The Diamond with traditional levergun calibers

[86er]

SCI has World Hunting Awards, Pinnacle Awards and Inner Circle Awards in many catagories. One of the catagories is Introduced Trophy Animals of North America. There are 64 animals in the Introduced Trophy catagory. Award levels are given for taking a certain number of animals in the catagory. Copper is 6, Bronze is 9, Silver is 12, Gold is 15 and Diamond is 18. I chose animals that were born in the wild and never kept in an enclosure other than a ranch perimeter fence. There are African animals on the list that I shot in Africa, not in their introduced habitat in North America, so I did not include those. There are also animals that I will NEVER shoot in N.A. due to the cost. For example: A Bongo is about $40,000 in the U.S. Anyway, I have shot the Diamond level and I realized that I used a lever action rifle, 45-70 cartridge or 45 Colt cartridge to take them all. One animal was taken with a 45-70 double rifle and one was taken with 45 Colt handgun. The rest were 45-70 levergun, 30 WCF levergun and .308 levergun. The sizes range from the 90 pound blackbuck and 75 pound feral goat to the 1890 pound water buffalo and 1220 pound Yak. In terms of tenacity and difficulty to put down, the Nilgai tops the list with the Aoudad close behind. The point is - one we are all familiar with - the lever action rifle and the traditional cartridges they are chambered for are as versatile as ever on animals from around the world. I shot the first 400 head of big game with a 7mm Rem Mag. I am now one animal away from having 500 big game animals taken. The last 99 animals have been with traditional lever action cartridges and I have never wished I had the 7mm Mag in my hands because I felt under-gunned or at a distinct disadvantage. I will say that I passed up a handful of long range opportunities that I could have capitalized on with the 7mm Mag. However, when the opportunity came up again the pay-off was being able to take an animal as closer range with a rifle I love to be hunting with. Anyway, I was just thinking of this accomplishment and thought I'd ramble and share some thoughts.

[rjohns94]

Congrats Joe. Wonderful post, insiteful and honest. I commend your achievement and as it applies here, its wonderful to have accomplished this milestone with a levergun. Can you link to the animals that are on the list for the rest of here?

[99savage308]

Diamond

Great job and happy for you and with a lever action............smile

I have to ask what is a bongo ? Why would anyone pay 40,000 dollars to kill a bongo? I gave less than that much for my 65 acres and a cabin on it. I do have deer running all over the place and wild turkeys but I'm sorry no bongos.

Still Great job 86er Great job
.

[Old Savage]

That should serve to give you a good deal of experience on how a 45-70 compares to a 7 mag. Any thought that come to mind on that?

[RKrodle]

That in my opinion is a truly awesome thing, to be able to take 499 head of big game is a remarkable feat. Congrats Joe and I hope I'm there for number 500.

[Ysabel Kid]

Quite the accomplishment! Now we can call you "Diamond Joe"!!!

Congratulations!!!

[Andrew]

Nice job Joe. I hope the next 500 are as much fun.

[Griff]

Nice job Joe. I hope the next 500 are as much fun.

Ditto, and congratulations. What's your intent for #500?

[BenT]

Wow ! How many freezers have you gone through ? When you put meat the table you don't mess around .

[Tycer]

Awesome!

I like the handle "Diamond Joe". The boys at your job wouldn't let you live that one down. Haha.

[86er]

Here's the list: http://www.scifirstforhunters.org/docs/ ... merica.pdf

The HSUS calls it the bloodlust list, just so you know.

I used the list as a guideline to write some articles and prepare a book on hunting exotics. There are a few animals on the list I will probably take eventually due to circumstances. My friend has a wild herd of Barasingha on his ranch. They are protected under CITES. Yesterday I updated my FWS application to be able to "take" a few Barasingha animals for management purposes. There's another fellow that has a free range herd of Addax on 14,000 acres. He wants to trade for a hunt with me for animals he doesnt have, so most likely we will make the trade.

As far as the actual number of animals I have taken, About two hundred is evenly split between whitetails and hogs. Throw in 30 black bears (mostly taken on nuisance permits working with States). Two or three trips to Africa with 6 or 10 animals a trip - it all adds up quickly.

Comparing the 45-70 with the 7mm Mag is difficult. I've always said bullets and animals are going to do what they're going to do. I will say with certainty that on black bear at close range the 45-70 has a much more dramatic effect. You can see the hit and the bears reaction has been to roll, somersault, spin or just drop in a pile. With the 7mm Mag they all seemed to just burst into high gear and run off a ways. Both circumstances resulted in dead bears, but definitely more dramatic. Also, on bone contact shots the 45-70 clearly leads the way. Keep in mind I have primarily shot game with a 405 gr Kodiak bullet. A great example was the Gemsbok I shot this year in S.A. The heart shot broke the off side shoulder to pieces and split the leg bone on the top. The animal dropped. With a 7mm Mag I would have expected, even bet the Gemsbok would have run 50 yards or more. Nilgai are about the toughest critters there are pound for pound. They have a cross-grained membrane under the cartilege that is like a gore tex liner. We prohibit our hunters from using any of the plastic tipped bullets that are not bonded core premiums. We also set a caliber/ammo minimum. We don't do this with any other animal. If you want to shoot a water buffalo with a .223, go ahead. We'll walk you through shot placement , back you up and encourage follow up shots. We WILL recover the buffalo. Not so with Nilgai. If you don't get serious penetration the animals will run 30 mph to the thickest stuff it can find with little or no blood trail. They are light footed so tracks are hard to follow. Richards said in his 60 or so Nilgai he shot with customers, maybe 6 or 7 times the animal dropped in its tracks and 6 or 7 different instances the bullet went through. The one I shot was 528 pounds and over 50 yards away. The 405 gr Kodiak hit behind the shoulder and just missed bone. The bullet went right through, the animal stumbled 25 yards and fell dead and the exit hole was the size of a quarter. That shot with the 7mm Mag probably would have killed it but I guarantee it would have took off running and I doubt the bullet would have gone through. The 7mm Mag has the accuracy and characteristics to get the job done over a wide spread of ranges and animal weights. The 45-70 has the bullet diameter, weight and momentum in its favor and is only hindered by its long range trajectory. At close range the 7mm Mag wont stop anything consistently. That is the very reason I got my first levergun and a 45-70 with +P ammo. The bears and buffs weren't stopping and I would be negligent not to protect myself and my clients properly. I could use any double gun I want or a large bore bolt gun, but I have never felt insufficient with the 405 gr Kodiaks mixed with 405 gr Punch bullets.

[kimwcook]

WOW!! I can't even imagine harvesting that many animals.