IN  THE  BUSH

Bill Berlat
Argentina, October 2006

As a member of the Accurate Reloading forum I have been corresponding with Dr. Juan Pablo Pozzi in Argentina,  (www.huntinginargentina.com )and his partner, Alberto Foerster, in San Francisco, Cordoba. In addition to being a surgeon Juan is an avid hunter. A man who hunts feral boars (and all other Argentine game) with Dogos, an Argentine breed. I finally decided to go and last month, October, 2006, I was in the air.

It would take pages to put my hunt into words. Let me be brief. The country was beautiful. The people friendly and most hospitable. My hosts, Juan Pablo, Alberto ("Willy"), their wives and families were such kind and generous people. I felt very much at home with them. Food and accommodations excellent, wine as well.

Juan had been encouraging me to hunt with a knife which made me very apprehensive. I am no longer the "artful dodger." With me was my favorite revolver, a Ruger in 45 Colt that Hamilton had lovingly customized, my Marlin 45-70 Guide Gun, my Muela bowie, and my Armas Garbi 20 gauge. Birds are another story but suffice to say I came back with a black and blue shoulder.

The second night when we got to the hunting area it was dark. Juan Pablo, his son Ikki, Willy, Pancho (ranch foreman), the Dogos, Lanuel and Esquel, and the lab, Africa. We drove the brushy fields and looked for hogs where Pancho had seen sign earlier that day. All we had for light were the headlights of the truck and one spotlight that Juan carried.

Zero dark thirty and we found feral hogs. I was still not sure of this knife idea, and we had my firearms along. As soon as we spotted the hogs Juan jumped out with my Bowen and released the dogs. It seemed only a few minutes and I heard a squealing and a real battle in the bush, branches cracking, the assault was on. Juan was already running after the dogs, with the Marlin and the Bowen (he loved that revolver) and shouting back at me..."Bill, bring the knife..run, run fast." I got out quick as I could and it was black. All I could see was the beam of the spot light in the brush ahead. "Ikki" led the way for me through the branches and brush, with the meager beam ahead about 30 yards, focused on the Dogos and the boar. I came up to a scene I will never forget. Lanuel had the boar by the head with Esquel on the other side, Africa nipping at its heels. In and out of the light....these are two big dogs and yet that boar was shaking them about like a rag doll, and squealing as they continued to hang on. "Bill, come on, get in here and kill him...." I went in with some concern but my adrenaline was pumping so hard and I was so excited that I forgot about being nervous about this knife thing and went right in..."Bill, stick him right there..." says Juan, pointing to the chest area just back of the leg. Easier said than done, I thought, as they continued to scramble about in a circle over the logs and branches, twisting and turning. Lanuel had him and was not about to let go. In I go, a foot away, left hand put on his back for balance and right hand moving with my Muela bowie in it goes; so easily, "twist it, Bill,..." Juan says, and almost immediately a great gush of blood ran out onto my hand, the knife now buried deep. The kill was quicker than I ever would have imagined. The boar immediately down and the dogs savaging it as a hunting dogs do. What a wonderful and exciting experience this was...heart pumping action! The taking of the boar with my knife was scary, but only when thinking about it beforehand.

Next day we were out again, daylight this time. We found some feral goats, made a long stalk and I took a very good ram with the Marlin. We also had a chance at a Puma that crossed in front of us, but lost its track. A few hours later we found two Russian boars. We only had Esquel this day. I jumped out and shot one with the Marlin at about 75 yards, Juan immediately releasing Esquel. We ran after the Dogo who immediately commenced attacking the other boar. We got to them as fast as we could, and they were having a battle royal, and the boar was doing damage to Esquel. These are aggressive critters. Juan managed to pull Esquel off and from about 8 feet I shot the boar with the Bowen. The first shots were with a Buffalo Bore 300 grain load, but the finisher was with my 270 grain hand load to the head at about 4 feet. Exciting....very. Esquel was cut below the jaw several times but has healed well. This is my second boar with the Bowen, the first in California, but not as exciting as this last one. Now it is a question of when I go back, not if.

05-10-02

Ashley Emerson with his Ibex/goat

"...I literally chased the ibex for two days and after running faster and further than I thought I still could, I got a good sight picture and trigger break as he trotted by at about 60-yards. This shot went through the lungs and sent him staggering. I closed to 30-yards while he went maybe three and put him down with a second shot through the shoulders. The gun is a beautiful Bowen custom long cylindered 7 1/2 inch Super Blackhawk. The ammo is 330-grain +P Ammo. This load goes over 1400-fps in this tightly fitted gun. The Garrett 330-grain +P Ammo is the best defensive load I can imagine for a Redhawk in brown bear country."
- Ashley Emerson 

01-02-01

Ed Brackett and his Cape Buffalo

Ed Brackett, from Littleton, CO, brought us an instructive account of his recent Cape buffalo hunt in South Africa that brings home a hard point on bullet quality and performance.

Ed and his hunter had hunted until late in the day and, after a couple of stalks, managed to crawl within 40 to 50 yards of a big bull. Ed slammed a 420 gr. LBT .475 bullet into the left shoulder and, when the bull spun 180 degrees, fired another into the right shoulder. The bull cleared off in a huff leaving just a small amount of blood.

Tracking started at near dark and, in the failing light, Ed switched to a .375 JDJ Contender loaded with 300 grain Hornady solids. After a brief bit of sneaking around (and encountering an Egyptian cobra in the process which probably didn’t do anything for anybody’s state of mind), Ed and his guide got into position for a shot with the scoped Contender. The scope cross hairs were not distinct in the feeble light so the shot was a bit off the mark and simply grazed the critter’s head, entered and exited the neck with no effect other than to cause the buffalo to decamp. At this point, the hunt was suspended.

Next morning, trackers picked up the trail and finally Ed got a couple more shots into a shoulder, leaving little blood to follow as the creature moved off yet again. After a couple more efforts stalking the buffalo, Ed put yet another .375 into a shoulder with no evident effect. Buffalo takes off. No blood. Hunters increasingly exasperated. More stalking to follow.

After more stalking, with little in the way of a blood trail, Ed got yet another shot into the shoulder and another in behind the shoulder with the last of the .375 solids. Buffalo runs off again. This time, Ed drew the .475 and fired a tail-spine shot which spun around the animal. This time, the buffalo lowers his head and takes off again....after Ed and the hunter from about 40 yards. Ed has time for two quick shots into the neck and hump which finally put an end to the ordeal.

This buffalo lived up to his kind’s billing for toughness and took on five shots from the .475 and six from the .375 JDJ. Unfortunately, the commercial cast bullets Ed used in the .475 did not do justice to his marksmanship skills. Two of the bullets blew up on the shoulder and another was badly damaged on the spine. Never-the-less, from Ed’s nerve-wracking letter, it is clear that this was a well-fought fight and Ed has our hearty congratulations on some serious hunting and some excellent shooting.

The moral of the story is that cast bullets can be too hard to serve as effective solids and no amount of exceptional shooting will overcome bullet failures. A good way to test cast bullets is to place them point up on and anvil (or bench vise or concrete floor, if all else fails) and whack them on the nose with a heavy, one-hand sledge hammer. Bullets must not break, fragment or crumble. Tough ones will rivet and distort a little but that is all. They need to be as hard as possible to retain their shape but they must never come apart.

Chances are, Ed’s buffalo would have gone down early on in the game from the first two shoulder shots and saved all manner of worry.

12 -18 - 00

Robbin with his 9' Brown Bear and Bowen Classic Arms .475 Nimrod

Robbin Blakeley of Sheridan, Wyoming, shared a harrowing tale with us of his recent brown bear hun in Alaska, armed with a .475 Bisley loaded with heavy LBT cast bullets.

After stalking to 40 yards of the bear in a blue berry patch, Blakeley fired a 425 gr. .475 slug through both shoulders, unfortunately without hitting bone enough to stop it from heading into the bullrushes, mostly small patches of brush and berries. After a careful (and nervous) search in which Blakeley and his guide drifted apart, the bear rose out of the brush just 20 yards from Robbin, growling and shaking his head. The next quick shot didn’t phase the bear who charged without hesitation.Coming through the thick bear grass, the bobbing head of the bear didn’t present much of a target so the next shot at 15 yards didn’t connect effectively enough to stop the rush either. Blakeley had time for one last snap shot which, mercifully took down the bear....on top of Blakeley who scrambled up in time to join the guide for a couple more shots to the neck to finish the job for sure.Rest assured that this brief paraphrase of his letter does not justice to his full account which would get anybody’s sphincter in a clutch. Our congratulations to Robbin for a magnificent feat of arms and nerves.