Barnes Bullets

Carolyn Newlin

Huntress Spotlight
Carolyn Newlin

This Lion was taken by Carolyn in 2003 with a 200-grain Barnes X-Bullet.

I am dreaming of long ago. I am in CAR. We are hunting for bongo and Lord Derby eland. Me and Sweetie will be here for a month. . . the year is 1989.

We began in the Savannah area, where we spent two weeks walking and stalking for Lord Derby-never less than five or six hours a day, on foot. We hunted nine hours on the last day, which was the day we got the Lord Derby Eland. I literally walked the skin off my feet, applying Dr. Scholl’s moleskin till the second layer toughened up.

Then we traveled to the rain forest for bongo. What a mysterious, wonderful place! Located near the Sudanese border, it was naturally protected from poaching because there were no roads or bridges. We made our own roads, or followed where elephant had created a path. When we found shallow spots, we forded the rivers. We slept in the tree canopy, 80 feet up on a log raft bound with tree bark. A ladder of cross logs notched into the big trunk allowed us to climb up.

When we arrived, the grass was ankle high. After two weeks of daily-and sometimes nightly-rain, the grass was above my head. I followed the trackers through the grass, my arms forming a protective “X” in front of my face. Not a good time to think of snakes, so I didn’t.

From camp, we drove approximately an hour to reach the hunting area. Parking, we walked into the forest for another hour to reach the tree where we camped, slept and waited for bongo. Colobus monkeys peered down at us. Hyrex screamed as they communicated with each other. If I’d been in some large USA city, I would have surely thought people were being murdered! But each night I fell asleep to their screams, and treasure the memory.

Every morning when we returned to our vehicle, hundreds of bees would be resting on it. They came for the early morning dew covering everything. The bees quickly transferred themselves to us, covering our arms and bodies. As the vehicle picked up speed, they blew off in large clumps. Feeling them crawling on my skin was such a gentle sensation.

From our perch far above the canopy, we saw forest elephants and giant forest hogs every night-but no bongo. After three nights of this, I was ready for my bed back at camp. The following morning, Maurice, the tracker, and I left Jacques LeMaux and William up in the trees and headed for home.

That night, while I was cozy in my bed, there came a huge downpour of rain accompanied by lightning. The little dog in camp barked and barked outside my hut, so I placed the shotgun next to me in bed. Next morning, I found the paw prints of a large leopard outside my hut and in other areas around camp. Maybe going back to the treetops would be a good idea. When Maurice came that morning to take food back to Jacques and William, I decided to go with him.

We parked the vehicle and entered the forest for the hour-long walk to the tree. I followed closely behind him. Thirty minutes into the canopy, we approached the opening to the grassland, which would be the last half hour of our walk before we reached the other side, where the forest began again. Approximately ten feet from the opening, Maurice dropped down on all fours and began crawling very slowly forward.

When in Rome . . . I followed suit. Maurice reached the opening and slowly stood up. He looked in every direction for a very long time, studying the entire landscape. Then we began our trek across the open land. During this trek it hit me-Maurice had no weapon!

That did it! I though if I made it through without getting eaten, I’d better get a gun and become good at using it.

My first rifle was bought from Connie Brooks. It was her gun, a .300 Winchester Magnum. Her husband Randy Brooks wanted to build another one for her. I remember when she handed it to me. She looked past me . . . at nothing really, just remembering her hunts with this gun. “I sure have taken a lot of good game with this rifle,” she said.

I’m glad to say I was able to continue the tradition, taking bison, four bear, two elk, black buck, hippo, several whitetail, eland, kudu, wildebeest, gemsbok, red stag in both Scotland and New Zealand, lions, leopards and cape buffaloes. Somewhere along the line, I lost count after 50 trophies.

I’ve since moved on to add a Blazer rifle in .375 H&H and 7mm chamberings.

William sure taught me to shoot. He makes me practice, practice, practice. “Make the first shot count,” he says. “Don’t ever take a shot unless you are sure of it.” So I do what I’m advised, and it sure has worked! William is still ahead by about 150 trophies, but I’m working on it.

In 2003, hunting in Zambia opened, including the Chifunda area that had been closed for many years. I am still amazed at being lucky enough to be the first hunter there, along with PJ Fouche and Liz Fouche. I got an outstanding lion and several other super trophies. It was a hunting paradise.

Sometimes I’ll wake up at night-but I settle my mind on all the places William and I have been . . . the wonderful game we have taken, the wonderful people we have met, the good food and friendship we have shared, sometimes with people we will never see again except in a photograph.

We have been blessed with an exception life, working and hunting together.

-Carolyn Newlin

Kudu taken with a .300 Win. Mag. and a 180-grain X-Bullet.

Zebra taken in 2002 with a .308 caliber rifle.

Australian Buffalo taken with a .300 Win. Mag. and a 180-grain X-Bullet in 2000.

Elk taken with a .300 Win. Mag. and a 180-grain Barnes X-Bullet in 1993.

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