About 30 years ago I sold my old Mercedes and make my first hunting trip abroad. I hunted for stag and boar in
the northern part of India - a man eating leopard I was interesting in was declared to be dead because of no new
kills for some time, by the time I arrived in India. Lucky greenhorn! I used a Mauser 66 telescopic repeating rifle
and the 8x 68S cartrige which is approaximately on the same energy level with the .338 Win mag. Later I traveled to
other continents like Africa, South America, Australia always hunting and fishing. I tried handgun hunting on monkeys
and on antelopes in southern Africa with a .3o8 Win single shot Wichita pistol and shot some plain game with a Mc Millan
.300 Winchester magnum repeater. Another trip to Namibia saw a Sako safari .375 Holland & Holland magnum in use because
I was not pleased with the performance of smaller bores on Africa game. Several trips to Tunesia, for surround hunting
wild boars with shotguns (rifles are not allowed) delivered ideal test conditions to see the Ithaco road blocker in .10 mag
more likely for fun and the Benellis in twelve bore for more serious hunting attentions in action. These self loading
shotguns topped with iron sights and loaded with the Italian Palla Solengo ammunition were a great equipment for this kind
of game.
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Two times I went to Australia to hunt for water buffalo, red buffalo and pigs. At the first trip my friend who is a medical,
too and who loves reloading the big bores used a custom made .404 Jeffery rep. while I carried a .416 Rigby and a Heym
double in .470 N.E. for back up purposes during this trip. The Australian guide used a .458 Winchester magnum. The double
performed wonderful on attacking game. Being lazy I carried a light Blaser 93 in .375 Holland & Holland mag as the one and only
rifle during my second trip to the northern Australian outback with me. The combination worked wonderful on woldboar but I was
not pleased when I used it on buffalo - hard to kill. Next time on a similar hunting trip I will take my .470 N.E. double with me.
My satisfaction and happiness is not correlated with the size of the trophy but I love to enjoy mother nature and I accept that
the game sometimes acts more smart than the fisher and hunter does. Whenever I injure an animal during the hunt I make the search
after by myself after an adequate break under acceptable light conditions. My attemps to get moose in Sweden failed - probably
because it was raining cats and dogs.
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