On a South African plains game hunt back in 2006, professional hunter Andrew Renton and I carefully stalked to within 150 yards of a large herd of blesbok. We topped a small rise on our bellies and, using my daypack as a rifle rest for Andrew’s 7mm Rem. Mag., I put the crosshairs on the front shoulder of the largest ram, and squeezed the trigger. He went down in a heap — and the herd kept on feeding as if nothing had happened.
This was my first experience hunting with a...