alyeska338
04-30-2004, 10:42 AM
I am convinced that it is extremely unwise for any man to hunt elephant, buffalo, or rhino with a gun of less than .450 caliber. A light rifle simply will not stop a charge. While I was on a hunt in Southern Tanganyika, I met a Dutch sportsman named Lediboor who was very eager to get an African elephant. The man came from Java and had shot several Indian elephants. He proudly showed me his gun -- a .405 caliber he had used with great success in Ceylon.
I told the man frankly that his gun was too light for African big game. All African animals, even antelope, are remarkedly tenacious of life. They will take punishment that would quickly finish off Asiatic, European, or American game animals. But it is one of the hardest things I know of to try to convert another hunter to your way of thinking. He will listen politely and then, whether rightly or wrongly, will continue to cling to his own belief. Lediboor had shot elephant in India with his .405. Therefore the gun could stop African elephants.
A few weeks later, Mr. Millar, a tsetse fly research official in the Kilossa district, happended to pass my camp and told me that Lediboor had been killed by his first elephant. Lediboor had sighted a herd and climbed a tree to get a better shot at them. He dropped one and feeling very elated, started toward the beast. The elephant was only stunned. He leaped up and charged Lediboor. All that Mr. Millar could say was that judging from the mangled remains, Lediboor had not suffered.
from Hunter by J.A. Hunter
I told the man frankly that his gun was too light for African big game. All African animals, even antelope, are remarkedly tenacious of life. They will take punishment that would quickly finish off Asiatic, European, or American game animals. But it is one of the hardest things I know of to try to convert another hunter to your way of thinking. He will listen politely and then, whether rightly or wrongly, will continue to cling to his own belief. Lediboor had shot elephant in India with his .405. Therefore the gun could stop African elephants.
A few weeks later, Mr. Millar, a tsetse fly research official in the Kilossa district, happended to pass my camp and told me that Lediboor had been killed by his first elephant. Lediboor had sighted a herd and climbed a tree to get a better shot at them. He dropped one and feeling very elated, started toward the beast. The elephant was only stunned. He leaped up and charged Lediboor. All that Mr. Millar could say was that judging from the mangled remains, Lediboor had not suffered.
from Hunter by J.A. Hunter