This year may have been the best single season for client selection. Of all the hunters and photo tourists I did not have a single one that was a whiner or just miserable to be around. As many of you know and read last year I had the worst folks of my 15 year career in that group of guys that was very unethical about their hunting and none could shoot even remotely good. This season made up for that by a huge margin! These folks were without question the most well prepared and confident hunters as a whole I have ever had. We did not lose a single animal and only had a few short and a couple "exciting" tracking jobs.
My 30/06 "loaner" with the 165 grain interbonds was used for 9 animals for a couple visiting lady hunters and for 4 animals of my own. I was only able to recover a single 165 grain interbond. The others were all exits, This bullet continues to impress me with it's non-magnum velocity performance on all the game that has been shot. It's expansion and penetration seems perfectly matched to sub 3000 fps cartridges.
I also recovered plenty of 270 grain Aframes from 375HH which always seem to provide the typical perfect mushroom so common with them. I much prefer the A frame for game over 750 pounds **or** when shot faster then 3000 fps. The Aframe is a tougher bullet to handle those big bone conditions, at least from my experience.
It's hard to find fault with that old, boring, pathetic slow 30/06 when it continues to get the job done. The lady hunters using it made great shots and the game was never further then expected when following them up. I'm a strong beliver in this simple lightweight 30/06 for plains game.
There was also a single X bullet recovered from a 375HH that was shot into a Black Wildebeast quartering towards us at 150-175 yards. This is the first bullet in the photo. It was under the skin on the entry side near the hind quarter. I still see enough of this with the X bullet to spook me away from them. I just don't get that 100% performance that the bonded core bullets provide me. I love them and use them in my 458 Lott 100% now. However the smaller the caliber and higher the velocity the X bullet the more wierd performance they seem to have.
At the first shot the wildebeast bucked like a horse so we knew it was hit. The second shot into that Wildebeast was a centered chest shot and exited with a bore diameter hole as well. The third was the finisher put into him at at least 350 yards. Since when do you need 3-375HH bullets for a 450-500 pound animal? A single GS custom bullet was recovered as well. The waterbuck it came from was a near loss of the trophy due to the wierd bent and deforemed bullet. It did not open and just had the tip bent over. The follow up shots exited with bore diameter holes. They have massive penetration but seem to have the same issues as X bullets were consistancy is concerned. If this happened on the only one recovered then what did the others look like that blew right through? I'll never know but seeing one like this was enough to spook me! It was involved in the only animal that required tracking and follow up by that hunter who is among the best shooters I have ever met. The loss of that animal would have been heartbreaking and expensive. It would have also been hard to sleep at night knowing "he screwed up the shot" when it was not the shot at all but rather the bullet!
I also shot a personal trophy this year at a camp I will be using next season. It's Nyala heaven and this photo should prove that! It's a remote bush camp no electricity, only tents, cook your own meals. It's a bit rough but very comfortable. plenty of other activities besides hunting in the area too.
This Nyala was just over 30" on one horn and just under on the other horn. I was not even hunting Nyala but rather scouting the property for next years hunts. However there was no way I could let this huge bugger walk! I would have been telling people what a saw with raised eyebrows in disbelief. This settles it as I have the Proof!
I'm not sure where to begin with the photo's I have of my other hunters so I'll just trickle them in as I get the time to post the text properly. There were some really great tropheis taken along with exciting events and some great friendships made on this trip.
Those of you that hunted with me this year I want you to all know that you made my job easy and it was never at anypoint like a "job" thanks for reviving my dissapointing 2004 season!
