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Gemsbok Oryx
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<blockquote data-quote="WildRose" data-source="post: 1467938" data-attributes="member: 30902"><p>I wish I'd known you were going, I'd have been happy to set you up with the friends and family deal. If you ever decide to go back let me know.</p><p></p><p>I took 24 different species while I was there, I had a chance on a huge Eland cow but she was in such thick cover I only had about a 3" window to shoot through at around 350yds and I just never could convince myself to pull the trigger because I couldn't identify for sure what part of her body I was looking at.</p><p></p><p>What I found for sure on all of them is you have to have the right bullet. I had great lock with the Peregrines (monometal) and with the Gromm bonded bullets.</p><p></p><p>The hornadyinterlocks killed fine but they broke up and didn't always exit, the Swift Scirocco II's were next to useless because they flattened out and would peel off at right or near right angles instead of tracking through.</p><p></p><p>I was never a fan of solid copper/allow bullets but that trip made me a convert and that's pretty much all I'm shooting exclusively now as long as I don't run out between shipments and when I do I just go back to the Hornady Interbonds to get by.</p><p></p><p>What you give up in BC going with a well designed mono is at least as far as I'm concerned more than made up for in terminal performance.</p><p></p><p>Gemsbok are just super tough, you have to hit them right with a tough bullet or get lucky and hit the spine or you're liable to have a long day.</p><p></p><p>In a lot of the RSA the cover is just so dense it's mindboggling. when we think "Plains Game" we think of the wide open prairies from NM/TX north to Montana and the Dakotas. To them it just basically means everything except the big 5.</p><p></p><p>Anyone making that trip needs to prepare themselves to both spot game and shoot through dense cover, something I just didn't realize before I went.</p><p></p><p>As for the "shot". We'd driven into a wide open flat area and parked near a long Rocky Ridge.</p><p></p><p>We worked our way up to the top and then down along the ridge to the left. To our right there was a gap/pass through the rocks about 50 yards wide then another long rocky ridge and both ran for miles in opposite directions.</p><p></p><p>As we worked down the ridge we stayed below the skyline just popping up every few hundred yards to glass and see what we could see. Finally near the end of the ridge we spotted a heard of about 13 with one large bull two huge cows and the rest younger cows and one very young bull.</p><p></p><p>We dropped back, worked our way down, I climbed up and got set up on a bipod on a fairly flat rock but at a bad angle. I was set for about a 500yds shot and loading the bipod when just as I touched off the trigger the legs popped loose and the shot flew high.</p><p></p><p>They took off running back the way we'd come with no signs of slowing down so we figured that opportunity was blown.</p><p></p><p>We worked our way down, and both Francois and the PH were giving me hell for blowing the shot while I was going over in my mind everything that went wrong.</p><p></p><p>We worked our way back to the truck loaded up and started driving.</p><p></p><p>The herd it turns out had cut through the gap/pass and was now on our side of the ridge. We spotted them a mile or so ahead and worked out a plan.</p><p></p><p>We just drove the road and acted like we were there to feed the cows or check the windmills and just ignored them as we passed them at about a half mile but Francois and I bailed out as the PH slowed down and just kept driving away.</p><p></p><p>After a few minutes we got low in a shallow brushy draw and I worked to within 350-400yds and the wind which had been blowing 30-40mph all day finally slowed to 25-30 blowing almost directly in my face so I set up on the Primos Tripod, had Francois lean against my off shoulder, leaned into and took the shot.</p><p></p><p>It struck almost perfectly just below and ahead of the point of the shoulder. He took off to the left in a semi circle obviously hit very well, head down blowing blood and when he stopped again I aimed at the original point of impact,which we could see from the blood oozing, moved it about mid neck for the wind. As he started what probably would have been his final stagger I put another one into him. That shot was at about 300yds.</p><p></p><p>The two impact holes were within 2.5" of each other and the exits within 4" so I was pretty proud of my shooting since the 2nd shot was in a full crosswind.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="WildRose, post: 1467938, member: 30902"] I wish I'd known you were going, I'd have been happy to set you up with the friends and family deal. If you ever decide to go back let me know. I took 24 different species while I was there, I had a chance on a huge Eland cow but she was in such thick cover I only had about a 3" window to shoot through at around 350yds and I just never could convince myself to pull the trigger because I couldn't identify for sure what part of her body I was looking at. What I found for sure on all of them is you have to have the right bullet. I had great lock with the Peregrines (monometal) and with the Gromm bonded bullets. The hornadyinterlocks killed fine but they broke up and didn't always exit, the Swift Scirocco II's were next to useless because they flattened out and would peel off at right or near right angles instead of tracking through. I was never a fan of solid copper/allow bullets but that trip made me a convert and that's pretty much all I'm shooting exclusively now as long as I don't run out between shipments and when I do I just go back to the Hornady Interbonds to get by. What you give up in BC going with a well designed mono is at least as far as I'm concerned more than made up for in terminal performance. Gemsbok are just super tough, you have to hit them right with a tough bullet or get lucky and hit the spine or you're liable to have a long day. In a lot of the RSA the cover is just so dense it's mindboggling. when we think "Plains Game" we think of the wide open prairies from NM/TX north to Montana and the Dakotas. To them it just basically means everything except the big 5. Anyone making that trip needs to prepare themselves to both spot game and shoot through dense cover, something I just didn't realize before I went. As for the "shot". We'd driven into a wide open flat area and parked near a long Rocky Ridge. We worked our way up to the top and then down along the ridge to the left. To our right there was a gap/pass through the rocks about 50 yards wide then another long rocky ridge and both ran for miles in opposite directions. As we worked down the ridge we stayed below the skyline just popping up every few hundred yards to glass and see what we could see. Finally near the end of the ridge we spotted a heard of about 13 with one large bull two huge cows and the rest younger cows and one very young bull. We dropped back, worked our way down, I climbed up and got set up on a bipod on a fairly flat rock but at a bad angle. I was set for about a 500yds shot and loading the bipod when just as I touched off the trigger the legs popped loose and the shot flew high. They took off running back the way we'd come with no signs of slowing down so we figured that opportunity was blown. We worked our way down, and both Francois and the PH were giving me hell for blowing the shot while I was going over in my mind everything that went wrong. We worked our way back to the truck loaded up and started driving. The herd it turns out had cut through the gap/pass and was now on our side of the ridge. We spotted them a mile or so ahead and worked out a plan. We just drove the road and acted like we were there to feed the cows or check the windmills and just ignored them as we passed them at about a half mile but Francois and I bailed out as the PH slowed down and just kept driving away. After a few minutes we got low in a shallow brushy draw and I worked to within 350-400yds and the wind which had been blowing 30-40mph all day finally slowed to 25-30 blowing almost directly in my face so I set up on the Primos Tripod, had Francois lean against my off shoulder, leaned into and took the shot. It struck almost perfectly just below and ahead of the point of the shoulder. He took off to the left in a semi circle obviously hit very well, head down blowing blood and when he stopped again I aimed at the original point of impact,which we could see from the blood oozing, moved it about mid neck for the wind. As he started what probably would have been his final stagger I put another one into him. That shot was at about 300yds. The two impact holes were within 2.5" of each other and the exits within 4" so I was pretty proud of my shooting since the 2nd shot was in a full crosswind. [/QUOTE]
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