“Now we wait for him to make a mistake.” Jacques’ experience was showing. We’d spent the better part of the day circumscribing this mountain in order to get to here. First driving, then walking, finally crawling, just to be right in this very spot. We were on one side of a rise at the top of a hill. The stallion was on the other side.
At 200 yards, the only part of him that was visible were his ears…and they were twitching. And here we were, tucked into shallow crags, hidden behind nothing more than sparse, short shrubs. If we moved one more foot up the hill he’d see us for sure.
The stallion’s ears pointed in our direction, and his eyes followed. His head up, the stallion stepped forward. Jaques and I were in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, hunting the Eastern Cape Mountain Zebra and we might have just blown it.
I’d arrived in country four days prior. The nights dipped just below freezing while days under the sun reached 60 degrees by noon, with misty mornings in between. Our hunt started in the lowlands near Jeffreys Bay. We had a full seven days to take both the Blue Duiker and Cape Grysbok, the latter being a notoriously challenging nocturnal species of pygmy antelope.
With incredible luck I’d managed to take both animals within the first two days, the Grysbok within the first couple of hours of our first night’s hunt. (In fact we’d see 16 more of the supposedly rare and reclusive animal over the next few nights.)
With two more critters in my quest for Africa’s Tiny 10 knocked out, it was time to head up into the mountains proper in hopes of completing my Zebra Slam.
Jacques Jordaan of Ndlotti Safari Adventures had done a fine job finding this particular area, a truly massive series of farms and ranches, all taking part in an organized conservatory of game common to the Eastern Cape. With the local landowners all bought in on the environmental and game management — as well as anti-poaching efforts — a wide variety of formerly threatened species were flourishing. This is where we would focus on the Cape Mountain Zebra, the last in my “zebra slam.”
Getting close in on any wary mountain species is half the fun…and all of the challenge. Although we spotted a herd within hours of entering the area, actually getting to them, spotting to see if the herd included a mature stallion, and then getting close enough to take him was another matter entirely. After a winding drive punctuated by breathtaking views, it was time to dismount and start the long trek up.
Keeping the herd upwind was the real struggle. Mountains create their own winds as the temperatures shift throughout the day, so we’d need to move not just up, but around some pretty significant terrain features. Dropping down on the roads before walking up on foot meant we’d completely lose sight of the herd for most of the day and just hope we got it right by the time we got to where we thought they’d be. Lots of walking and a bit of hand-over-hand-crawling on legs well past their prime made me particularly happy with my choice in firearm for this hunt.
When Wilson Combat announced it was chambering the NULA 20S in 300 HAMR I got on the phone and ordered one as fast as I could. The NULA Model 20 is called that because the action only weighs 20oz. As ridiculous as that may sound, the 20S is even lighter. The 16.24-inch rifle I would end up taking to South Africa’s Eastern Cape weighed 4 pounds, 13 ounces. The case I packed the rifle in weighed three times as much as the rifle.
The 300 HAMR chambering itself was released back in 2018 and was designed to duplicate the ballistics of the venerable .30-30 Winchester when fired from an AR-15 platform. The 300 HAMR does that and more. Out of the 16-inch barrel on this rifle, using the Lehigh Defense 125gr Controlled Chaos bullet, that round would still be generating over 1,000 ft/lbs of energy at 200 yards. Having hunted other zebra species plenty of times, I was aware that they can, in fact, run. I made 1,000 ft/lbs of energy delivered my minimum, so 200 yards would be my maximum huntable range.
Up and around, up and around we went until we spotted the herd again. Or at least we thought it was the same herd. We hadn’t been as stealthy as we’d hoped and as soon as our heads peeked up over a hill, we were staring right at a group of mares…and they were staring right back at us.
We were busted. Jacques and I both stood stone still. The wind was still in our face and, although they had certainly spotted us, the mares seemed cautious, but unconcerned. The lead mare slowly turned their head and walked away and the rest of the herd followed.
The stallion had to be close. He’d either follow the mares or attempt to corral them closer. Either way, we were on the right track, just no longer quite in the right place. Now it was a scurry back down far enough to sprint around to keep the wind right, only to bolt straight back up again. I cursed Jacques’ youth and that wasn’t the first time I’d done it that day.
Jacques leading the way, I followed straight up behind him. Without warning, he dropped to a crouch. Looking over his shoulder, I could see why. We’d come up on the herd again. They’d gone another ridge over, a good 400 yards away, and were looking this way.
But not at us. Jacques has the keenest eyes of any human being I’ve ever met. Following the gaze of the mares back, he picked up two ears sticking just above the brush, 200 yards ahead of us. “It’s alone, there’s no one else with him. It’s got to be the stallion.”
Over the rocks, over the bushes, over slumbering snakes in their dens, forward we crawled. By the position of his ears, we could tell he was looking back at the mares, then back at us. Back at them, back at us. When they stopped, both pointed in our direction, I sat up, stone still, the rifle pointed forward, ready. Jaques crowded next to me.
Wary and halting, the stallion stepped forward.
“TakehimJon,” hurried Jacques. The trigger snapped.
I watched the round strike the edge of the shoulder with the stallion quartering toward and heard the solid slap of the bullet striking flesh. The stallion whirled and circled, but kept his feet. Strong and confident, he began to walk forward. For a moment I feared I was all wrong. Wrong bullet, wrong gun, wrong everything. Most of the zebra I’d taken were with some .375 bullets 150 grains heavier than this one, and in my confidence I worried that I’d overestimated myself and my gear.
His head dropped. His eyes closed. His legs began to falter. He was fading fast. I put a mercy round through his chest and he fell.
While taking photos I found the first round tenting the hide up in front of the rear leg. The Lehigh Defense bullet had performed perfectly, the lead section opening and destroying both lungs while the core travelled the diagonal width of the animal.
The little NULA 20S rifle would continue to prove itself many times over the next week as it took a wide variety of game throughout the Eastern Cape, but that zebra was the hunt I’d been thinking about when I contacted Wilson Combat in the first place. It was easy to carry during the long climbs up the mountains, but it still packed plenty of punch to handle big game.
If someone had asked me, I would have said that a .30 caliber, 125 grain bullet (with a muzzle velocity around 2400 feet-per-second) is woefully inadequate for big game like a zebra, especially out to 200 yards. When it comes to game animals over 600 pounds and shots out to 200 yards, I want a minimum 180 grain bullet and muzzle velocities over 2,600 feet-per-second. And bigger is even better.
I suppose that my recent experiences with white-tailed deer have me thinking along the lines that I stated above. I have shot white-tailed deer at 80 yards with .43 caliber (240 grain) and .45 caliber (250 grain) bullets–both with muzzle velocities around 1,600 feet-per-second–and watched them run anywhere from 60 yards to 150 yards. And with good shot placement (broadside double-lung). I figure, if a white-tailed deer (which weighs something like 200 pounds on the hoof) can run as far as 150 yards after absorbing such large and heavy bullets with impact velocities around 1,400 feet-per-second, that I would need similar size bullets with even higher velocities for larger animals such as a zebra.
Perhaps there is something “magical” about a bullet striking an animal with a velocity in excess of 2,000 feet-per-second that we just don’t see with much larger bullets at impact velocities around 1,400 feet-per-second. Either that or my bullets are not expanding and zipping right through (all of my shots are pass-throughs) without imparting much of their energy.
Us Americans tend to shoot a lot heavier than necessary. The number of plains game killed with a .243, 6.5×55 and 7×57 easily number in the many millions.
That said, deer run. I have a photo album of obliterated white tail hearts from animals that ran more than 100 yards.
Thank you for your reply Mr. Taylor.
I would like to think that I am a seasoned hunter with ample experience and knowledge, and yet I keep learning simple and profound hunting pearls-of-wisdom which always amazes me. My most recent hunting pearl-of-wisdom that I just learned: “… deer run. I have photo albums of obliterated white-tail hearts from animals that ran more than 100 yards.”
That is very helpful knowledge, especially applied to the nice property that I have been blessed to hunt the last three years. That property is 400 yards wide by 1600 yards long which sounds plenty large for successfully hunting white-tailed deer. And it is plenty large, unless I hunt within 100 yards of the edge of the property, I shoot a deer which is standing very close to the edge of the property, and then that deer runs 120 yards onto the next property. In that scenario, the deer expires 220 yards away from me and 120 yards onto the next property. There is a very good chance that I lose sight of it long before it expires, potentially making it very difficult to even find it. Then, if I find it, I have to drag it 120 yards minimum back to the property I am hunting. And that all assumes that I have permission to retrieve my deer from the next property over.
This new knowledge compels me to seriously reconsider where I hunt on that property, where deer should be when I shoot them, which caliber and load I should use, and which target zone I should choose on deer.
Pin them through the shoulder.
I am going to start doing that. Double lung and heart shots on white-tailed deer result in those deer running between 100 and 150 yards way too often. I don’t like ruining the meat in the shoulder area. Even worse is a deer that runs away and I end up with no meat at all.
Thank you for the article, both the details of the rifle/caliber and the account of your hunt. Since I will never be on safari in Africa, your stories enable me to live vicariously through your adventures.
Your account of your hunt is helpful to my much smaller scale version where I hunt. Just this last Friday I had an opportunity to stalk a white-tailed deer buck for the first time in my life. Of course I totally blew it and the buck survived to taunt me another day. Nevertheless, I learned from that failed attempt and, more importantly, I learned from your successful hunt. My primary mistake: I rushed everything and wasn’t willing to crawl on the ground where cover was minimal. That’s okay, though. That buck will be back next year. And so will I, a much better hunter who will slow way down and be willing to crawl.
When I woke up this morning, I had no Idea I’d be going on an African game hunt.
Thanks for inviting us to tag along, without us having to buy an expensive trans-Atlantic plane flight… 🙂
You are super welcome and thanks for the read. But to that end, the price of flights has become ridiculous. The cost for a direct flight to Johannesburg is almost twice what it was only 5 years ago and that flight is always packed. Really eats into the trophy fees. Still, you could do a really good plains game safari for about $7k.
Mr. Taylor,
My biggest hindrance to an African plains game safari is personal security. I am picturing multiple ways that someone could jam me up on the way into Africa, while I am there, and on the way back.
Obviously, you have done it successfully multiple times and I am very happy for your success. My life seems to tilt extremely heavily toward major misfortunes and I am not seeing how the reward justifies the risk in my case.
Your fear in many different countries throughout southern Africa is unjustified. Especially for Namibia and South Africa. Huge sections of these countries make the majority of their income on tourism and the Outfitters and Hunters that will meet you there in those countries have security and transportation down pat. The cities are your problem and you won’t be spending any time there. You will find that a big portion of the flight to Johannesburg will be other Hunters as well as the flight back. If the fear for your own safety is the concern you should not allow that to be a concern.