Hi to you all,
Lets face it, most are like western movies, you see one you see them all. Not my way of learning things mind you.
That is what they say about xxx rated movies as well, you'll never know untill you've done it yourself. IMHO hunting movies in general is nothing more (or less) than a remake / reflection of an individuals hunting experience, although i tend to contradict myself by adding that this is true when we talk about home movies or those commercialized movies of a actual hunt taking place. Apart from just watching the movie, one can be assured that you can learn a lot from these movies, but on the other hand what would this knowledge be worth if you do not apply it in practise, nice to know at the least in stead of need to know.
I am sure that JB is a valuable source of info (knowlwdge) regarding hunting in Africa, he is in a position to explain the diffs. between your hunting and that of an African hunt, that is why i enjoyed his "story" explaining his trip of last year.
JB, regarding the legal question of calibre for Buff etc., legislation (in the Eastern Cape province) stated that for hunting Buff., Eland, Kudu, Wildebeest, Oryx or Red Hartebeest any calibre bigger than 6.5 mm is legally required.
To add my 2 cents to the issue of calibre and bullet requirements for Buff. and Lion, i tend to agree that size does not always determine success nor does it 100% guarentees your safety if your first shot missed the killing spot. Someone argued that a LION is half the size of a mule / moose, yeh, that might be the true size reflection, but a moose does not have claws that will rip your head off is you are at the receiving end of a wounded lion's tackle, nor is it common for a moose (i think) to be charging for the source of it's injury. Legislation IMHO cannot provide for logic, and although a .243 calibre would kill a lion, we must not forget that it is not the gun which does the aiming, if you are confidant enough to try a lion any thing smaller than 375, good for you, i will not as i do not have a death wish. A Buff. is as dangerous as a lion, although not armed with claws and teeth, i have seen a pick-up which was struck by a charging Buff. The pick -up was a right-off, and imagine what it would do to a human.
"Assumption is the mother of all f***-ups", and to assume that you can rely on your own capabilities when hunting Buff / Lion without powerfull backup is suicide in my view. I would rather start of with a "too large" calibre and after a few hunts reduce the size according to my personnal performance regarding shot placement the works. It is easy to get a 1\2 " grouping @ 100 yards on a shooting range, but believe me, although the gun remains unchanged, some definitly change within the guy behind the gun when you step out off the confort of the shooting range into the African wild.
I will most certainly get off the soap box now, and wave you all goodbye. I think it is time to go and look for a horthog or two right now, well that if after i downed a lion lager (local beer).
Greetings
JR
