African Heart Shot

[IvW]

'Did the same on Kudu at closer range than that, using a .338-and it still made it 500 yds before piling up! African game of all weights are built MUCH tougher than that found in America!!! An impala a whitetail is NOT! You could take the TX heart shot in Africa using solids, but why? With softs, you likely just wounded an animal and sent it over to the next country. TX heart shot on wounded buffalo/elephant running away is ok, but what you're really trying to do there is take out the spine/r. legs and/or slow it down for further follow up.

TX on wounded running away buffalo or elephant? Hiw exactly do you come to that conclusion?

 

[C.W. Richter]

TX on wounded running away buffalo or elephant? Hiw exactly do you come to that conclusion?

Meaning-shoot for the tail/backbone as the buffalo is running away (or the pelvis/leg bones of an elephant when also running away. How i view the "African heart shot"-not really shooting for the heart.) PH elementary 101. How I came to those conclusions. Have you hunted buff and elephant? I have. It was not necessary on the buffaloes, but the liver/lung shot elephant needed some follow-up while running away (which did the trick!) Don't trust my prose-Read Kevin Robertson's (PH/Veterinarian) books!!! You have a lot of posts IvW! Are they all in this form??

 

[IvW]

A ok that makes sense but the real TX heartshot is of no use for buff or ele going away only hip or spine above the tail as you mention and if done correctly anchors them on the spot. Good expanding premium bullet works better than a solid for this on buffalo.

 

[Rubberhead]

I remembered this thread and thought it could stand a prologue...

Anybody planning on their first trip to Africa should practice. Practice at the range with your gun. Practice shooting from sticks. Practice every time you hunt American big game. When you get to Africa, act like you've done it before, because you have done it before.

That was the driving motivation of the original post. I practiced on a whitetail what I was planning on doing to an impala. In short, it worked...

My PH holding the heart of my impala. Other than being three times bigger, my zebra heart looked much the same but I didn't take a picture.

I took a lot of pictures in Africa and it took a month to get them all sorted out but if I ever go back, I'm going to take twice as many pictures but that's another story.

 

[Frederik]

Quick question for all you that hunt for the pot/freezer in NA especially in thick stuff like you describe in Carolina why not head shot?
Range is close and it will drop the animal on the spot obviously you have to hit the brain or very close to it with a expanding bullet or the neck vertebrea.

 

[BourbonTrail]

@Frederik,

I have never done any of the meat saver shots. It’s always in the crease behind the leg, lung-heart-lung. Usually I am shooting moving game, the head is too risky.

I noticed in Africa that animals present a much better opportunity for head shots. They like to stare for long periods (gemsbok come to mind).

 

[Frederik]

Was just wondering from what I see in hunting videos and read.

 

[leslie hetrick]

angled lung shots bought both of these animals down

 

[Rubberhead]

Good Question @Frederik
My dad (84 years old, called me just yesterday hiking up a mountain to get ready for deer season) is a neck shooter for that very reason. Miss a little and you've still got a dead deer. Miss by 4" and you have a deer that will usually survive without any long-term problems.

Miss a head shot by 4" and you might have to watch a deer missing a lower jaw on trailcam for four weeks while he starves to death.

I want the deadest deer with the largest margin for error. I'll worry about finding him after he's dead. There are no perfect answers and no one best answer fits everyone.

 

[Hunt anything]

A ok that makes sense but the real TX heartshot is of no use for buff or ele going away only hip or spine above the tail as you mention and if done correctly anchors them on the spot. Good expanding premium bullet works better than a solid for this on buffalo.

I used a TX heart shot on a wounded buffalo, first shot rocked him good when he regained his balance he turned away and I put a 300 grain .375 Ruger solid to the right of the anus and recovered the bullet in his dewlap, (about 8 feet of buffalo) the solid was a little bent after crashing through the sternum. He never got up again but did require a finisher. When butchered the lungs, heart and a good part of the liver were destroyed. By the way I’ve heard Texas heart shot since I was in Jr High School back in the 70’s.

 

[Frederik]

If I get the chance hunting for the freezer on a headshot I usually take it but animal must be relaxed or stanind in such a way that it doesnt move much. Also I do it with my smaller calibers 204 ruger and 6.5 x 55 they are very accurate and will not easily take a headshot over 100meters and obviosluy from a decent rest.

 

[steve white]

That's a neat rifle sling with the two cartridges stuck in it...where could a guy get one like that?

 

[Jeff505]

Any shot on a wounded animal wether Texas or African heart shot is a chance at proper game retrieval. The first shot should always be unquestionably a kill shot. any follow up shot should not be discourage within the bounds of identifing the back stop. No meat goes to waste, if it is not your celebration it will be for others.

 

[Rubberhead]

That's a neat rifle sling with the two cartridges stuck in it...where could a guy get one like that?

I don't love that sling but I don't hate it either. I got it from Amazon...

Amazon.com : BRONZEDOG Leather Rifle Sling Brown Adjustable Shooting Belt Holder for Rifle Premium Quality Soft Padded Anti Slip Hunting Accessories : Sports & Outdoors

Amazon.com : BRONZEDOG Leather Rifle Sling Brown Adjustable Shooting Belt Holder for Rifle Premium Quality Soft Padded Anti Slip Hunting Accessories : Sports & Outdoors

www.amazon.com

 

[Rubberhead]

I remembered this thread and thought it could stand a prologue...

What? How did y'all let me get away with such a vocabulary error? For some reason, I was driving today and it hit me that I had these backwards...

This thread needed an epilogue...

 

[Doug Hamilton]

Makes zero difference our trackers and some of us can track a baboon over rocks....without blood...

So then you are saying that you and your trackers have never lost a wounded animal? Ever?

 

[IvW]

So then you are saying that you and your trackers have never lost a wounded animal? Ever?

Is that what I said???

 

[Doug Hamilton]

Is that what I said???

Seems like it.

 

[Soutie18]

The shot was a texas heart shot and the bullet stop in the heart .

 

[Finprof]

Speaking of heart shit this is one on an Idaho moose from two days ago. The shit was broadside and the slug was recovered under the skin in the offside shoulder.