Ardent - have you read Ganyana's "Bullet Wounds on Game: How Survivable are They? (or why shot placement is more important than you realise) - African Hunter Volume 9, Number 3?
If so, how do you think his views transfer to our North American game (especially given the fact that we do not use solids here)?
Thanks for that, fascinating article, and a great read for others interested: http://www.shakariconnection.com/bullet-wounds.html
I found myself nodding my head through the article, the main point I'd agree on is game are far tougher than we realize compared to us. I would like to add that a lot of game wounded is assumed to be a miss. I think a lot of animals are lost in Canada due to a marginal hit leaving little to no sign to be found, the animal running off, and the hunter assuming he missed when in reality, a gut or even marginal lung shot was made. I know myself I've come close to that mistake, and then found the telling pin pricks of blood- a few almost invisible droplets. I ended up recovering the animal, still on its feet despite what on inspection proved was almost certainly a fatal first hit.
There is a big difference between African game and Canadian, to be sure. African is undeniably tougher, as they've evolved in conjunction with Lion, Leopard, Hyena, Cheetah, other predation, and most poignantly man, and surviving missed attacks by the large predators can be critical to species' survival. Traits like 1" thick leather-tough skin underlain by fat to resist claws and spears seal off wounds from bleeding (see the picture from a giraffe I was cutting up taken in Zimbabwe last year below, that hide is an inch thick, hard as leather) have evolved. They call Africa "The Living Pleistocene" as massive animals extinct or isolated elsewhere have survived there in large numbers, likely due to evolving long-term with humans and other highly successful predators.
I do feel marginal chamberings will see far more success here than in Africa. If you showed up with a .25-06 in camp in wild Africa (not a game farm in South Africa, they're less choosy) you'd likely have it politely taken aside and be handed something as a loaner shooting heavier, long bullets. Showing up with a .375 H&H loaded with Barnes TSXs has always garnered some form of contentment, usually a satisfied smile and a strong head nod, even when the hunt is for 'just' plains game. It simply makes their job easier, as so many animals are wounded and it's their job to follow them up. Their preference for 'real' guns is well founded, and honest, not based in marketing or internet hyperbole as I continue to produce here.
Where something like a .338 or .375 shines and makes its mark is not in the wound, as everyone seems to look at. It's in what it will travel through. I'm of the opinion a wound with a .30-06, maybe even a .25-06, in soft tissue in light animals (deer and under) has a lot in common with my .375. Sometimes the higher velocity, small bullet makes a more impressive wound even. However, soon as you try to break shoulders, the hips, or have to take a running away follow up shot the shortcomings of light bullets become glaringly apparent. Where a .375 will take an elk from any angle with an accomplished hunter (not that you'd choose a Texas heart shot on the first round), a .25-06 is limited to a very marginal window of shot placements and angles. I don't make the presumption I'm so talented I don't need to worry about a nasty angle follow up.
I also like to break the shoulders on game and see that as the only truly reliable shot, on any continent. A .375 can do this with no issue, a .338 can on most game too. A .25-06, 7mm-08, .270, 6.5x55 etc etc cannot reliably. We have a strange fondness for ultra-lite, speedy chamberings in North America, right back to guys adopting the .220 Swift, .250-3000 Savage, and .270 Winchester for big game when they really should be going heavier. In Africa, a .375 H&H or 9.3x62 aren't viewed as big rifles, they're standard medium bores shot by boys learning to hunt, the .30-06 here really. I think it just stems from many of us no longer growing up hunters, with rifles in our hands. Recoil that is 100% manageable and mild is viewed as something to avoid (a .375 H&H is a pussycat) for fear of tampering with shot placement, instead of practicing an extra day. I wish I could tell PHs in Africa the small and fast fascination was a purely American thing, but it's embedded here too- I like to think slightly less though.
Sorry to ramble. So there, I like big guns for breaking bone, and the ability to do the job from any angle. My hunting's not a predetermined outcome situation, though I do like to hunt bigger and tougher stuff. I just found shooting a .375 was extremely comfortable, much more effective, and use it for everything now. I just bought a new No.1 .250 Savage, but to me, it's a coyote, gopher, and wolf rifle. If I get to do my Cougar hunt, it'll be a tough call between the .250 and the .375- but I bet I'll succumb to my own philosophy and reach past the .250 for the .375 as "It certainly can't hurt.", anything but the game that is.
Happy hunting!
