In October of 2014 we were visiting the United States, taking a leave from a year or so in Mozambique. Gary Reeder called and invited me to the Handgun Hunters Challenge that he hosted every year. I had not fired a gun in 4 years so when I decided to go I began a practice routine that included dry-firing for a half hour every day and going to range at least twice a week. The HHC was held in Tennessee and in October I flew there and some of the guys who were driving in picked me up at the airport.

The game ranch was quite large and had some pretty rough country .. thick woods .. deep canyons .. lots of land. I decided to go for cow elk and a hog. I was using my Bowen-built .41 Magnum. It had started life as a Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum. Long-time friend Jack Pender had it built and when he passed he left it to me. I have cherished this gun. There is a longer story with it that I might share one day.

My hunting load was developed years ago and it is the only load I use for hunting. I load a 210 gr. XTP over 20 gr. of WC820 for a bit over 1400 fps. This load has done me well for a long time.

The guide took me out through a bunch of trees and as we approached a clearing he pointed out 4 cow elk on a slight rise about two hundred yards away. We went down under the hill and circled in. When we felt we were about the right spot we came up to where we could see them. At the sight of us they stood up and the guide said that the one in the front was the largest. He also said it was about 90 yards.

I fell back into the old silhouette position, laying back on my left elbow, left knee raised up and the gun laid alongside. As the elk started to move away I shot for a "behind the front leg" shot. The elk was moving faster than I thought and he leg was back as the bullet struck, breaking the front leg. She buckled and then recovered. I had the gun ready and put one just a little higher up into ribs on the left side. She turned and began heading for the canyon. I had helped Gary chase a wounded animal through that canyon the day before and did not want to go there again! I put the sights on her neck and fired and she dropped. The guide told me I did not have to do that because she was going down, but I was concerned about the canyon and did not mind shooting again.

When I checked the elk I saw a bulge on the right side in the ribs. I slit it open and popped out the bullet.

It held together real well and did not lost much weight at all. I was tickled with the performance.

Later I was with a group that was looking for hogs. I had walked off 50 yards or so and was in an area with weeds and brush about armpit deep. Suddenly I saw hogs running across in front of me about 50 yards out. I could see just their ears and occasional glimpses but I go my camera out and was trying to get a photo. I heard something in front of me and looked through the camera to see a hog running right at me. It wasn't charging me. I found out later a group of hunters had pushed them out of an orchard near us and the pigs were just trying to get to safe ground. But in the moment all I saw was this hog coming at me from about 15 feet away. I snapped the picture, drew my .41 Magnum and shot it in the top of the head when it was about 3 feet in front of me.

The pig coming at me.

Aftermath

I had the meat from the pig and the elk processed, flash frozen and shipped home. I got 5 large cool chests full of meat.

It was a great time and good memories to take back to Africa with me.
The .41 Magnum was great as always.