The Heartless Hangman
We tested the 165gr Gamehead Pro ammo in .308 Win. This bullet has a G1 BC of 0.507 and an advertised velocity of 2 674fps. To simulate hunting conditions, we first tested the ammo for accuracy by firing three shots from a cold bore at 100m. The group measured 12.02mm centre-to-centre (c-c) for 0.413MOA. The first shot from the cold barrel landed about 8mm lower than the other two, but that could have been shooter error. A second group measured 0.45MOA. Muzzle velocity from the 28-inch barrel was 2 711fps; extreme spread over 10 shots was 39fps.
My colleague, Ben-mari du Plessis, then fired a shot into our homemade wet-pack comprising a carton containing 2 litres of water in front of stacked magazines soaked in water for 12 hours. The bullet did not disappoint; after penetrating the water it blew a thumb-sized hole, 26mm in diameter, through the first 5 inches of paper and stopped after penetrating 8.5 inches. The bullet expanded to 15.25mm measured at its widest point; retained weight was 110.44gr (67% of the original). This is excellent performance considering that the tightly-bound wetpack is rather hard on most bullets we’ve tested, when compared to the performance of the same bullets in animals. The ‘wound channel’ was wide enough throughout to ensure copious bleeding and rapid death in animals.
THE TWINHEAD II ammo in .375 H&H is loaded with 300gr Swift A-frame bonded bullets. The A-frame’s thick-walled copper jacket has an integral partition to arrest expansion at a point designed to retain optimum weight (similar to the Nosler Partition’s, only further forward). The bonded lead core in the A-frame’s front section ends flush with the end of the jacket, obviating nose-distortion in the magazine due to recoil. It mushrooms like a premium-grade soft-point bullet, but the rear section, with its own lead core, remains intact, ensuring deep penetration.
The rear of the jacket is folded inward around the base to prevent core-slip while also providing a reinforced ‘angleiron’ effect against distortion. Swift claims this bullet will initiate expansion at a mere 1 650fps yet holds together at velocities exceeding 3 000fps.
Advertised velocity of the Twinhead II ammo is 2 493fps. Due to time constraints I could not chronograph the ammo, but from my 22-inch barrel, I would expect velocities to be slightly slower than advertised. However, the recoil was definitely heavier than that of the 300gr Federal Fusion ammo (2 415fps) fired from the same rifle.
Again, my first of three shots was through a cold bore, and hit millimetres from the target’s centre dot. Shots 2 and 3 hit 40mm higher, but only 19mm (c-c) apart. The 3-shot group measured 53mm c-c. Given the cold-bore shot, the results were impressive for factory ammo. As a check, I fired a second group, five shots this time (punishing from a bench), which measured 32mm c-c. However, I allowed the barrel to cool down after each shot.
As expected, the A-frame bullet’s terminal performance in the wet-pack was impressive. After passing through a 5-litre bottle of water, it penetrated 12.5-inches of wet-pack, expanding to 17.66mm. Retained weight was 298.34gr – for all practical purposes, 100% retention.
The Sako ammunition performed as claimed and is clearly a quality product with exceptional accuracy potential – a good choice for the coming hunting season. The .308 ammo retails for about R1 040 per 20. The .375 ammo will set you back R1 500 per pack of 10. For stockists contact Normark, 011-794-6950.
ASTONISHINGLY, MY REQUEST in the Gallery section of the November/ December 2020 edition, that readers share their observations of the fiscal shrike’s predatory habits, drew over 20 responses – more than has any other topic appearing in Magnum during my 33 years as an editor of this magazine and, I am sure, since its inception in 1976. That this response was drawn by a topic unrelated to guns or game hunting is particularly pleasing, as it indicates that most Magnum readers are true nature lovers and not solely interested in shooting or the thrill of the chase.
I express my appreciation to all those who responded; they are too numerous to name, and regrettably, space does not permit publication of all the letters. To synthesize, all respondents had variously observed insects, small lizards, frogs, field mice, small or baby birds and even small snakes impaled on thorns or barbed-wire fences or held in the clutches of a fiscal shrike. Some had seen fiscal shrikes in attendance or returning to feed on such remains. Some had actually seen fiscal shrikes attacking, killing, impaling and eating such creatures, and some respondents sent in photographs or videos dispelling all doubt that these birds are quite capable of such predation. We published three letters in the January/february edition; we have space here to share only the more revealing and unusual observations.
The fiscal shrike, commonly called the Jackie hangman, the butcher bird, Jan fiskaal, die laksman and kanarie byter, shares with other subspecies of shrike around the globe a propensity to prey on various creatures including smaller birds. When attacking birds, its method of killing is to bite through the cranium into the brain or through the spinal cord at the junction of neck and skull – for which its beak is ideally shaped and constructed. It also seems to have a predilection for bird brains, probably for their fat content, as it appears to feed on these before proceeding to the rest of the carcass.
RONNIE LOVEMORE SENT us a photo he took in the Addo Elephant Park showing a hangman with a female boomslang it had killed. The snake appears to weigh at least as much as the bird does. He also found impaled stonechats. Mike Protheroe of Villiersdorp has found impaled birds and small animals, and suggests that the hangman probably does this to allow maggots time to appear on the carcass, and then eats the maggots, which might explain why dried-out carcasses are sometimes found. Of course, being also an insect eater, the hangman would naturally eat any maggots appearing on a carcass (these hatch within 24 hours of flies laying their eggs). However, fiscal shrikes have been seen and photographed eating the flesh of freshly killed birds, mice and lizards. Dried out carcasses can be explained by the fact that the fiscal shrike has been observed to kill more prey than it could possibly eat before it dried out – in one case three birds all hung together on one stretch of fence.
CHARLES LE ROUX offers informative observations made while working at Rhodes in the East Cape Drakensberg, near the Lesotho border. The entire district was undergoing a very severe drought; morning temperatures averaged between 0° and minus 7° with regular heavy frost. He says there was
very little grass around and therefore very few insects. He saw a hangman impale and eat two birds on the same barbed wire fence about four weeks apart. In each case, the Jackie then flew them off to a new site some 50m away. It ate both birds head first, finishing the bird in a day and a half, leaving only legs and feathers. Using a cellphone he took photos 1 and 2 shown here; the close-up shows a baby rock pigeon, and the distant image shows the hangman with a dead robin. The hangman then impaled the robin on a thorn and appeared to take large chunks of its flesh into thick scrub some five metres from the carcass.
I find this instructive because it might explain why the vast majority of the reported impalements were of insects and small lizards – birds make up comparatively few discoveries. Charles reports that the dry conditions had left very few insects alive when he witnessed these bird kills. I suspect that, in the regions from which most of the reports emanated – developed farmlands and town suburbs – higher rainfall renders insects the most abundant and easily caught prey, hence the hangman is primarily an insect eater, resorting to bigger and more difficult prey only in times of drought. Of course, he will take opportunistic advantage of vulnerable baby birds or small caged birds if reachable. In predominantly dry regions, his diet will naturally include more reptiles and birds.
PHILLIP WICKHAM HAS seen Jackies kill sparrows and bronze mannikins by biting the top of the skull, exposing the brain. He once saw a Jackie flying with a sparrow dangling beneath it, gripping the sparrow’s feet in its own, the victim’s skull clearly pecked open. Garth Main reports that his mother has a birdfeeder with bars wide enough for mannikins to enter but not larger birds. He has often observed a Jackie sitting a little way off and perfectly mimicking the mannikin calls until they relax and start feeding. When ten or so have entered to feed, it swoops. The mannikins panic and all try to exit at once. Garth saw the Jackie kill and eat one that got stuck in the rush. He says he’s heard fiscal shrikes mimic the calls of various birds including a Cape robin chat.
Garth says Lynette Rudman, a Grahamstown birder, makes some interesting observations about these birds. She took the close-up photo shown here (photo 3) of a hangman eating the brains of a southern grey-headed sparrow near Delareyville, and also provided a video link which is the best I have yet viewed: www.youtube. com/watch?v=yrmmkr8numa. She points out that the Jackie impales its prey not only to store it for further consumption (they have been observed to consume freshly killed prey without impalement) but also because the Jackie’s feet are smaller and less robust, relative to its body-size, than those of raptors, hence cannot secure its prey while it tears it apart. This also is the reason why, when carrying a dead bird in flight, it does so by gripping the bird’s feet with its own, rather than digging its talons into the carcass as a raptor would, thus the prey dangles upside down beneath it. She describes seeing a fiscal shrike catch a large millipede (songololo) which it impaled and then waited several days before eating it. She says this is because the millipede exudes toxic chemicals as a defence mechanism, so the Jackie waits until these dissipate before feeding on it. We thank Lynette for this insightful information and for permitting us to publish her photo and the link.
Lyn Parkinson writes that when she and her husband were living in Cederberg, they were sitting on their veranda watching the masked weaver birds building their nests in a tree close by. A Jackie swooped down, grabbed a male weaver bird (the males weave the nests) and impaled it on a barb of their wire fence. The Jackie then pecked the weaver bird’s eyes out. (I find this attack both interesting and surprising, as a male masked weaver is every bit as big as a fiscal shrike, and of the many species that visit my bird-bath, masked weavers are among the most aggressive and combative.) On a separate occasion, after Lyn and her hubby had enjoyed a braai, a Jackie flew down, picked up a discarded chop bone and impaled it on the thorn of an acacia tree in their garden!
Again, I thank all who responded. This has been an extremely interesting and informative exercise.