By Craig Boddington
Hard Cover, 170 Pages, Available from Simon & Schuster
1-800-223-2336
$39.95 plus $5.05 Shipping
Craig Boddington recounts the stories of 50 of his big game hunts all over the world, and the stalks that brought him success.
Sometimes the roles get reversed as when he was hunting polar bear with two Inuit guides. As they began to stalk a big polar bear the bear woke up and saw them. The bear was delighted to see them and immediately began stalking them for as far as he was concerned he had been delivered breakfast in bed! Three shots from a .375 Ruger with 250-grain GMX bullets at 40 yards ended that encounter. Boddington had misjudged the size when he first saw it and wanted to keep looking but the Inuit guides over ruled him saying “Big bear. Storm comes tomorrow” and that was that. It turned out to be a very big bear.
An old elephant in Botswana turned to face his stalkers at a mere 12 yards which is closer than it should be. Unable to correctly judge the angle to the brain at such close quarters the first shot just turned him but the second shot into the shoulder with a .450 3½-inch Rigby Nitro Express double rifle brought him down. Once again the fast second shot from a double rifle saved the day.
An Alaskan grizzly soaked up multiple shots from a .325 Winchester Short Magnum before falling. Had he been charging them, the event might have been even more interesting as a grizzly can cover ground faster than a horse and the chances of him reaching the hunters before dying are real.
Many game animals worldwide are covered; Blue sheep in Nepal, Alpine Ibex in Switzerland, elk in New Mexico, tropical whitetail in Peru, giant forest hog in the Central African Republic.
The book provides a good view of the variety of big game animals worldwide and how they can be stalked for the author does not like hunting from a stand. This book is well written and makes for an enjoyable read.—Jim Dickson
