Hunt over water; Shoot from truck

[Hogpatrol]

That looks fun.
I wonder if they have the m60 option with paint it black or fortune son playing over the intercom???

Or Ride of the Valkyries.

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

Speaking about elk-deer. Vehicle trailer to trail head. Horse to hunting camp. Horse or foot to hunting area. Spot and stalk, track glass, take a nap awake & take another step back into nature. All proper all ethical.

Lon

 

[WAB]

Ok, here’s something you don’t see every day, two does pointing a dead bobcat I shot about 15 minutes prior. Literally locked up like a pair of bird dogs! Not sure that adds anything to the conversation, but there ya go…

 

[Hunt anything]

Ok, here’s something you don’t see every day, two does pointing a dead bobcat I shot about 15 minutes prior. Literally locked up like a pair of bird dogs! Not sure that adds anything to the conversation, but there ya go…
I’ve put trail cameras on deer gut piles and about 50% of the time it’s deer that investigate first before the critters come in and eat whatever is left.
View attachment 595066

 

[Hunting Hitman]

I respect everyone’s individual way they choose to hunt as long as it’s legal.
In Africa I have hunted from the back of a truck during a large cull operation(200 springbok, impala, zebra) all females. It was good trigger time but more work than I anticipated as all meat was used.
Other than that it has been a combination of back of the truck until we see the animal or identify a track we want to go after then spot and stalk style. I have never hunted a waterhole but find that no different than hunting a food plot from an elevated stand/blind of which I’ve done hundreds of times.
To each their own…stay safe, take a kid hunting, and have fun!

HH

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Ontario: You consistently over rate your skills and sell short the skills of others - whatever You Do seems to always to be self-rated as “superior”. Definitely you have some experience and maybe even shoot decently with average or better hunting skills. I’m sure you’ve taken some B&C records - or will say something derogatory about why “you don’t care about that” etc.. There are so many members on this forum with equal or greater experience & knowledge, they share their opinions openly and with a strong point of view - yet manage to withhold the judge mental know-it-all-tone that some others can’t resist. I enjoy hearing about your hunts and your opinions, especially on some firearms….the tone is usually ignored so as not to miss “the good”…and usually there’s some “good”.

You claim there is no skill involved in tracking animals in snow. I elaborated on the skill needed to track animals and get the drop on them up close and personal. So what's your problem? You didn't know, now you do. You're welcome.

Relatively speaking, there is no hunting skill shooting something from a truck or sitting at a waterhole. It's shooting stuff.

 

[62flint]

You claim there is no skill involved in tracking animals in snow. I elaborated on the skill needed to track animals and get the drop on them up close and personal. So what's your problem? You didn't know, now you do. You're welcome.

Relatively speaking, there is no hunting skill shooting something from a truck or sitting at a waterhole. It's shooting stuff.

I have tracked animals in the snow many times.
It’s quite enjoyable and much easier with snow than with out. Animals stand out better, the snow quiets your approach etc.
Hunting over water holes food plots bait etc all presents with their unique challenges.
I typically don’t say much along these lines
But dammit man save some awesomeness for the rest of us would you.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

First, I want to thank everyone who has responded to my other posts as I plan my first hunt. You have been a wealth of information and I am most grateful.

For this post….
I would like to get a feel for what’s acceptable/sporting on two topics…
1) Hunting over water
2) Shooting animals from the truck

- Is the choice purely one of preference or is there a sportsmanship flavor as well (which can also be tied to preference)?
- Does it depend on the species you’re hunting?….i.e. - Kudu versus warthog
- Does it vary by outfitter?…meaning some will do it and others won’t “allow” it?

My gut tells me I don’t want to finally be going on an Africa hunt and then shoot a critter from the truck, BUT if the kudu of a lifetime is out 250 yards from the truck, does that make it sporting?
It would seem to me that being able to stalk up on anything IS the “hunt” (and the sport)?

Curious what your thoughts are and…as always…your experience will help me decide.

Totally depends on you and your situation. I've done both. I've shot most of my game off the truck stalking or sitting in a blind. But I have shot warthogs from the truck. I'm not ashamed to admit it. It was simply no time to get off and do a stalk on in those circumstances.

 

[black tail]

I was hunting in the woods Saturday morning. Got set up around 6:10. Around 8:00 I see a doe approaching from the West. I noticed she kept pausing, and looking back. There was a buck about 50 yards behind her in hot pursuit. I've got the buck in the scope when he gets in range, and stops to tend a scrape on the way. He's got a tight set for antlers, which used to be an 8, but the main beam on his left was missing about half of it (which tells me a way bigger buck kicked his ass). Hopefully he'll be around next year, as well as his bigger cousin. I put the rifle down, and let him go for the year. Instead, I watch him with the binoculars. About 30 seconds later, someone shoots a mile or so South of me, and the buck and doe take off. That tells me someone has been shooting at them, probably more than once.

 

[sestoppelman]

I think you can only answer this question for yourself as everyone has much different feeling/thoughts on the subject.

I can say that during one of my hunts I was pushed to shoot everything off the truck and I was pretty pissed off by the end. Needless to say I will not be hunting with that outfit again

My first trip over was the same. I finally had to take the PH aside tell him to knock it off, not shooting stuff from the truck!
He was shocked, shocked,, that I wasnt playing along.

 

[Ridge Runner]

So you think you are a tracker by being able to follow tracks a blind person can follow in snow.

What it means and takes to be a skilled tracker.

How good are your tracking skills when it comes to tracking game:

over raw, dry terrain?
over rough, rocky terrain?
in soft, silty, shale, sandy, soil terrain?
in dry colorful, fall leaves?
in damp colorful fall leaves?
over dry ground?
over wet ground?

Identifying the freshness of a game trail in:
dry terrain?
wet terrain?
soft terrain?
rocky terrain?

Judging the size and sex of the animal? Being able tell the difference between a doe/cow track with dewclaws and a buck/bull track in deep, soft, wet soil?

Judging sizes of bucks/bulls by rubs and scrapes?

Can you spot a browse trail and follow it in the animal's direction?

To be a skilled tracker is not just about following an animal's path but also being able to judge where the animal is heading to and avoiding the animal's sense of smell by staying down wind, avoiding up drafts and down drafts that can carry one's scent to the preys nostrils.

Its the fall of the year, only the multi colored leaves cover the ground, no snow on the ground, after the shot, and the animal runs off, can you find the seemingly invisible blood trail? Can you tell by the blood where the bullet or broad head impaled the animal? ie heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, stomach, intestines, etc..

A skilled tracker must also be able to spot their prey and be able to judge the quailty of their prey.

The hunter inside the tracker must decide if the prey is worth the effort to proceed with this hunt or look for a more suitable animal.

To call oneself a skilled tracker one must be proficient at tracking not just one species of animals but a variety of different species of animals over a multitude of types of terrain in all types of seasons and weather conditions.

 

[Ridge Runner]

I was hunting in the woods Saturday morning. Got set up around 6:10. Around 8:00 I see a doe approaching from the West. I noticed she kept pausing, and looking back. There was a buck about 50 yards behind her in hot pursuit. I've got the buck in the scope when he gets in range, and stops to tend a scrape on the way. He's got a tight set for antlers, which used to be an 8, but the main beam on his left was missing about half of it (which tells me a way bigger buck kicked his ass). Hopefully he'll be around next year, as well as his bigger cousin. I put the rifle down, and let him go for the year. Instead, I watch him with the binoculars. About 30 seconds later, someone shoots a mile or so South of me, and the buck and doe take off. That tells me someone has been shooting at them, probably more than once.

The Bad and Sad : You let that doe and buck walk today. The hunter(s) down from you may not let either of these animals walk past them, because they will want to fill their tags.

Now comes the bigger question:

It's down to the last day, 2, 3, 4, 5, days of the hunting season and you haven't filled a tag, in fact these are the only 2 deer you have seen all season; Would you still have let either of these 2 deer walk away?

The above is a rethorical question. And every hunter that continues to hunt over many years will eventually be faced with, more than once.

Hopefully that buck will survive the harsh winter months, predation, and disease for you to get another chance at him. Again rethorical question: if you never see this buck again; will you have any regrets about not shooting him?

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Ok, here’s something you don’t see every day, two does pointing a dead bobcat I shot about 15 minutes prior. Literally locked up like a pair of bird dogs! Not sure that adds anything to the conversation, but there ya go…

View attachment 595066

I'm sure its the scent of the Bobcat. They have to be alert to that scent every day of their lives, so once they get that wiff they probably just on alert.

Had a similar scenario where we were hunting Blue Duiker and a Caracal came to the Water hole. As you would have it, Caracal was on the list, and if it was not, it would get onto the list very quickly. After dispatching the Caracal, we sneaked out of the undergrowth, took a few photos, and I had my tracker skin it where we had left the truck while we got back into the blind. As soon as the Blue Duiker hit a certain angle where they caught the scent of the Caracal, the took off like a bat out of hell. As the scent dissipated, they became more calm and finally giving us an opportunity.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

I'll put a different spin on the OP's question. You stalk onto a target animal, wait for a good shot and things don't go as planned. Animal gets wounded.
Only way to get a sure opportunity is by truck. Do you risk losing the animal in the name of ethics, or are willing to put it out of its misery from the back of the truck?

 

[Ridge Runner]

I'll put a different spin on the OP's question. You stalk onto a target animal, wait for a good shot and things don't go as planned. Animal gets wounded.
Only way to get a sure opportunity is by truck. Do you risk losing the animal in the name of ethics, or are willing to put it out of its misery from the back of the truck?

I'll revert back to my thread on getting my gemsbok. I finished it off from the back of the bakki because I needed the elevation to make a finishing shot. IMPO It is an ethical and moral use of the bakki to quickly dispatch a wounded animal.

 

[HankBuck]

You claim there is no skill involved in tracking animals in snow. I elaborated on the skill needed to track animals and get the drop on them up close and personal. So what's your problem? You didn't know, now you do. You're welcome.

Relatively speaking, there is no hunting skill shooting something from a truck or sitting at a waterhole. It's shooting stuff.

Ontario: You’re skill is ignoring the point and “shooting from the truck” was Never in the discussion. Here’s the point and read “Slowly” —- There are many ways to hunt with skill, ethics, and sportsman like challenge….possibly even including some of your methods. There is so much information and knowledge on this forum that people actually learn things - as long as they’re not too busy trying to impress.
You can’t really be as grumpy and know-it-all as your Posts pretend - lighten up and enjoy some differing points of view.

 

[MS 9x56]

You will have to make these decisions for yourself based on your personal ethics. Your PH will ask you if you mind shooting from the truck and if not, tell them if you prefer not to. I can tell you, if you have a warthog on your list, you will have a hell of a time finding one NOT sitting by a pan/watering hole. Ground stalking warthogs is an effort in futility most times. The only animal I shot from a truck was over water as well and was...a warthog. Granted, we had been sitting there with the engine off for 2 hours.

With that being said, usually, you probably will not get a ton of truck shooting opportunities in Limpopo. It's very thick. Your opportunity to hunt from a truck will be very quick. Most of the animals will freeze for maybe 3-4 seconds before they trot off into the bush. That's 3-4 seconds for you to realize what you're seeing, to process your PH's go ahead, and then to actually line the animal up.

Watering holes are a nice break, IMO. After tons of driving around, stalking, etc. it's nice to sit and just see some cool stuff. You might not get to see some animals driving around and stalking. You also don't have to shoot anything either. We spent lunchtime at pans most days and it was awesome just to see the variety of stuff come in.

Here is the shot I took on my pig. We spent 2 days looking for a male. Settled on an old female "cull", of sorts. I had to shoot behind the rump of one cow, over the head of the one in the foreground, in front of one other, and maybe 5 minutes after taking this pic. Not an easy shot to say the least. I confessed to the PH I had concerns about accidentally hitting his cows as it was his land. In one of the best compliments anyone has ever paid me he said "I've seen you shoot, I'm not worried." I still was but in the end it worked out.

Red dot is where the pig was shot. View attachment 594846

I can see your trepidation. Your PH is a good judge of talent.

 

[HankBuck]

So you think you are a tracker by being able to follow tracks a blind person can follow in snow.

What it means and takes to be a skilled tracker.

How good are your tracking skills when it comes to tracking game:

over raw, dry terrain?
over rough, rocky terrain?
in soft, silty, shale, sandy, soil terrain?
in dry colorful, fall leaves?
in damp colorful fall leaves?
over dry ground?
over wet ground?

Identifying the freshness of a game trail in:
dry terrain?
wet terrain?
soft terrain?
rocky terrain?

Judging the size and sex of the animal? Being able tell the difference between a doe/cow track with dewclaws and a buck/bull track in deep, soft, wet soil?

Judging sizes of bucks/bulls by rubs and scrapes?

Can you spot a browse trail and follow it in the animal's direction?

To be a skilled tracker is not just about following an animal's path but also being able to judge where the animal is heading to and avoiding the animal's sense of smell by staying down wind, avoiding up drafts and down drafts that can carry one's scent to the preys nostrils.

Its the fall of the year, only the multi colored leaves cover the ground, no snow on the ground, after the shot, and the animal runs off, can you find the seemingly invisible blood trail? Can you tell by the blood where the bullet or broad head impaled the animal? ie heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, stomach, intestines, etc..

A skilled tracker must also be able to spot their prey and be able to judge the quailty of their prey.

The hunter inside the tracker must decide if the prey is worth the effort to proceed with this hunt or look for a more suitable animal.

To call oneself a skilled tracker one must be proficient at tracking not just one species of animals but a variety of different species of animals over a multitude of types of terrain in all types of seasons and weather conditions.

Ridge Runner: I let my Grandkids follow tracks in the Snow - they love it and they “Never lose the trail”….they must be Highly Skilled !! As far as tracking on dry ground — they can follow my tracks on a sandy Beach too, if they ever learn to follow “scent” - I’m gonna sell my bird dog !

 

[MS 9x56]

Truck aside, I read some posts on this thread that some will never shoot from a blind at a waterhole.
I'm guessing same people will never hunt a black bear or a leopard from a blind or whitetail from a tree stand?
Am I assuming correct?

Never say never, as never, is an awfull long time.

 

[WAB]

I'll put a different spin on the OP's question. You stalk onto a target animal, wait for a good shot and things don't go as planned. Animal gets wounded.
Only way to get a sure opportunity is by truck. Do you risk losing the animal in the name of ethics, or are willing to put it out of its misery from the back of the truck?

If an animal is wounded you use any and all means to end its suffering.