| 9.3x57 |
| (.450 member) |
| 20/02/08 02:14 PM |
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Re: 'The African Carry'.
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Quote:
Remember that the whole net difference between a so called "tourist hunt" and the same dangerous game hunt by a PH for his own enjoyment is just one, the client. While there might be a wife or friend or cameraman along, the same holds true no matter who is sponsoring the hunt, a PH or a client. There will be at least one and probably two trackers, the PH - as shooter or as guide - and a government game scout, required in most areas, possibly an apprentice PH. Adding a paying client hunter is but adding one to the four or five engaged in the hunt regardless. Add wife or buddy or cameraman if the hunter, wether the PH or the client, want one or more along. The "line" is present with or without the paying client.
With an over the shoulder "African Carry", your muzzle should never sweep the man or men in front. The rifle's muzzle or muzzles should always be pointed to the outside and down.
JPK:
I won't dispute that this first paragraph may be true for the gents you know, but there are a heck of a lot of hunters in "Africa" that hunt plumb alone for alot of game. Not all hunters in Africa are "PH's", and naturally, hunting alone alters safety of the carry method quite a bit. Certainly in many areas it is common to hunt in a crowd, but that does not apply to all, everywhere. I had many friends and acquaintences in Congo and South Africa who hunted essentially alone, though they may have had help packing the critter out. My reference to "tourist hunters" is not meant to be a pejorative statement, only meant that fellows who pay big bucks to go over and kill stuff essentially always hunt in a crowd, relying on the skills of many who by necessity are there in the presence of the guns.
I agree that the muzzle/'s SHOULD be pointed elsewhere than the fellow's ass in front. Whether they are or not is a different story entirely. Personally, as stated, though I carry a gun that way sometimes for comfort's sake, I still consider it unsafe "in a crowd" and do not like anyone behind me carting their pole that way. Many years ago a friend of mine was shot standing not ten paces to my left due to very poor hunting safety of another fellow. I admit that incident has made me fairly safety conscious. Maybe overly so? Or maybe I am safe in certain ways and unsafe in others not noticed by me.
I find it interesting that this way of carrying the shootin iron has a sobriquet hung on it at all, since fellows all over the world have carried guns this way for centuries. The term "African Carry" is as good as any other I suppose.