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.62 smoothbore went on a little hunt

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I posted this in one other place so some of you that venture off this forum may have seen this. My intent is just to share information for interested people so I think there may be a bigger audience here that would find some relevance.

I carried my .62 smoothbore double as a back-up for some Water Buffalo hunters at my Texas ranch. They were surprised I relied on it. The clients used their modern double-rifle. My purpose was only to shoot if we were literally being charged and my shot would be at very close range and in the head. I'm a retired PH so all things considered I was confident this .62 would be fine for the intended purpose if necessary. It wasn't, but the clients were intrigued and asked to give it a try on a little ram hunt. A sheep is no challenge for a .62 caliber ball, but I am showcasing the versatility of the smoothbore! Loaded with 80 grains of FFFg, a card and 1/2" wad, a .626 ball (left barrel uses .610) and two cards over the ball it is getting 1588 fps. It has two beads, a flat top middle bead and a rounded front bead. If you make a little "8" with the beads the impact is right on top of the "8" at 35-yard and the right and left barrel will touch shots. At 50-yards the right barrel is slightly high and left and the left barrel is slightly right - about 1-inch apart. Frankly, I have never shot it past 50-yards. Anyway, we eased through some heavy brush while watching the wind and got to 37-yards of some feeding and resting rams. The client aimed a few times to understand how to sight. When he sent the ball towards the ram he instantly got a big smile. It appeared as if the ball lifted the ram off the ground and dropped it. It did not flinch. This is my 12-year old son's gun. He shot doves and a deer with it and I recently shot a turkey and a hog. Very versatile gun in this caliber and configuration! (NOTE: I don't have permission to post the clients photos - hence the makeup)

ML-Ram-LI.jpg


ML-Buff-2-LI-Copy.jpg
 
You sparked an interest, excellent work sir. With luck that spark may grow into a flame and we will have another amongst our ranks!!
Great little story.
Walk
 
Never hunted in Africa, But a lot of other places. Just do not see the sense in high fence whether it is 10 acres or 10 million. Everyone has a different view of fair chase. Probably will never hunt Texas if that's all that's available. Good harvesting as I do not call this hunting.
 
Never hunted in Africa, But a lot of other places. Just do not see the sense in high fence whether it is 10 acres or 10 million. Everyone has a different view of fair chase. Probably will never hunt Texas if that's all that's available. Good harvesting as I do not call this hunting.
Instead of criticizing how others hunt, let’s celebrate the hunt. “ We must all hang together, or assuredly, we will all hang separately”. Now is the time to stick together, or it will all be lost.
 
Dang it! All these years I thought I hunted fair chase as a lad shooting squirrels and rabbits in my Dad's 6 acre woods in east Texas! Now I realize since there was an old fence around it, I was performing Canned Hunts! OH The Shame! Mea Culpa! Mea Culpa!
 
Each to his own, never criticizing just my take on high fence, Treestalker a cattle fence is a lot different from high fence old or not. I will stick to my view of high fence. Turned down a offer to hunt red stag in Canada due to the high fence . The place where I hunt white tails has old barbed wire fencing but the animals still have the ability to cross it. As a matter of fact the nice buck I HUNTED successfully this past year crossed that barbed wire. Not a twenty foot barrier as shown in the pictures.
 
I am vehemently anti high fence hunting. Period. End. Of. Discussion. However that said, I think Appalichian Hunter is ill informed on the western/Texas type 'high fence' operations. These ranches are enormous. Thousands if not tens of thousands of acres in size. Not a one acre or 5 acre 'pen'. I know it sounds odd but these enormous ranches, even if there is a fence, really are fair chase. I would have no ethical problem going on one of these types of hunts.
 
Thread has gone off the rails a bit...

Excellent story that definitely demonstrates the versatility of the 62cal smoothy.

Vis a vis the exotic hunting ranches in Texas, doesn't tickle my fancy but who am I to judge how others enjoy their style of hunting so long as it's legal?
 
Just do not see the sense in high fence whether it is 10 acres or 10 million. Everyone has a different view of fair chase.

No, actually everybody doesn't have a different view of fair chase.

Not everybody hunts, and of the hunters, you'll find lots in agreement one way, and some in others.

So an island say the size of the county in which I live, 320,000 square acres, where the wild animals had been delivered by ship, would be OK..., but if there was a fence around it, that would be not OK? Just trying to understand a point of view.

LD
 
I would suggest that if a guy had thousands upon thousands of acres of land and he wanted to import exotic animals, he might very well high fence the property in order to keep the animals on his property instead of leaching out to other areas where they might not be wanted. With a big enough ranch this might be considered fair chase if the animals were permitted to range the entire place. I'm only considering a very large ranch. Not a couple hundred acre one.
 
When I was younger I would respond to such comments with a challenge. I will allow whomever to come hunt for an Aoudad on my ranch for free. The parameters were that you have from dark until dark to find one any way you want to and at least shoot at it. This part of the ranch was 588 acres, so not too big in Texas standards. After dark (and dinner) I would take the same person out in the truck with a spotlight. There were 3 groups of aoudad, the smallest with 11 rams together and the largest with 20 total among males and females. So there were approximately 46 aoudad in 3 locations throughout the ranch. Not one single person ever saw them during there day, usually in May or June where there is more than 12-hours of daylight. Most every person saw other species that they were surprised they did not see during their "hunt". There are no feeders, food plots or blinds on this property. Animals are not put-and-take. Once introduced we don't "hunt" them until they have established a large enough population. So most of them were born and raised on the ranch and have been there for several years. In Texas we can catch introduced species and relocate them. The Axis Deer, Sika Deer, Aoudad and in some cases even elk were 100% free range in Texas and were live-captured in a round-pen trap or drop net before relocating. They are not tame, domestically raised animals. Others like buffalo are raised to adulthood on huge acreage without human contact prior to capture and relocation. Native brush and vegetation and two ponds are sufficient to sustain the animals as they are used to the flora and fauna. There is no sit and wait for them to come to you scenario. Once I retired I decided I don't care what someone thinks and gave up making a point by extending this offer. Nearly all land in Texas is private property so that is one influence. Without fences we would not have over 77 species of exotic animals living in the State. We also would not have over 10 non-native species available on public lands - free range. Lastly, we would not be able to hunt year-round.

I own property in my neighborhood, just and acre of undeveloped woodland. To the east the woods continue through two other property lines until they end at Wal Mart parking lot, about 1/8 mile away. To the South there is the Middle School and High School campus that literally goes from the property all the way up to Wal Mart's side entrance. The school property has a 6-foot fence around it. To the West is a parking lot, a pool complex and then a cookie cutter neighborhood of zero lot line properties. Beyond that is the concrete bike trail. To the North is a 3-hole section of golf course surrounded by houses on both sides and a 12-foot fence and net combo on the northern-most property border. There are a lot of deer in this area. I know most of the bucks because I see them on my cameras (usually only at night). These deer have natural barriers that keep them within a 3/4 mile rectangle. Only during the rut do you ever see one or two cross the Wal-Mart parking lot or cut through a residential backyard on the golf course side. When they do, they are in regular suburbia, no woodlots or thickets just houses every 50-100 feet. So eventually they come back to their little rectangle. We are blessed to be able to archery hunt on our property. Seeing a deer is occasional at best and getting a buck is a rarity. Fair Chase? Well they are wild deer born and raised in their surroundings.

Some animals are not concerned with human contact. Usually sheep and goat species will readily stand around in the open and are not overly concerned with the presence of humans and vehicles. Aoudad are the exception to that. With enough space and cover deer and antelope species will adapt to the habitat.

I've hunted Sika deer on Taylor's Island in Maryland. They were introduced there in 1881. They are on an island the size of my ranch. The hunter success rate is less than 20%. I've hunted Sambar deer and hogs on St.Vincents Island off the coast of Florida. They were introduced there in the early 1900's. BTW- its muzzleloader only and a great place for a traditional hunt with boat access only and traditional camping only. The success rate is less than 10%. The water serves as the same barrier as a high-fence does. If it is not a "hunt" then why is the success rate so low?

Having retired from PH where I was licensed in several provinces of R.S.A I can tell you that 90% of that country is high-fence "hunting". Without the fences there would not be any animals. However, the smallest I personally used was 3200 hectacres and the largest in excess of 128000 (not including Kruger Nat'l Park which is millions but fenced in nonetheless).

Anyway, there are lots of similarities in modern society. Even the salmon migration puts thousands of fish in a somewhat vulnerable location with super high fishing success rates compared to other seasons. Tandem sky-diving is much more controlled and predictable than solo jumping. It is still sky-diving. You can rent a race-car (Las Vegas comes to mind) and race around a track. There is a remote sub-control that allows an expert to intervene with braking and steering to decrease the possibility of losing control. You still drove a race car at racing speeds on a racetrack! Adapting something to sustain it, prolong it and repeat it is nothing new. Its legal and done with a lot of care and respect.

I personally do not hunt on my own fenced in place. I have some advantage there because I know where different animals are likely to favor. I don't hunt whitetail, elk, hogs and some other critters on a fenced situation just because I cannot control the owner or operator (not the animals). It may come a surprise that most Pronghorn Antelope in Texas are fenced in. The property is typically tens of thousands of acres and up to millions. I will hunt Pronghorn. The odds of success are no better nor worse than hunting in another State where there is no fence. The animals are territorial and fairly predictable. I've never seen one anywhere near "the fence" in Texas and usually several MILES from the property boundaries and structures.

I get people that don't like the fence. I don't like it either under some circumstances. I also challenge people to find a place that is reputable and visit. Even if you don't bring your muzzleloader just do some spot and stalk and see if you find and get close to any animals. Using a camera is fun too. If you know anything about ranching you know that some days you can't even locate all your cattle. How are you going to locate all your deer-a-lope or whatever? There is a difference between a "shooting preserve" where animals are put-and-take to insure success and a "hunting ranch" where animals are introduced to breed and survive on their own within the confines of the property.
 
It’s difficult for many to fathom the immensity of say a 20,000 acre high fenced square. With areas of thick brush, mesquite, and prickly pear. I frequent such a ranch in deep south Texas. It’s easy to loose track of people you are trying to catch on the place. And it is depressing when you find the remains of one.
 
Sparkitoff, you are giving folks the chance to hunt exotic species they might never encounter otherwise, and a year round season. I suspect most of the animals on your property have little or no awareness of the fence around the property, and live their lives as freely, or more so, than other wild animals outside the fence. I have no doubt that they have less exposure to humans and artificial barriers than the wild deer, bear and elk here in PA.

Animals are not stupid, they are aware that they suffer little or no harassment in certain areas, and stay within those "confines", fence or no fence, or only venture out at night. There are trophy bucks that live out their existence within a few hundred feet or less of houses and roads - because they are unmolested there, and often unseen.

We live in the modern world, and I don't think any of us are the hunters we like to imagine we are. I think the experience you provide is probably more honest and fair than most of us will experience. You are to be commended.

Richard/Grumpa
 
You give people the opportunity to hunt animals that some have only read about or seen on TV. Many could not afford the cost of going to Africa for such a hunt. Thank you sir.
 
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