Is the capybara South America’s most interesting animal? Among other regrettable traits, I have a terrible addiction to taxidermy. I’m trying to curb it, but I have some pretty cool stuff in my house. Visitors don’t exactly ignore the big cats, the African antelopes, or the sheep and goats, but there’s one animal that, consistently, […]
The Hartmann mountain zebra is plentiful in Namibia and parts of South Africa, and is a challenging game animal with excellent meat. The first Hartmann mountain zebra I ever saw stood alone on a rocky ridge leading up into the heights of Central Namibia’s Erongo Mountains. I can still see the dry wind whipping its […]
A new world-record tiny antelope and an unusual hyena were recently accepted into the Rowland Ward record book. Interesting record book entries come in large, small, and unusual packages. In August 2018, Rowland Ward received a Top 10 entry for a large brown hyena submitted by Neville Boardman Jr., who shot the animal near Cumberland, […]
As long as you can keep your shots inside a paper plate, you’ll likely hit the vital zone. With big-game animals it is always essential to hit a vital zone. Misses don’t count and near-misses are far worse than clean misses. For most of us the “vital zone” means center-chest, the heart and/or lung area. […]
Proof that giants still walk among us. Photo above: Crossing the Tana River in Kenya with big ivory in the 1960s, a scene that will never be seen again. (Photo by John Dugmore) On May 8, 2019, my old friend Michel Mantheakis from Tanzania and Namibian PH Koos Pienaar, hunting in Namibia’s eastern Caprivi, guided […]
Despite all the emphasis on new cartridges, this old standby is still an all-round champ. The cartridge wars continue! The 6.5mm Creedmoor remains a hot seller. Many of us want more, so we turn to faster cartridges. We used to call them “magnums” and most of them wore belts. The belt never meant much, but […]
The hunting world has lost a pioneer. Thomas Mattanovich, “dean” of professional hunters in Ethiopia, passed after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease on 17 February. He was 82. Thomas immigrated to Ethiopia with his parents and elder brother in 1950 at age 13 from what was then Yugoslavia.They settled in Wondo Genet, southern Ethiopia, then […]
The latest edition of Rowland Ward’s record book features several new world records, detailed maps, and fascinating photos of long-lost trophies. Photo above: The Peter Rous kudu, one of the “long lost” trophies featured in the new record book. The 30th edition of the Rowland Ward Records of Big Game (Africa) is in full production […]
The 30th Edition of Rowland Ward’s Records of Big Game will debut a new way of scoring African buffalo. Go on a Cape buffalo safari almost anywhere in Africa, and you will hear professional hunters talk about a “38-inch bull” or say, “I saw one today I am sure would go over 40.” Since African sport hunting began, […]
The 9.3, not the .375, should really be considered the minimum caliber for dangerous game. It’s a longstanding article of faith that the .375 is the legal minimum for Africa’s thick-skinned dangerous game. This has been the “letter of the law” in some African jurisdictions, but in many cases, it is simply not true. Some […]
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