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Marrakai
.416 member


Reged: 09/01/03
Posts: 3592
Loc: Darwin, Top End of Australia
Taipan kills buff!
      #88282 - 06/11/07 01:04 AM

Success for my eldest daughter on the weekend, with a nice buff taken with her favourite big game rifle: my .416 Taylor!



She opened the account with a 410gr Woodleigh of course, which passed behind the shoulder but penetrated to the off-side hide, wrecking both lungs. Remarkably, the animal started walking slowly away, painting the grass red from the nostrils but refusing to drop. A couple more well-placed shots as the beast turned to look behind did the trick.

The truly amazing thing was that one of the follow-up shots was a 400gr Taipan, which she carried for smaller pigs. Incredibly, the bullet made it completely through the chest! Admittedly, it did what Taipans usually do, and expanded right back to the base, but only separated as it came to a stop under the hide.




I assume the bullet must have slipped between the ribs on the way in, but nevertheless that's remarkable performance from a Taipan.

I'm still not recommending them for buffalo, though!

--------------------
Marrakai
When the bull drops, the bullshit stops!
--------------------------------
www.marrakai-adventure.com.au


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9.3x57
.450 member


Reged: 22/04/07
Posts: 5521
Loc: United States
Re: Taipan kills buff! [Re: Marrakai]
      #88290 - 06/11/07 02:08 AM

Marrakai, you and yours are priceless!

My daughter shot a big chunky doe a couple weeks ago, NOT with a .416 Taylor!! Tell yours nice job!!

Can you give us a step-by-step as to what you do with one of those buff and how you go about butchering and hauling? I have heard you mention buff meat in the freezer in the past and I am really curious as to how you handle it all particularly in the heat.

--------------------
What are the Rosary, the Cross or the Crucifix other than tools to help maintain the fortress of our faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?


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Marrakai
.416 member


Reged: 09/01/03
Posts: 3592
Loc: Darwin, Top End of Australia
Re: Taipan kills buff! [Re: 9.3x57]
      #88339 - 06/11/07 05:28 PM

9ThreeXFifty7:
Our attitude towards the meat might offend some of the members here, so some explaination is warranted. The Asian water buffalo in Northern Australia is not a native animal, but a feral pest. If unchecked, they will build up their numbers without predators or natural diseases and soon over-run the land, causing enormous environmental damage. Such was the situation prior to the 1980s, at which point the Government committed millions of dollars to a helicopter shooting program. Buffalo were shot to waste out across the floodplains in the tens of thousands.

In the US you shoot managed native wildlife on a tag system, so of course you are going to collect all the meat you can from every kill. Here though, the important thing is to keep the numbers in check and protect the environment.

Also, the political reality is that if the buffalo build up their numbers to the point where a camper-van full of German tourists hits one on the Stuart Highway one night, resulting in deaths, the helicopter gunships will be in the skies immediately to hammer their numbers down once again. The tourist dollar takes precedence over all else here at the moment

Having said all that, we collect meat during the cooler months of the year if possible, taking the backstraps, shoulders and rumps and back-packing them out. Fully boning-out a carcass would only occur if the vehicle could be got to within a short distance of the fallen animal.

The best bits, the rib-eye, are probably the hardest cuts to retrieve, especially if there is no fresh water handy to clean up afterwards, so unfortunately they are often left.

The ribs are my favourite, roasted whole over the coals of an open camp-fire on a chilly dry-season night. Marvellous!

Sadly, it was over 40 degrees celsius (~105 farenheit) 'down the track' on the weekend, with very high humidity ahead of afternoon thunderstorms. The buff was shot around 2 pm on a meadow at the base of the escarpment, some 8km from the vehicle 'as the crow flies' up a rugged creekline from the main valley. No meat was collected that day!

The horns, however, are hanging in a tree in my backyard as I type this, and the flies are beginning to gather!

--------------------
Marrakai
When the bull drops, the bullshit stops!
--------------------------------
www.marrakai-adventure.com.au


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mickey
.416 member


Reged: 05/01/03
Posts: 4647
Loc: Pend Oreille Valley, Idaho
Re: Taipan kills buff! [Re: Marrakai]
      #88342 - 06/11/07 06:02 PM

tony

What would constitute a chilly dry season night?

--------------------
Lovu Zdar
Mick

A Man of Pleasure, Enterprise, Wit and Spirit Rare Books, Big Game Hunting, English Rifles, Fishing, Explosives, Chauvinism, Insensitivity, Public Drunkenness and Sloth, Champion of Lost and Unpopular Causes.


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ALAN_MCKENZIE
.400 member


Reged: 24/03/04
Posts: 1214
Loc: Western Australia
Re: Taipan kills buff! [Re: mickey]
      #88348 - 06/11/07 10:53 PM

Tony,if I'm correct your daughter has just returned from Afganistan.
Tell her I am proud of her !
Well done.
Al

--------------------
"Dogs always bark at their master"
Sir Seretse Khama.25th June 1949


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9.3x57
.450 member


Reged: 22/04/07
Posts: 5521
Loc: United States
Re: Taipan kills buff! [Re: Marrakai]
      #88349 - 06/11/07 11:30 PM

Marrakai:

Not a problem. I have read of the various attempts to control various critters there and wasn't sure if these buff fell into the varmint category. On the other side of the scale {quite literally}, I shoot hundreds of ground squirrels in the barely successful attempt to keep them from wreaking mayhem in my pine plantation and against my stock pond dikes, not to mention feral dogs and coyotes, none of which we eat and all of which are, from a biological standpoint, organic material that is left to enrich the soil.

Seems a pity though for you with your buff, as I reckon even one would fill a couple freezers and the meat represents a value lost to the hunter even if when left in the field it isn't an actual loss to the environment.

I do understand your dilemma and thanks for the explanation!

I showed my eldest daughter the picture of the Taipan buff with your gal sitting there behind it and now I bet she'd like to meet yours and learn a thing or two about bustin' those big buffs!

--------------------
What are the Rosary, the Cross or the Crucifix other than tools to help maintain the fortress of our faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?


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NitroXAdministrator
.700 member


Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 39885
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...
Re: Taipan kills buff! [Re: Marrakai]
      #88356 - 07/11/07 02:27 AM

Congratulations to your daughter. A lovely trophy!

And I also second Alan's comments. Well done on the girl for her service.

I wonder how the Taipan would have gone if it had struck bone. Mayve completely different performance, hey?

Your thread is good to stand with Alan's thread on which is tougher, Asian or Cape Buffalo. The buff shot with a .416 through the lungs and -

"410gr Woodleigh of course, which passed behind the shoulder but penetrated to the off-side hide, wrecking both lungs. Remarkably, the animal started walking slowly away, painting the grass red from the nostrils but refusing to drop. A couple more well-placed shots as the beast turned to look behind did the trick."

How even an excellent calibre like the .416 still doesn't drop them instantly and how they still take time for the wound to take effect.

--------------------
John aka NitroX

...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"


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Marrakai
.416 member


Reged: 09/01/03
Posts: 3592
Loc: Darwin, Top End of Australia
Re: Taipan kills buff! [Re: NitroX]
      #88392 - 07/11/07 11:16 AM

Thanks guys. Nikki was over in the gravel-pit on the first rotation, and returned safely earlier this year. She was early in and late back, so a couple of months longer than the standard six months. The second rotation has just returned too I believe. I'll pass on your sentiments, Al. I'm real proud of her too!

If that Taipan had struck bone, it certainly wouldn't have made the second lung. They are marvellous bullets, very accurate and relatively inexpensive, and I love 'em, but they are bombs and not suitable for large or dangerous game. On the buff pictured above, it would have made little difference as the first shot was a perfect killer, the animal just didn't realise it was dead yet! We tend to keep firing if they're still on their feet: the old 'unwritten rule'! No braggin'-rights for one-shot kills around here!

And further to that, I've been present at a number of stuff-ups over the years where inexperienced hunters tried to kill a big bull with a .30-cal. Many thousands were shot with .308s during the big cull, but from a Toyota or a helicopter. For walking-up big bulls on foot in remote country, only a fool would carry a .308. I agree with John's comments (and others) on the other thread: 9.3 or .375 is a practical minimum, with over-.40 highly desirable. Even so, they rarely drop to the first shot.

Mickey: a bit like Africa, once you get inland a couple hundred kilometres the temperature can drop almost to zero overnight (rarely) in June/July/August. Five degrees C is common, but 10 degrees would be closer to an 'average' overnight minimum during what we call a 'cold snap' (Yeah, yeah, I know you 'snow-gophers' are gonna laugh!). These occur when we get a large high pressure system sitting over our southern coastline, which funnels a cold air-stream straight from Antarctica up through central Australia to the Top End.

9ThreeXFifty7: if our two daughters ever got together, we'd probably never get them apart!

--------------------
Marrakai
When the bull drops, the bullshit stops!
--------------------------------
www.marrakai-adventure.com.au


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mickey
.416 member


Reged: 05/01/03
Posts: 4647
Loc: Pend Oreille Valley, Idaho
Re: Taipan kills buff! [Re: Marrakai]
      #88417 - 07/11/07 03:12 PM

Tony

Thanks. 0 is plenty chilly enough to qualify as 'Cool. I spent 3 weeks in and around Darwin once and I don't think it ever got below 90F.

--------------------
Lovu Zdar
Mick

A Man of Pleasure, Enterprise, Wit and Spirit Rare Books, Big Game Hunting, English Rifles, Fishing, Explosives, Chauvinism, Insensitivity, Public Drunkenness and Sloth, Champion of Lost and Unpopular Causes.


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NitroXAdministrator
.700 member


Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 39885
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...
Re: Taipan kills buff! [Re: mickey]
      #88671 - 10/11/07 05:11 PM

I've split the thread so Tony's original thread stays on topic!

Quote:

Nikki was over in the gravel-pit on the first rotation, and returned safely earlier this year. She was early in and late back, so a couple of months longer than the standard six months. The second rotation has just returned too I believe. I'll pass on your sentiments, Al. I'm real proud of her too!




Tough girl.

--------------------
John aka NitroX

...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"


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peter
removed


Reged: 11/04/07
Posts: 1493
Loc: denmark
Re: Taipan kills buff! [Re: NitroX]
      #88725 - 12/11/07 12:02 AM

tony

letting that nice young girl go out hunting with only a bolt gun, when her father has some fine dbl rifles, seems a bit harsh to me.
as the good father you are, you should lend her the alex henry instead, i saw a pic on your site with her shooting it.


cheers peter


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Marrakai
.416 member


Reged: 09/01/03
Posts: 3592
Loc: Darwin, Top End of Australia
Re: Taipan kills buff! [Re: peter]
      #88824 - 13/11/07 12:17 AM

peter:
Nikki has never been afraid of the bigger calibers, and has shot many large-bore doubles. In truth, she has the pick of my gunsafe anytime, with the exception of the Jeffery .400! The Taylor is her choice for the big stuff, always has been.

For more routine quarry like pigs'n'goats with a fox thrown in, she uses her own 6.5x55 M-38 sporter.

--------------------
Marrakai
When the bull drops, the bullshit stops!
--------------------------------
www.marrakai-adventure.com.au


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peter
removed


Reged: 11/04/07
Posts: 1493
Loc: denmark
Re: Taipan kills buff! [Re: Marrakai]
      #88855 - 13/11/07 02:29 AM

tony

sounds like you did a good job bringing her up.

on the 577 note we testfired the AH with a 7 drams load, quite an interesting expirence, out of my barrels the 650 grains came roaring at 1800 fps plus minus 12 fps. it was a handfull but not painfull.
it did regulate but i hope for a bit better when we start playing with it again. i got 4" (2L and 2R)at 50 meters which is good but it seems like it can do better.

cheers peter


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