Here’s how you drive a hunting guide bonkers. Make a long and arduous stalk, finally get close enough to shoot, and then as the animal is nervously testing the wind, whisper to the guide, “Where should I aim?” You don’t want to be miles from help with a crazed guide. Here’s how to avoid the situation.

Anatomically Correct

Robertson combined his skills to write one of the most useful books ever published on African hunting. The book is The Perfect Shot: Shot Placement for African Big Game, published by Safari Press. If you have any notion of hunting Africa, this is one book you must have. It is simply superb.

For each game species Robertson begins with a section on “Natural History and Feeding Habits,” with information on distribution, subspecies and physical characteristics. Then there are sections on sex determination, trophy assessment, how the species is hunted, rifle, caliber (spelled “calibre” English style), bullet selection, and most critical of all, shot placement.

Accompanying each segment is an excellent photograph of the species (taken by Robertson’s wife Catherine, an outstanding wildlife photographer). A second photo of the same animal shows an anatomically correct overlay with the location of the vital organs and skeletal structure. Aiming points for heart/lung, high shoulder/spinal and neck/spinal shots are illustrated, for the classic broadside shot and usually for the commonly encountered angling shots.