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I've shot camels with the .30/30, a .308, a 7mm STW and the .416 Rigby. My Dad shot one with the .22-250, and the station crew got after them with a .223, but that is just asking for trouble and lost animals (my Dad didn't lose any, but none of us are trying that again). I've also shot a couple with traditional bow-and-arrow.

I love big bore rifles with open sights, as you know. Now, there are some camels and places where it is quite feasible to try this, and other camels and places where it is impossible to get close enough. If the camels have been bombed-up before, they won't let you get very close. If you hide at a water hole, they will be wary, but they'll get close enough for you to big bore them. Depending on the vegetation, they can be stalked to big bore range if they haven't been bombed before, but you won't completely surprise them very often as is usually the case with hunting goats or pigs or buffalo - camels are hardly ever surprised, due to their height and the open country, but the naive ones will allow you to get big bore close out of curiosity.

One of my favourite things in the whole wide world is sitting under some scant shade at a dam or trough all day in the desert, and just waiting, watching, resting, photographing birds and scenery, and finally shooting. You can have action any time of day in the desert, and sometimes action every hour or so. The best action is during drought times, and with the blessed Spanish lady around, the next drought might be some time away. Prolific action against camels will have to wait until the interior dries a bit.

I will eventually purchase my own flat-shooter, specifically for the wary camels at long range and plains game in Africa. I would be very happy with a .300WM for this. As I daydream about future days spent by a desert dam, I imagine that I would like to have with me my longbow and wooden arrows in case that chance arises, as well as for silent plinking fun to pass the time; and one of my big bore rifles should the animals come close, but not close enough; and that .300WM for the wary ones, or to knock the ones over that retreat quickly once the big bore or bow has its action up close. A good book, too; something like a Louis L'Amour western seems to suit the desert, and is easier to pack around than Dostoevsky or Tolstoy.

But, camels and horses have a boiler room just like all of God's creatures, and when you put the right bullet there, the job is done. With the camel, just don't shoot low into that resting pad at the bottom of his chest between his front legs, because there's nothing vital there.

Have fun!

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