HUNTING Rhinoceros

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Hunting Rhinoceros Shot Placement

Post your questions, comments or pictures relating to hunting shot placement.

Hunting Rhinoceros
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Hunting Rhinoceros
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These guys are build like tanks!!!!

I did penetration test with my bow on a rhino after being hunted by client.

My setup generated 98ft/lbs energy.

Penetration was only 8 inches.

Granted I did not use a 2 blade broad head as none was available, but the 125gr Slick Ticks performed well.

This to give you an idea how thick the skin in on the shoulder

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Points Vitaux Chasse Rhino

Afrique chasse points vitaux du gibier africain - Rhino
Placement de balle pour un tir efficace

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Vital Shots Rhino

Vital Shots Rhino
by Captain Chauncey Hugh Stigand (1877 - 1919)

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Many of our remarks on the elephant, as regards vital shots, are applicable to this animal, with the addition, perhaps, of a shot in the centre of the neck ; but this is a difficult shot, and we don't recommend it being tried at first. The brain of a rhino is very small and far back in the skull, and, if broadside on, a bullet about the earhole should reach it.
So many of these beasts have been killed with modern small-bore rifles that we think they are the best weapons to use for this animal.
Neumann, in his book," Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa," mentions how deadly he found the "303 for these animals, and we know of many being killed in Central Africa with the same bore, as well as with the Mannlicher and Mauser.
They are much easier to kill than elephant or buffalo.
It is advisable to watch game being cut up, so as to exactly locate the positions of the vital organs.
A little ocular demonstration is better than pages of advice, though, until the animal has been brought to bag, a hint or two may be better than nothing.
In following a wounded rhino he will almost invariably be found head on, waiting with the head held high. In a case like this one would aim for a raking shot through the shoulder.
Rhino, when they charge, often do not turn, but hold straight on, and so may be dodged, though they have been known to turn and follow when they really meant business.
They inhabit very thick country, so shots at close quarters are the rule, but if the hunter is cool this is an advantage, for it enables him to shoot more accurately.

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The question of vital shots is a most important one, for, after the game is sighted, it is necessary that the sportsman should know exactly where to hit it, so as to kill it quickly, saving the animal perhaps many days of suffering, and the hunter the time and trouble of following it up.
Nothing is more distressing to the man with humane sporting instincts than to feel that he has sent an animal off with a painful wound to die slowly, tormented by flies, maggots, and the nightly terror it will suffer from lions, hyaenas, jackals, or hunting dogs.
It would be well, then, to shoot coolly, and not to aim at an animal's whole body, but at the exact spot you wish to hit.
Never jerk the rifle off, but press the trigger gently, and, when possible, sit down. When this is impossible, if a tree is handy, rest the rifle against it, taking care to have the arm or hand between the barrel and tree to prevent jump.
It would, perhaps, be better to take the animals in order of size and the difficulty in killing them.
 
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good advice.

" it is necessary that the sportsman should know exactly where to hit it, so as to kill it quickly, saving the animal perhaps many days of suffering, and the hunter the time and trouble of following it up."
 
My rhino went straight down from a neck shot taken from 35 yards using a .416 Rem Mag. This is of course not the preferred shot, but the rhino was in very thick brush with only his head exposed to view. He was standing still and quartering toward me on alert to pinpoint our position. Since he was quartering slightly to his right my aim point was just below and a little behind the left ear. Striking the spine at a slight angle and breaking it the 400gr solid then continued traveling along the entire length of the spine and came to rest at his left hip.

Again, not the preferred shot for rhino but as already mentioned he collapsed in his tracks from that shot.
 
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Such a tough animal and still the poachers do a pretty fine job in killing them in big numbers in SA. Sometimes even at night with out the use of lights!!

But i think as hunters there is some sound advice in that article!! Stay calm and make sure you hit the spot that you are aiming for!! Big game hunting is exiting but get your nerves under controll and squeeze that trigger of gently!!
 
great article there! Arthur neumanns book you mentioned was a good one also!
 
My rhino went straight down from a neck shot taken from 35 yards using a .416 Rem Mag. This is of course not the preferred shot, but the rhino was in very thick brush with only his head exposed to view. He was standing still and quartering toward me on alert to pinpoint our position. Since he was quartering slightly to his right my aim point was just below and a little behind the left ear. Striking the spine at a slight angle and breaking it the 400gr solid then continued traveling along the entire length of the spine and came to rest at his left hip.

Again, not the preferred shot for rhino but as already mentioned he collapsed in his tracks from that shot.


Do you have any photos you would care to share Big5? Not many of us will ever get the chance to take one.

All the best.
 
I have a question for those who have taken a rhino. How difficult was the hunt? This isn't meant to be a negative question, but the ones I've seen (always from a vehicle, and always white rhino) have not seemed especially skittish or wary. More like cows. They get out of the way as you drive up to them, but not quickly, even if they have young with them. I'm assuming it must be a bit harder on foot?
 
I have a question for those who have taken a rhino. How difficult was the hunt? This isn't meant to be a negative question, but the ones I've seen (always from a vehicle, and always white rhino) have not seemed especially skittish or wary. More like cows. They get out of the way as you drive up to them, but not quickly, even if they have young with them. I'm assuming it must be a bit harder on foot?

along with that, id like to hear stories about rhino being darted. has anyone done that?
 
along with that, id like to hear stories about rhino being darted. has anyone done that?

I have two friends that are leaving mid-March to go hunt with Tam Safaris out of Port Elizabeth. They each have one rhino dart tag, at $8500, one is for a white and one for a black. Check out the Tam Safari site and find out about total cost involved.
 
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along with that, id like to hear stories about rhino being darted. has anyone done that?


Yes, my opinion...much more challenging (have to be much closer with the dartgun than a rifle) and rewarding (to see the clients face when he helps the vet to revive the animal)
 
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I have a question for those who have taken a rhino. How difficult was the hunt? This isn't meant to be a negative question, but the ones I've seen (always from a vehicle, and always white rhino) have not seemed especially skittish or wary. More like cows. They get out of the way as you drive up to them, but not quickly, even if they have young with them. I'm assuming it must be a bit harder on foot?

Hank, I cannot speak to any hunts other than my own which was done around 20 years ago. The hunt did not take place on a farm or in any sort of fenced enclosure. Other than using a vehicle to leave camp to where we would be hunting it was done entirely on foot each and every day with us only returning to camp in the evening.

Without going into a lot of detail about this hunt it was an unusual opportunity to say the least, which is why I jumped on it. All I knew before the hunt was that the bull was old. Unlike what is common today his actual horn length was a complete unknown. The hunt was for a specific animal and the hunt took place in an open region that was hilly and somewhat mountainous.

Again, I don't know about other hunts but this particular animal was wary, skittish and he acted in no way like a 'cow'. I was told they don't cross rivers, but tracks clearly indicated he had no difficulty in crossing and returning at a different location on several occasions. I was told they don't go uphill, but he didn't seem to have much problem with that either. He also liked to travel near brush and more often than not stay concealed in heavy brush. At one frustrating point in the hunt we noted that this particular animal seemed to have some bushbuck in him.

The hunt for him took many days and if memory serves me correctly I did not finally get a shot at him until sometime upwards of day 9. I might also mention that the shot I had on him was with his body concealed in heavy bush with only his head exposed. It was a quartering on neck shot that put him straight down for the count.

Overall the hunt was very much like my bull elephant hunt which took place previous to the rhino hunt in that there was a considerable amount of footwork. As mentioned previously this particular hunt was an unusual opportunity for me to complete my Big Five and it was a true hunt.
 
Hank, I cannot speak to any hunts other than my own which was done around 20 years ago. The hunt did not take place on a farm or in any sort of fenced enclosure. Other than using a vehicle to leave camp to where we would be hunting it was done entirely on foot each and every day with us only returning to camp in the evening.

Without going into a lot of detail about this hunt it was an unusual opportunity to say the least, which is why I jumped on it. All I knew before the hunt was that the bull was old. Unlike what is common today his actual horn length was a complete unknown. The hunt was for a specific animal and the hunt took place in an open region that was hilly and somewhat mountainous.

Again, I don't know about other hunts but this particular animal was wary, skittish and he acted in no way like a 'cow'. I was told they don't cross rivers, but tracks clearly indicated he had no difficulty in crossing and returning at a different location on several occasions. I was told they don't go uphill, but he didn't seem to have much problem with that either. He also liked to travel near brush and more often than not stay concealed in heavy brush. At one frustrating point in the hunt we noted that this particular animal seemed to have some bushbuck in him.

The hunt for him took many days and if memory serves me correctly I did not finally get a shot at him until sometime upwards of day 9. I might also mention that the shot I had on him was with his body concealed in heavy bush with only his head exposed. It was a quartering on neck shot that put him straight down for the count.

Overall the hunt was very much like my bull elephant hunt which took place previous to the rhino hunt in that there was a considerable amount of footwork. As mentioned previously this particular hunt was an unusual opportunity for me to complete my Big Five and it was a true hunt.

in what country did you do your rhino hunt, big5?
sounds like a great adventure , nay , a great safari , to walk up an elephant and a rhino ,on the one hunt ............
 
Hank, I cannot speak to any hunts other than my own which was done around 20 years ago. The hunt did not take place on a farm or in any sort of fenced enclosure. Other than using a vehicle to leave camp to where we would be hunting it was done entirely on foot each and every day with us only returning to camp in the evening.

Without going into a lot of detail about this hunt it was an unusual opportunity to say the least, which is why I jumped on it. All I knew before the hunt was that the bull was old. Unlike what is common today his actual horn length was a complete unknown. The hunt was for a specific animal and the hunt took place in an open region that was hilly and somewhat mountainous.

Again, I don't know about other hunts but this particular animal was wary, skittish and he acted in no way like a 'cow'. I was told they don't cross rivers, but tracks clearly indicated he had no difficulty in crossing and returning at a different location on several occasions. I was told they don't go uphill, but he didn't seem to have much problem with that either. He also liked to travel near brush and more often than not stay concealed in heavy brush. At one frustrating point in the hunt we noted that this particular animal seemed to have some bushbuck in him.

The hunt for him took many days and if memory serves me correctly I did not finally get a shot at him until sometime upwards of day 9. I might also mention that the shot I had on him was with his body concealed in heavy bush with only his head exposed. It was a quartering on neck shot that put him straight down for the count.

Overall the hunt was very much like my bull elephant hunt which took place previous to the rhino hunt in that there was a considerable amount of footwork. As mentioned previously this particular hunt was an unusual opportunity for me to complete my Big Five and it was a true hunt.

It does sound like an elephant hunt Big5. The color is very similar - and since an elephant can hide behind a bush, I assume a rhino does it even better! Congratulations - sounds well earned.

I shared a camp last summer with a fellow who was looking for a rhino. What made it difficult - and more than a bit frustrating I think - for him was that he was looking for a specific rhino, and he seems to follow the same ones over and over. Took him some 4 or 5 days to get his.
 
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Do you have any photos you would care to share Big5? Not many of us will ever get the chance to take one.


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Wheels, as these were pre digital camera days I had to give a try at scanning these photos. If I attached them successfully and in order the first photo will show where we left the vehicle each day to go out hunting. Directly ahead of the vehicle is a hillside that we would climb down to hunt the area you see in the background.

The second photo shows the PH and I standing in the background.

The third photo is a close up showing the shot entrance hole below the left ear. As mentioned earlier I used a .416 with a 400gr solid. The body of the animal was entirely hidden from view with only his head exposed. The brush around the animal was entirely cut away for photos. The shot was taken from a distance of 35 yards and he dropped in his tracks.

In an earlier post someone mentioned that it is much more challenging to take a rhino by darting him because you must get closer. I took my elephant bull at about ten paces and I would have enjoyed getting that close to this rhino as well. However, the distance he was taken is as close as I think anyone could have gotten to him. He was much more difficult to locate and more keenly aware of his surroundings and to stalk than the elephant I shot. I'm not saying that's always the case, but in this instance it was.
 
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wow! sounds like a great time! I sure wish I could have hunted twenty years ago! but then id only been eight years old. haha

last year, I actually booked a dart hunt with peter tam of Tam safaris for this September.
 
'Deleted member 15212' . . . you'll never regret booking your upcoming hunt as it will surely forever remain in your memory to replay from time to time. I think you'll have a terrific time.

Good hunting to you and all my best for many years of memory making.
 
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in what country did you do your rhino hunt, big5?
sounds like a great adventure , nay , a great safari , to walk up an elephant and a rhino ,on the one hunt ............

I may not have been clear in my post when comparing the elephant and rhino hunts. The two hunts were taken a couple of years apart. The comparison was only to say that both hunts involved much tracking and footwork.

The rhino hunt was at the request of what was at that time known as the NPB (Natal Parks Board). The hunt was an effort to eliminate an errant animal. The rhino was last known to inhabit a mountainous region where darting and a live retrieval by helicopter was deemed either impractical or too costly. To prevent the animal from being poached a decision was made to allow it to be sport hunted which would result in some financial benefit to the NPB. However, from what I was told one or perhaps even two previous sport hunting efforts proved to be unsuccessful. I was then offered an opportunity to hunt the animal.

A stipulation to the agreement was that if successful I would make a sufficient financial donation for the NPB to purchase two farmed juvenile rhinos for placement in the Weenen Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal. I was also given a relatively short period of time to arrange for the hunt. I was told that if the hunt was not conducted in a specified period of time NPB personnel were to be dispatched to the area for the purpose of locating the animal and destroying it rather than allowing it to be poached.

A beneficial part of the hunting agreement was that prior to our arrival NPB personnel were to enter the region and locate recent spoor so that we could begin tracking the rhino without much delay. However, that was not to be. Several days before our arrival there had been heavy rains and much flooding. That condition not only caused us much difficulty in entering the area by way of being forced to use alternate routes around flooded areas and having to drive across unusually deep and swift water, it also washed away all known spoor.

Upon finally arriving to the general region of the hunt and assessing the overall situation the PH expressed some frustration. Let's just say he wasn't thrilled that NPB personnel left the area prior to our arrival. The area was not only vast and unfamiliar to him we had no idea where the animal or spoor was last seen. His initial suggestion was that we should leave and not come back until NPB personnel returned and lived up to their agreement by providing us with a starting point for the hunt. I agreed with him. Even though mother nature had altered initial plans NPB should not have just pulled up stakes and left before we arrived. That wasn't what we had agreed to.

After long discussion we decided to stay and give it a try. Fortunately, after a few long days of crisscrossing several areas on foot we did finally locate spoor. From there the hunt to locate the rhino began.
 
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