Reeder Custom Guns - Just talked to Alcorn about his rhino. I will have to

congratulate him. He darted that rhino and had a helluva good time doing it. Also he was offered a hard to get tag to shoot a rhino but he passed on it. He had a chance to actually kill a rhino but passed on it. That showed what a decent man Alcorn is. The rhinos are one of our actual endangered animals and nobody needs to shoot one. Plus he darted the rhino at about 20 feet. That took some balls. That rhino could have covered that 20 feet in 5 seconds or less.
Anyway, my thanks go out to Alcorn. He is a good man and I am proud to be his friend. And we will get to see him in about a month at the HHC.

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There has to be a story behind this . . . or did I miss it?

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That sounds like fun. I'm so glad we took that group photo last year.

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He pulled the shot a bit and shot the Rhino in the ass. They spent most of the days chasing before finding the Rhino and giving him a second shot.
The syringe is about 4" long and they use an air rifle pumped up good. They go for a shot in front of the shoulder. That area has the thinnest hide.
And if any of you guys want to dart a Rhino it is only about $20,000. The Rhino darting is about $15,000 and the other $4000 or $5000 is the PH fee and the camp stuff.
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I was with Dave Manson when he darted his Rhino and he actually did a really good job. The rhino decided to take a step as Dave pulled trigger.
The area we hunted in had about 200,000 acres and was full of rhino. We saw herds of 40 or 50 at a time. Several of them ran at the truck and chased it for a mile or so. Here are some of the rhino we saw on this hunt.
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The big bulls had their front horn sawed off to make them less desirable to poachers. A couple in the last pic still had their horns, but the people in that govt. area were in the process of sawing all of them off.

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. . . what is the purpose of darting these critters? I assume it's not fatal but an anesthetic for some purpose.

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the syringe that is shot out of a special "air rifle". The "air rifle" is powerful enough for the dart to penetrate an elephant's or rhino's tuff 2 inch thick hide. It knocks out the animal for around 20 minutes. Then they give the animal another shot that brings him back unharmed.
The purpose of darting is for those that like to stalk a big game animal but don't feel the need to kill it. So they dart the animal, take some pics of it and it revives in a few minutes and no harm done. Darting is done on Rhinos, elephants and other large game animals.
With some of our big game animals becoming more and more rare this is a way big game hunters can do a full stalk and "shoot" the animal in a normal hunt, but the animal lives thru the experience with no harm done.
When they are darting the animal the hunter uses a gun shooting a syringe that knocks the animal out. Then a doctor goes in immediately and checks the animal out to make sure it is still breathing and no harm done. Then the hunter has the pictures taken and steps back and lets the doctor take over and give the animal another shot to revive him.
This way a hunter can "take" the animal of his dreams without actually killing the animal. Even endangered animals can be darted without harming the animal and without taking an endangered animal out of the herd. The cost of darting an animal is about one third of what you would have to pay to actually hunt and kill the animal.

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The dart gun is just an old Marlin 22 LR with a special upper for the dart.
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Pics of Dave Manson darting his Rhino. He got a bit too close to the rhino as it was passing out as it landed on Dave's foot. .
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Here's a few pics from my rhino darting on the last African trip I made with you and John. Pic of the dart gun--really just an"upper" on top of an old Marlin bolt action. Uses a blank cartridge like the Hilti nail guns. Other pics show me standing behind the rhino as it's about to go down for the count. I was a bit too close to him because when he finally collapsed, my boots were pinched under him--had a helluva time getting my feet free. There's also one showing me about to inject the antidote to the drug into a vein, under the guidance of the vet that came along for the hunt. All sorts of samples were taken from the rhino; they covered his eyes and monitored his condition closely the entire time he was out. I was told that they can't be darted more than once a year.

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For game management and such. It’s probably a considerable responsibility having these species under your care.

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(in my best Mississippian accent). I must hear about the "dart-gun" used and how it was propelled. That must be some load of drugs and quite a tough needle to get through what has to be several inches of tough hide! I can't see CO2 as powerful or reliable enough, they might use a blank for such as nail guns etc. I've seen some of those darting kits but it has been a while and I did not investigate the details. I did note they had a notable large bore, something like a 32 bore or larger. It makes me want to watch Daktari again!

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Just talked to Alcorn about his rhino. I will have to

Tell us more!

We will let Alcorn tell the story

We need to get him to tell a group story and record it.

Dave Manson also darted a Rhino a couple of years ago

For those of us who don't know . . .

The dart has a special formula inside

More of darting rhinos

info from Dave on his rhino

I’m certain there is health data they are recording

I don't think they used any "COT-RIGES"