him in the ass, he’s dead.”
Despite one being shot behind the shoulder in the ribs and the other one in the neck, they both didn’t go very far and were easy to track. They indeed were dead no matter where I shot them. Other hunter shot one in the chest with a 30-06, it ran for a mile then shot again with a 270WSM and ran another half mile before dying. Big bore won over raw energy.
They are beautiful animals to watch and handle. Was very excited especially about my second one when we walked up to it as we did quite the car chase of the herd for about 2 miles waiting for them to stop near a road. Would love to do it again.
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