In July of 2015, my son Kim who lives in Melbourne, Australia came on father -and-son hunt with me. We hunted in Limpopo Province on a game farm situated in the triangle between Vaalwater, Thabazimbi and Lephalale.
I would not call Kim an experienced hunter although he had by then shot over ten different species of animals in his hunting career.
He was shooting a Sako Blackbear in 308W loaded with Barnes Vor-tx 165 gr ammunition. This combination had already proved quite deadly on a big Water Buck male as well as a nice Blue Wildebeest, the Barnes 165 gr. TTSX having completely penetrated the Blue Wildebeest on a side shoulder shot and having penetrated the Water Buck from front shoulder to tail on a front quartering shot. Both animals fell to the shot on the spot.
On that particular morning the two of us as and the tracker were hunting a part of the farm that was characterized by particularly thick bushveld.
After about 3 hours of hunting, the headache that I had started the morning with, had deteriorated and I asked the tracker to call the vehicle by radio in order to take me back to the camp. My son was to continue hunting back to the camp with the tracker.
Shortly after arriving back, the hunting vehicle came flying back into the camp and I was informed that my son had wounded a large Eland bull and that we were now going to do a follow up in order to locate the wounded animal. I immediately jumped up grabbed my rifle and accompanied the vehicle back to where my son and the tracker were waiting. They had found blood and were ready to take up the spoor.
Kim explained that they spotted a massive Eland bull at under 40 meters through the thick bush. The bull was facing them, he could clearly see his chest and that he couldn’t really see the rest of the animal’s body. The tracker put up the sticks and my son fired a shot into the massive chest of the Eland. He was not confident of the shot and said that the Eland had run off quite strongly.
That is when the fun started and the eland took us on the tour of the farm. We tracked the Eland for 6 hours and for over 10 kilometers, at times we could hear the clicking of the Eland’s tendon as it slipped over the bone of his knee but we could not see him to get another shot at him. The chase continued until darkness and we called it a day. My son was shattered as we could not find the animal he had wounded.
We were leaving the next day and I had to cough up for a wounded animal that we could not locate.
What lessons can be learned from the sorry tale above? This is what I take from the experience.
An Eland is a massive animal and frontal shots are to be discouraged unless the shooter is experienced and he is shooting a caliber that has sufficient penetration to to reach the vitals. Clearly the 308W with the Vor-tx ammunition was capable of doing this, having previously been exhibited by other game we shot. In this case it would appear that the because the Eland was peering through the bush with the rest of his body not directly in line with his chest, the bullet zipped in at angle, penetrated the brisket and then passed through. In retrospect he should never have taken that shot and his lack experience contributed to situation that followed.
The African bushveld does not always afford the opportunity of classic hunting shots, side on, into the shoulder of animals. Often a hunter needs to get “on the sticks” and shoot quickly or his opportunity will be lost. This is where calibers like the various 375’S or a 9,3x62 come into their own. They just hit harder and the chance of dropping the animal with a less than perfect shot is that much greater.
If one is an ethical hunter and respects the game one hunts, one owes it to ensure a quick death for that animal. This would include choosing the correct caliber from the outset. In the case of Eland the biggest caliber that one can shoot accurately and that would be capable of taking an Eland. He would also do well to have practiced shooting off sticks at various distances.
If I was hunting Eland I would never leave camp without my trusted 375 H&H loaded with Swift A Frame ammunition. Would I use a 308W ? The answer would have to be no!
Happy hunting!
but 180gr mono bullets seem to work as good as much heavier conventional or bonded ones.
