Evening chaps,
I am thinking about my 2nd trip the SA next year sometime and am intrigued by the idea of stalking steenbok and duiker. I was wondering if any members could shed some light on what it is like to hunt them and the challenges, etc. I imagine they are similar to Muntjac which we have over here.
Cheers, Tom
Hello UKHunter,
The various pigmy antelopes are for some reason more fascinating for me than the "normal sized" ones except perhaps bushbuck (and of course Bongo, which I cannot afford to hunt anyway).
For calibers, some PHs recommend whatever you like to use but with a heavy for caliber round nose bullet at lower velocity.
Heavy bullets such as 220 grain in .30 caliber are generally meant for things like moose, wildebeest, bear and similar.
Therefore, they often do not expand much if at all on such tiny animals, (thereby saving the hair/skin) and yet, due to their blunt shape, they still hit hard and put the small animal down quickly.
Not sure if such ammunition is available in .270 caliber but perhaps your PH can have some waiting for you when you arrive in camp? (very sketchy on that idea).
More likely though, he will have some rifle of his own that is well suited to those animals (most PHs keep a .375 H&H about, plus a few 300 grain solids for that sort of thing, (as well as for other larger jobs).
Best Regards,
Velo Dog.