Shooting a rhino in RSA requires paperwork and also requires a game biologist on scene to drill into the horns and take a DNA sample. They weren't with us so our group had to walk back out and meet them (there were two) and take them back to the rhino. This we did and the rhino was standing more or less where we had left him. Now I went from being a bystander to one of the two central players. Dave had to come up with a plan to get a shot on the animal and it wasn't going to be easy.
We got to about 80 meters broadside and went on sticks, hoping he would move forward slightly. After 15 minutes like this with no change, Dave decided to move us forward another 20 meters, which we did and stayed like that on sticks for another 5 minutes.
Next he moved us slightly to the right and 20 more meters closer. Rhino don't have very good vision and he was unconcerned with all this movement, although we were creeping more than moving.
Finally, I was shown the shot I had and damned if it didn't look like the one I had had on the eland a few days earlier. The one I had sworn never to take again!
After much studying of what was what on the animal I became convinced that I could discern the bare shoulder. He was quartering slightly toward Dave and me. I took a steady aim on the shoulder and about a third of the way up and slowly pressed the trigger. People say you don't remember recoil in these situations, but I distinctly did. At the shot the rhino took off at a run. He went about 100 meters, curving slightly to the right, then stopped (still in obscuring brush). After a few seconds he laid down with his head up. After a few more seconds he laid his head down, and after a few more seconds he laid on his side and expired.
I had made just the shot I wanted and the Hornady DGX performed well -- lodging itself just under the skin on the opposite side. I fired a finishing shot upward between his legs which stopped in his spine.
