TAKEN IN A SNAP : Kay, Who Once Shot Photos, Has Become One of the Top Big-Game Hunters

Madleine Kay went to Africa five years ago without the slightest intention of becoming a hunter, much less of becoming one who shoots with the most powerful handgun in the world.

“The first time I saw head mounts (of animals) on the wall, I was absolutely appalled,” she said. “They were the most disgusting things I’d ever seen.”

But Kay went on a photo safari to learn more about the animals--she designs and makes wildlife jewelry for a living--and as a result she now sports a reputation as one of the world’s top big-game hunters.

“The guys (guides) were willing to teach me how to use the rifle,” she said. “They took me out and showed me. . . I took a few shots and hit my target, and five days later, I psyched myself up (to try hunting). Then we went stalking this gemsbok (a large African antelope).”

They eventually found a mature animal, a suitable target. Kay took aim with a 30.06 and pulled the trigger from 150 yards. The animal dropped, dead instantly. A perfect shot.

“I made a heart shot,” she admitted modestly. “I don’t like to brag about it. It was just one of those things.”

At that moment, the wildlife artist from Woodland Hills became hooked on hunting and has since built quite a collection of trophies.

“I liked the excitement,” she said. “I liked the stalking, the rush of adrenaline through my body.”

She stepped up her excitement level last March when she switched from a rifle to the Casull .454, a 3.2-pound, stainless steel pistol with twice the striking power of a .44 Magnum--Clint Eastwood’s weapon in “Dirty Harry.” It has a muzzle velocity of 2,000 feet a second.

“It’s much more sporting,” Kay said. “It takes more hand and eye coordination than with a rifle, and it’s easier to carry,” she said.

But easier to shoot?

Said Ron Ptashkin, a longtime hunter and spokesman for Freedom Arms of Freedom, Wyo., which manufactures the gun: “Most (hunters) start with a light caliber (weapon) and work their way up, but not Madleine. She’s become extremely proficient with it. She’s one of the finer shots with the .454 that I’ve ever come across.”

With trophies ranging from a wart hog--her first kill with the Casull--to a hippopotamus to the dangerous leopard, that’s easy to believe.

Kay, 40, is the only woman Ptashkin has known to use such a weapon regularly, and without a doubt, the most successful. Shooting it with both hands, she has bagged nine animals with the slender pistol that packs a kick second to none.

“It has a pretty good recoil,” Kay admitted. “But I can take a quicker shot with it, and it’s much easier to handle in brush and between branches.”

Kay holds the world handgun record for a hartebeest, a South African antelope. She took hers from 140 yards with a single shot. She also is No. 2 in the books with the nyala, an East African antelope, she killed shortly thereafter.

She has plans for a fourth trip to Africa, where she hopes to add a lion and cape buffalo to her trophies, as well as some plains game.

Ptashkin said Kay is a good bet to succeed in any hunt, no matter how dangerous the target might be.

“She’s very, very cool under fire,” he said. “Most hunters I know, after they take their first shot, if the animal isn’t put down for keeps, chances are these guys would come unglued. She’s not that way. She has total concentration, total respect for the animal.”

Kay’s hunting exploits also have taken her through much of North America. One of her first trips was with Ptashkin.

“It was a horseback hunt in the high mountains (of Wyoming) for elk,” he recalled. “A good bull elk is one of toughest trophies in that it requires a good deal of riding, climbing and hard work.

“On the second day, our wrangler managed to call a large bull up the ridge to within shooting distance, just over 80 yards. She took one shot and knocked that bull backside over--broke its back.”

Kay attributes her keen aim to “lots of practice,” but doesn’t hunt for the express purpose of stalking and shooting the animal.

With her trophies, Kay is able to study the animals from close up--impossible with a live animal or even from a picture.

“You never have the opportunity to get that close to the animal (to study),” she said.

Looking at her fine jewelry--it’s on display through Sunday at the Anaheim Sports, Vacation & RV show at the Anaheim Convention Center--that becomes evident.

Every detail is precise. Even the most renowned animal expert would be hard-pressed to find so much as a hair out of place on a piece designed by Kay.

Using dental tools and wax, the self-taught artist painstakingly works to create a unique piece of jewelry, spending anywhere from a week to several months perfecting it. She caters mostly to hunters who want one-of-a-kind pieces, be they $25 tie tacks or $5,000 watches.

If hunting has given Kay a greater knowledge of animals and their habits, her most recent hobby, taxidermy, figures to add to her expertise.

“I wasn’t happy with the mounts from other taxidermists,” she said. “They’re just doing a stereotype, a representative shoulder-mount of that animal.”

Besides, she says, “It’s very educational, skinning the animals and learning more about their anatomies.

“I know detail,” she said. “That’s my specialty.”

No argument here.