I just got back from hunting and it was definitely a fair chase
DannyL, you missed the first part where I said, "If you are in North America and see a big buck you want to shoot but have to wait for a orynx, a kudu and a nubian ibex to get out of the way before you have a clear shot, you might not actually be hunting."
Todd, I did indeed miss that point, my apologies.
Now, I spent the past four days hunting in the Eastern Cape (South Africa)
Each day I decided exactly what species I was going to hunt, and in what order. so If I am after a black Wildebeest and a springbok came past (happened several times) I had to lie still until they moved so that my quarry would not be spooked. ( the part I was hunting was 11000 hectares).
As for my "bag of tricks", I use no more than cammo, scentless soap and substitute toothpast with lemon-juice. no animal scents and calls.
I also carry with me a shooting tripod, so that I will always be able to shoot form a stable position.
Back to the hunt, I also decided to shoot all animals from less than 100M, in order to give them more than enough chances to get away. the aninals I hunted favour open areas that are always found between the clumps of thicker bush, these have plenty grass and sparse bushes, which makes it harder to get closer.
There was a severe restriction from the farm owner to leave trophy animals alone unless we were prepared to pay what the American hunters that come to his farm pay for them. if one knows the behaviour of Wildebeest you will know that they stand in a tight bunch, and ususally those that stand slighly out are the biggest (they are sentries) so in several occassions I had to wait for minutes with them in my sights but no clear shot at any of them, just to see them move on and have to start all over. after three of those, I finally had a fair size female in my sights, but before shooting I decided to look for calves in her vicinity, only a moment later a tiny one ran to her and started suckling. not having fired that shot is the happiest thing I did in this hunt.
Later that day I finally managed to get them when they were more spaced out and shot a nice female, from 85 meters (all my shots were ranged afterwards with my range finder).
The following day I hunted with my handgun (S&W 586, 0.357 Mag, 6" barrel) still carried my rifle as a measure of fairness to any animal in case I'd wound one. I first hunted Springbok and got a nice Ram, later I went looking for Blesbuck and also got one. both were shot within 45 to 50 M.
In the last day of the hunt (Saturday) I went after Blue Wildebeest. At first I was dropped in a position that put the wind behind me, so it was a 4 Km walk to circle around and put the wind in my face.
As it often happens when you hunt one species, once again I had to "dodge" other bucks that I came across and wait for them to move. I had decided that I would only shoot from a distance that would be within handgun range, just to see if I could get that close. I spotted a troop of about 12 Blue Wildebeest in a clearing, and slowly moved on. got to about 70M, and decided to give them one more chance. I broke cover, waved my arms and caused them to spook.
As I expected, they ran straight into the wind. I spotted them again after about 500M or so. once again got to about 60M. and decided to give them one more chance, so I stood up, shouted and let (made?) them run away.
Again, I followed upwind and decided to make this my final stalk. stalking a bunch of animals hat you have spooked twice in the past hour, in an area with grass and only the odd bush is not that easy. this time I got to a range where I could have used a handgun (I limit myself to shooting only smaller bucks with a .357, and the license for the .44Mag that I bought may take as much as a year) and shot the third biggest bull with my 30-06. they ran off but after 150 meters he dropped. by the time I reached him he was dead.
The bullet (180 Gr Hornady interlock) had entered between two ribs, gone through the lungs and lodged under the skin in the far side.
I ranged the distance at which I took the shot, it was 44 meters.
yes, this was most certainly a fair chase hunt.
HOSKINS,
I am very familiar with what you describe as some hunters thinking that they are better than others, it happens with handgun hunters, bow hunters AND also with people that compete for "the longest shot" and consider themselves superior to people that like to get close to their quarry.
I do not consider my self at anytime better than any of my fellow hunters. my challenge is with myself, and I always try to be better than I was in my last hunt.
Now I have to way 3 weeks for my next hunt..... this time it will be going for Kudu.
My apologies for the long post.
Brgds,
Danny
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