Phone book or Impala

[Sweet 6.5]

Hi

I went hunting this weekend!  Looking for an impala ram for the freezer - this was just a very good excuse to get out of the city for the weekend. The hunt was a bonus - always is. It was raining Friday afternoon when we arrived on the farm, so we didn't go out.
Saturday morning we left early, and spend most of the morning in the bush. We bumped into some kudu. The kudu bull was not on the menu (budget) so we just enjoyed the view. We also saw impala a couple of times and some impala saw us!
After lunch and a short rest - all this walking is a shock to office legs - we were out again.

We saw a couple of ewes and some warthogs but the rams kept avoiding us. It was late in the afternoon and I have just told the guide just 5 more minutes, before it will be too close to sunset for me to take a shot. We were about to enter this small clearing, when we saw a bachelor herd of the impalas on the other side. With the wind in our favour we stalked to about 50 meters before I could get a clear shot on one, standing clear of the rest.

He was quartering away from me. Using a small tree/bush I steadied the rifle, and shot him halfway between the
right front and back legs, behind the last long rib at an angle towards the left shoulder.
We could see him run between the trees - after about 20 meters he stopped. Trying to keep his balance he gave two to
three steps and fell. He was already dead when we reached him.
It was already dark when we arrived back at the house and I could not take any pictures - ok I forgot the camera.

The bullet went through the right side of the stomach, the liver ( all mashed ?) and through the top of the hart and left long. I don't know if it touched the right lung. It missed the ribs going out, went through the shoulder and bone of the left leg, and stopped under the skin on the point of the left shoulder.

Below are pictures of two bullets. 140gr Speer hot-core from my 6.5 Swede - 2550fps. The one on the left 87.1gr (62%) was shot in to wet phone books at 25 meters while testing and playing with loads. The one on the right 90.2gr (64%) came out of the impala.
I am not so sure if the second one would have looked the same if the shot was from the other side and it had to break the bone
before it could get time to slow down? Maybe after the next one I will be able to tell.

Sweet

[beemanbeme]

Good story, good pics.  Its amazing that your could still kill animals with a standard cup and core bullet that your didn't have to sell one of the children to finance. 

[Siskiyou]

Thanks for the pictures I will be showing them to a future hunter.

[mjbgalt]

....so a phone book and an impala are the same. bet that phone book needs more time in the crock pot than the impala...lol

anyone else thinking of that monty python skit about wood floating and witches floating, so they must be made of wood? lol

a bullet looks the same on a phone book and an impala, so impalas must be made of phone books.

-Matt

[Sweet 6.5]

a bullet looks the same on a phone book and an impala, so impalas must be made of phone books.
-Matt

lol....impala tastes much better !! but it is easier to stalk the phone book!

[NONYA]

You must have a thick phone book!Good story ,remember the damn camera nest time!

[dw06]

+1 on the camera!Good shooting,just remember that the yellow pages tend to be stringy lol

[nomosendero]

Good story, thanks for sharing!!