Category: Hunting

Seriously Tough

Hunting

Mr. Free Market has been doing some Internet research (LOL) during his break from evicting widows and demolishing historic homes, and has come up with this series of African hunting escapades, the PH being the peerless Buzz  Lightyear  Charlton, who cannot be described as a Zimbabwean.  Nope, anyone who stalks his prey in the African bush wearing Crocs or Birkenstocks is a damn Rhodesian.

Eland  (which makes me realize how lucky I was to get mine)

Buffalo

Elephant

I can’t see what the clients are shooting, but Buzz carries a .500 Nitro Express double rifle.

To call him an expert PH is to make a mockery of the term “expert”.

Oh, and note that after the shot is made, the party is in no hurry to get to the downed animal.  Caveat venator.

The Old Cartridge Question

Hunting, The Gun Thing

Ron Spomer was recently challenged to name his favorite cartridges for specific animals.  The catch?  He was restricted to only those cartridges developed and commercially sold before 1950.

In case you don’t have 20 minutes to watch the video, here’s the executive summary (with my very respectful preferences in parentheses):

Elk:  .300 H&H Magnum (9.3x62mm)
Mule Deer:  .270 Win
Whitetail:  7×57 Mauser
Moose:  .30-06 Springfield (9.3x62mm)
Pronghorn Antelope:  .257 Weatherby Magnum (.25-06 Remington)
Bison:  .375 H&H Magnum
Black Bear:  .35 Whelen (.32 Win Special OR .45-70 Govt, depending on the terrain)
Grizzly Bear:  .375 H&H Magnum
Elephant:  .375 H&H Magnum (.416 Rigby)

And by the way, I have absolutely no argument with any of Ron’s choices.  My “alternatives” are a personal preference, no more.  (I’d hope that he wouldn’t have a problem with any of mine, in return.)

Of course, I have opined on those wonderful cartridges of yore, and for those New Readers or else Elderly Readers Of Fading Memory, here’s a link to that 2003 post.

Getting The Blues

Hunting, Vermin

Okay, I never expected to see this:

Swarms of pigs have been found with neon blue skin after ingesting life-threatening pesticides.  

The electric blue-skinned hogs were first reported in Monterey County, California in March when trapper, Dan Burton, discovered several wild pigs with blue fat and muscle.  He told LA Times: “It’s wild. I’m not talking about a little blue. I’m talking about neon blue, blueberry blue.”

The feral swine are thought to have ingested the rat poison from dyed bait or feeding off other infected species.

Wow.  Assuming that all the above is true and not some cock-and-bull story cooked up by The Usual Suspects, I’m not at all sure how to comment.

I’ve never supported using poisoned bait to keep vermin under control, for the same reason that I don’t support fishing with explosives:  a bullet has one intended target, whereas both explosives and poison are simply labeled “To Whom It May Concern” — i.e. it’s indiscriminate targeting.

However:  there are two known facts extant.  The first is that wild pigs are becoming a pest on a national scale.  In Texas, you don’t need a permit to hunt them, and when you do there’s no bag limit, wild pigs being regarded as vermin.  Texas farmers not only allow pig-hunters on their property, they welcome them.

The second fact is that the state of California has the same regard for hunters as landowners have for vermin.  California, more than almost any other state, hamstrings the practice of hunting with all sorts of nonsensical regulations, even in the remotest parts of the state.  So landowners, not wanting to draw attention from the state’s feral bureaucrats and law enforcement, simply use other means to control the population — such as poison.

I’m not saying I agree with the practice, but I sure as hell understand it.

But that pic is still some kind of spooky, innit?

Finishing The Job

Hunting, Science!

This is interesting:

Burmese pythons, one of the world’s largest snakes, are also one of the most problematic invasive species in South Florida. First spotted in the Florida Everglades in the 1970s, the snakes were introduced, either accidentally or intentionally, through the exotic pet trade.

Since then, pythons have become top predators in the local food ecosystem. Despite the fact that they now exist throughout much of South Florida, they remain difficult to track down. That means researchers and conservationists need to find creative ways to lure them out into the open. 

And by creative, we mean really creative—and University of Florida (UF) researchers clearly understood the assignment.

Researchers led by UF professor of wildlife ecology and conservation Robert McCleery have released 40 solar-powered, remote-controlled robot bunnies in South Florida this month. The researchers replaced the plush toy’s stuffing with motors and heaters to imitate the motions and body temperatures of one of pythons’ favorite snacks: marsh rabbits.

I’m no professor of anything, but it seems to me that these boffins are missing a trick, here.  It’s all very well to “lure” these giant worms out into the open, but it’s pretty much useless when it comes to actually killing the loathsome creatures.

My suggestion:  a small explosive charge — it doesn’t have to be greater than, say, that of a large bottle rocket — inserted into the robo-bunnies, triggered by pressure on the outer frame.  This will do one of two things:  blow the snake’s head off when/if it bites the bunny;  or else blow the snake apart when it crushes the thing prior to ingestion.  Either outcome is satisfactory.

Of course, this will never happen because reasons.

Birding

Good Stuff, Hunting

We interrupt this stream of all-politics-all-the-time posts to bring you some traditional recreation shooting, courtesy of Jonny at TGS Outdoors.

As always, action-packed shooting and tons of informative content, all delivered in his trademark aw-shucks overgrown-schoolboy manner (and terrible schoolboy haircut), and all whilst stuck in typical gloomy Britishland shooting weather.

(gottim)

Still, there are some perks…

And the results are important, too.

Lovely.

Out Of Your Element

Hunting

Whenever someone asks me what it’s like to hunt in Africa, I’m kind of at a loss for words.

The African bushveldt, you see, is pretty difficult to hunt.  Here’s a representative sample:

It’s pretty dense — not tropical jungle, though as much densely covered, and visibility is often measured in feet rather than in yards.

To give you an idea of what this means:  from a standing start, a lion can cover 100 yards in about 3.5 seconds.  Typical visibility in lion country:  about 100 feet, as above.  (Do the math.)

And death is everywhere, the minute you leave the relative safety of your Land Rover or hunting camp.  It could be a mamba, a scorpion, a Cape buffalo, or any number of things with teeth and claws, for whom a human is kinda like a marshmallow:  can’t run that fast, no tough hide, no horns or whatever to protect itself, and laughably slow reflexes and crap hearing by comparison to the typical prey animal.

Like this leopard:

Now you know.