When European settlers first arrived in Africa, they brought with them trusty muzzleloaders that, though they may have served them well in the old country, proved far too anemic to dispatch the thick-skinned, heavy-boned dangerous game native to their new home. After a few close calls with cantankerous critters the size of pickup trucks, they
We all know someone who doesn’t understand why we hunt. It can be a challenge to convince them of the purpose and purity of our sport. Robbie Kröger, founder of the not-for-profit organization Blood Origins, has made this his mission: delivering persuasive, authentic stories of hunting and conservation in an eye-catching format to powerfully convey
If you’ve ever considered walking away from your mundane day job to do something reckless and conspicuously masculine—join the French Foreign Legion, live like a hermit in the Alaskan wilderness, or become a big-game hunter in Africa, for instance—you’re not alone. Peter Hathaway Capstick, one of the foremost big- and dangerous-game hunters in Africa and
Big-game hunter John “Pondoro” Taylor developed a formula he claimed codified the “knockout” power of rifle cartridges. Is it a reliable measure of a round’s efficacy, or an antiquated theory with dubious origins? The study of ballistics has filled numerous textbooks through the ages and remains a contentious topic full of conflicting theories and mathematical
W.D.M. “Karamojo” Bell, a Scottish big-game hunter and adventurer, developed a reputation as one of history’s most preeminent elephant hunters. His unique observations and techniques provide a clear snapshot of hunting the world’s largest land animal at the turn of the last century. Most of us will never experience an elephant hunt in our lifetime.
Counted amongst nature’s fiercest predators, bears—when aggravated—can pose a fearsome threat to hunters, hikers, and campers. Here are a few last-resort options for halting an attack. We’d be remiss in not first acknowledging that bear attacks are exceedingly rare, as bears tend to avoid human contact whenever possible. But as civilization expands, interaction between species
