Discussions on African game always end up centered around hunting m'bogo. Buffalo and/or leopard constitute the bulk of dangerous game hunting for most visiting hunters.
Are buffalo really as tenacious and truculent as many say, providing the greatest challenge and thrill for the hunter? Or, are they grossly overrated?

Buff are only dangerous when wounded. Even when wounded, I think their primary objective is to run not fight.

The basic unknown is whether you will accidentally bump into one previously wounded
by someone else. Surprise, surprise!

There have been enough folks trashed by buffalo over the years as to make the question of whether hunting buff can be dangerous analogous to whether riding motorcycles can be dangerous.

Of course, even if not normally dangerous, I would advise against sneaking up on a sleeping bull and grabbing him by the balls.

[This message has been edited by Will (edited 07-09-2001).]

Will,

Oh posh! It is easy to grab a sleeping buffalo by the balls.

Letting go, now THAT'S a problem!

John S, it is my opinion, that the Cape Buffalo is "THE" bread, and butter of the Safari industry. The Leopard is less sought after by most,and the lion, and Elephant eat too much money for most to take on, IMO. The Elephant is out of the question for most people, all together. As far as danger is concerened I think the LION in heavy bush is far more dangerous to the hunter if wounded, than the Buffalo, for the simple reason he is harder to hit properly in a close quarters charge, and is more likely to get to you before being stopped dead. There are two, or three reasons for this, and one is the fact that the lion's vitals are lower,compared to a man, and smaller, than the Buffalo. This makes the angle constantly changeing as the charge progresses. The lion charges in a slightly curveing approch, so, the the angle is not only down, but that downward angle gets steeper as he gets closer, and the lead is involved because of the curveing charge. The lion travels so fast that there is no time to think about this angle business. Some of the old Lion hunters used to drop to their knees when charged by lion, because this put the vitals on an eye level, takeing away one of the problems of lead & angle. The buffalo, tough he can take more hits in the boiler room, and keep comeing, the boiler room is easier to hit, and he is slower than the lion or the Leopard. The buffalo's stopping ( brain & spine )vitals are at waist, to shoulder hight, and they usually charge straight at you, takeing away any angle, or lead you get with the cats. The Buffalo, however is one animal that is seldom turned by a hit, once he charges for real, the lion is the same in that respect. Once begun, a charge of a Lion, or Buffalo is only stopped by a hit, or hits that turn off the lights, nothing less.

I would say that if the client is able to make the first shot right, the lion, or Leopard , is less dangerous, because either is usually shot over bait, and his adrenelen is not up for the first shot, and if it is good he is yours. Buffalo, OTH, are not baited, and must be stalked in the bush, and he's usually, at least, aware something is amiss, and the juices are beginning to flow before the first shot. Even if the Buff is relaxed for the first shot, unless the spine, or brain is hit, he "WILL" run, then you can get a lot of practice dumping rounds in, and out of a big double rifle, before it's over.

I believe the Cape Buffalo, properly hunted, is a tough adversary, and is a dangerous animal, that is one of the hardest animals to put down for the count before he gets to you, in close quarters. Close quarters is the only way Dangerous game should be hunted, IMO!

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..Mac >>>===(x)===>
DUGABOY DESIGNS
Collector/trader of fine double rifles, and African wildlife art

Yes and No,
If you do your part, and make a FIRST good shot, then there is never a problem. However, if you screw up, then it can get outofhand real quick. If you are in fairly open country, then the follow up is usually pretty simple. But, if it in tall grass or thick bush, then it is a whole nuther ball game. This is where all of the gory stories get started and hunteers come home and buy a larger club. There are more PHs and clients hurt every year in Africa by wounded buffalo than the rest of the dangerous game hunted. Why??? Mostly there are one or more buffalo shot on a given safari. This makes the precentage of risks a little higher. If the same number of lion were taken every season, I think you would see a higher mortality here.
George

As always George made a good point. Buff in thick cover are a different story in the open. We made several stalks in very thick cover and we managed to get very close to several bulls that either weren't big enough or had broken horns. I imagine if you took a shot in that thick stuff it would get very quiet after the initial excitement of the shot. Following up the buff would probably be more exciting that most of us need. In the open, with better visibility, and more room to maneuver would be better.

Also, from what I've read if the buff have been hunted a lot it tends to make the herds a bit more "nervy" and would probably make even unwounded buff a bit more aggresive.

Having been charged and chased off by buff through the years of my hunting in Africa, I can say with conviction that an uninjured buff is also quite dangerous. I have had buff get very upset when the wind changes while stalking a heard. I have had them come out of the bush unannounced at very close quarters. Two years ago while hunting in the Klaserie Reserve it happened while in a reed-bed, in two feet of water, with no place to go. Not something that I wish to ever repeat.

The bottom line - buff just don�t like people much. Injured or not, they can be quite unpleasant and most inhospitable, but that�s what makes them so much fun to hunt. Best bang for the buck - you betcha�.

Excellent comments all.

A theme I've often pondered is that of a hunter, let's say an American hunter, who grew up in the rural area of most any state of the union. This fellow grew up around cows and steers. He fears them not ... even those encountered in the woods and hills while out hunting deer. He was a crack shot at the age of 12 and really knows his stuff.

Now he has the means to finance his long awaited trip to Africa ... the first of many. His innate lack of fear in regard to bovines combines with his superb shooting skills and he clobbers his first buffalo. Odds are this fellow could return every year of his life and do the same thing each time, growing increasingly certain with each passing year that "there sure ain't all that much to this cape buffalo huntin'". His personal experience has borne this out ... has it not?

Despite all the stories he has read, the tales he has heard or the videos he has viewed, he simply can not profess that there is any great danger in hunting buffalo.
The reasons for this are that he was so well prepared upon arrival, he always shot with calm lethality and he was lucky.

Most men of experience have a tale or two to spin concerning cape buffalo hunting.
Not knowing if "this is the day" or not is what makes it so darn special.

[This message has been edited by Nickudu (edited 07-09-2001).]

Nickudu,
You are probably correct, about some haveing gone on several safaris and have taken buffalo without any problems. I have taken or been in on several hundred buffalo kills. I can count on one hand problems I have had. None of these were really life threating. Howver, I am not so naive as to think it cannot happen to me as well. I know a lot of PHs that have had bad experiences with buffalo. I think it was last year one of (I think) Phs was gored. He was using a Dakota .450 and had trouble with his ammo. It chambered but would not fire. If I got the story correct, the factory ammo had the shoulders set back to far and created excessive head space. I heard he was about to sue Dakota. This may have been only talk.
I have not heard anything further on the subject. I remember reading in one of Jack O'Conners books, where he stated that he had problems with buffalo on several occasions and had several charges. Jack was a good shoot. I just don't know.
George

[This message has been edited by George Hoffman (edited 07-09-2001).]

My PH said he was most afraid of a wounded leopard. He contended that it was liable to come from ANY direction, was silent, presented a very small target, was very quick, and was just as intent on killing you.

He said a lion almost always roars as it charges and an elephant and buff were fairly easy to see coming which gave you time to react.

I certainly can't speak from experience since I'm just one of those dumb country boys Nickudu spoke about. AND I hope I never can speak from experience....

Not yet having had the pleasure of hunting Buffalo, I try to follow the advice of those experienced folks I meet along the way.

This spring, I met a fellow who was gored badly by a P.O.'d buffalo last fall. There was quite the discussion about it on several boards, since it was posted in the Hunting Report.

After hearing his story from the man personally, and seeing the ferocious scars, (one extended from his ankle all the way up his leg to his butt cheek from a horn the buff hooked and tore with), I want to be sure to make the first shot count and hope the PH is shooting for all he's worth if something goes wrong.

Adrenaline rush is one thing, but getting crippled or killed just doesn't sound like the romantic pasttime it did when I was younger and dumber. And, yes, even with all that I will hunt Buffalo one day- hopefully soon!- Sheister

I have never hunted in Africa, but would sure like to. Still a dream. One thing I have got to say is that the professional hunters over in Africa have got some big balls!
I guide grizzly hunts along with other game and I do not worry about them too much unless they are wounded. Even when a grizzly appeared to have been killed instantly but rolled down into some willows, I am scared sh!tless of having to go in there and dig him out. I could not imagine having to go in some tall grass or brush after a leapord, lion, or buffalo coming at you like a freight train. All things said, I would still do it if I had to, but I am not scared to admit that I would be on the verg of Sh!tt!ng my pants.
I would give my left nut for a buffalo.

Daryl

As someone who has been charged by an unwounded buffalo and damn near killed, I take exception to the statement that only wounded buffalo are dangerous. While it may be a true generality, the exception can kill you very dead.

So JohnDL, what happened?

The father of a PH I have hunted with several times had a buff charge unprovoked, at least as far as they could tell. Had to put one up his nose.

If your knee deep in buffalo and they're all standing around trying to figure out where you are, and one of them gets nervous, they are liable to spook in a random direction, which I wouldn't count as a real charge if they happen to come your way. Not that that is what happened to you.

Getting charged but not getting killed, or gored, is it really dangerous? It is sort of like almost drowning. If you save someone that "almost drowned", did you really save him?

Tell us more.

Will

[This message has been edited by Will (edited 07-10-2001).]

Crosshairs,
There is no such animal as a "dumb country boy". I can't recall winning any bets out in the boonies!

Seriously, I might be a touch nervous concerning the followup of wounded leopards also. "Ambush" is their forte and it seems to me they have short odds in getting a piece of you or one of the crew. Blinding speed and multiple weapons may be a tougher nut than great power at close quarters. Depends, I suppose. Wouldn't care to find out.

Will, I should say that the buffalo was unwounded but not unprovoked. I was hunting in the Burko Masai area of Northern Tanzania about 5 years ago with a young PH. A very pretty area, about 5000 feet elevation, mostly green grass with scattered hills covered with thick cover. The local Masai told us of one hill with thick cover where there were two buffalo that would charge anyone who tried to gather wood there (this would of course mean women, as Masai men do not work). The PH and I sat up at the bottom of this hill, about 150 yards from the treeline and set up shooting sticks. The trackers went around to the other side and beat towards us--but the buff managed to double around them (did get a nice red duiker though). The next day we were in the same area and one of the local Masai said he had a dog that would bay up buffalo. So we tried exactly the same setup, this time the trackers used the dog. After we set up at the bottom of the hill with the shooting sticks we could hear the men yelling, coming towards us. All at once the dog started yipping and the PH said "look out he's com---". At that moment the biggest buffalo I've ever seen bust out of the treeline, instantly at full speed and coming downhill straight at us. I had a custom 416 Wby on a mauser action, 1 in the chamber, 3 down using factory A2 solids. The PH had a 460 G&A using 500 grain TB solids on a Dakota action. I fired-no effect, the PH fired-no effect. The buff didn't break stride as we both emptied out magazines into him. The PH shot out first and I had one round left with the buff about 15 yards away so I aimed for his nose. Missed. Loudest "thwok" I ever heard as the solid bounced off the boss. This actually stunned the buffalo and he stumbled to his right and started to go up the hill behind us (to our left). We both managed to reload one round and put a shot behind his ribs as he crested the hill and went to another area of cover. A few minutes later the PH used the dog to find the buff and he went in after him alone and finished him off (the PH would not let me go in-more on that).
After we had got our pictures (a huge bodied buff but only 42") skinned him and had lunch, we packed up and went to another area about 500 yards away. The fellas took out their pangas and cleared a path about 40 yards into this "stuff" where there was a stone marker. An English hunter had been killed there almost two years to the day previously. Seems that on the last day of the hunt he had one more buff on license and so they went after one. He hit it too far back with a 375 and the buff went into the thicket. He and the PH followed him up. The PH got the buff but not before the buff got the client-in the femoral artery, bled out on the way to help. This is why they wouldn't let me go in the PH after the wounded buff.
Sometimes things turn out strange. This Englishman who died almost exactly two years before I almost did was born almost exactly two years before me; hence, we were the same age at the time of the mishap. This fellow also was blind in one eye. When we were at the marker I remember telling the PH that this man was far braver than I-going into this thicket where the visibility wasn't 10 feet-with one eye-quite an act of bravery. As it happens I ended up losing an eye in a freak accident not long after that hunt. Managed to do OK, but the first time I hunted buffalo afterwards I wondered if I might be predestined to get it. Oh well, I'm going back in September and I've got 3 on license. I wonder if any of them have me on license...

JohnDL:

Thanks for sharing your story. Isn't buffalo hunting great stuff?

Personally, I would much rather be taken out that way than through a series of strokes like my Dad.

Good luck on your trip back to Tanzania. The only place I have hunted there was in the Selous. One hot mother for weather.

Will

Just got back from Africa and had a wonderful Safari. I was fortunate enough to take quite a few animals including a great Kudu and fantastic Sable, and I had the thrill of taking a big (and I do mean big) Cape Buffalo. The experience was absolutely fantastic. Believe me, its one of those kinds of things that you have to experience to truly understand. A huge black Cape Buffalo coming at you is truly the stuff of dreams and nightmares! In my case, I will soon have him back in my den along with a bunch of other critters to keep my trip ever fresh in my mind and heart. But, just to be on the safe side, I am going back in November! Long live the Cape Buffalo!
Vince

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Vince

There is an old saying that rings true to me, especially in regard to Brown bear, and Cape Buffalo.
"NO BUFFALO EVER CHARGED WITHOUT PROVOCATION, BUT THE BUFFALO DECIDES WHAT CONSTITUTES PROVOCATION"

My PH, and I were stalking a heard of Cookson's wildebeast in some pritty thick scrub mopani, when an old lone Cape Buffalo bull charged us from our right from 18 yds. We had absolutely no idea he was there till he broke cover. I, carrying a 500/450 double, hit him in the chest where the "V" is formed by the neck meeting the chest ( heart) with a soft in the right barrel, My PH hit him in almost the same hole with a 375 H&H soft point,absolutely zero evidence of any effect. My second was a solid from the left barrel, hitting him in the snot box, and catching the edge of the brain enough to kill him. A split second after my second shot, the PH fired his second 375 H&H, missing the center of the nose, and rangeing back through the left jaw, exiting, and re-entering in the side of the neck, and under the skin ranged back to stop between the left shoulder, and the ribs with the 375 H&H solid. The only shot that stopped, or even slowed, the Bull was the one up the nose. If that shot had been off center a little more I probably would not be writeing this today.
The Buffalo's provocation was, we were there, nothing more, and thank God he didn't have a buddy! He was very old, and only about 37" with about 5" broken off his left horn. There were no wounds on him other than the holes we punched in him!

As far as I'm concerened he is the best buffalo I have ever taken, though I have take much larger bulls.

If you are wondering why I was carrying a 500/450 double for Wildebeast, it is because it is what was in my hands when we spotted the "Goony Boys" and we were on foot a mile or so from the hunting car, where my FN 375H&H was resting! Believe it or not, a 480 gr soft point 500/450 bullet will kill wiledebeast!

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..Mac >>>===(x)===>
DUGABOY DESIGNS
Collector/trader of fine double rifles, and African wildlife art

Mac - Just be glad that you were not after bushbuck with your trusty .25-06, or things could have been much different. Thank goodness for the old snot-box shot. It's the only answer for a buff on an adrenalin rush with the idea of ending your existence. Scarey stuff for sure!

Let me ask you guy's something ? When I was in RSA there was another hunter who refused to take a dandy Buff because, he said, it was laying down and/or sleeping.

It wasnt like they were driving along, saw a sleeping Buff, and had to struggle with the idea of shooting him from the rear of the Bakkie. They got within range of this Buff, and the rest of the herd, due to a successfull stalk.

I think in this particular case there were other, non-hunting, issues as to why the Buff wasnt taken. But what would the rest of you do if you had stalked up to a herd, saw a dandy Bull, and also saw he was sleeping ?

Personaly, I would put a bullet thru his lungs and eat his Liver for dinner. I'd have done my job, by stalking a dangerous animal successfully, Hell ,I wouldnt have even woke him up. I'd shoot any trophy animal I wanted under the same circumstances, isnt stalking to 100 yrds of a herd of dangerous animals, without alarming them, something to be proud of ?

I guess with this attitude I'll never star in the video "Tap Danceing with the Black Death #lll"...........10

10Point,

Myself, I am not too proud to not shoot an animal while it was sleeping. As long has i could make a clean kill, I would have let him have it. Last fall I did pass on a Dall ram because he was lying down and did not present a good target from my position. I had to wait about hour and a half till he stood up, then I smoked him. I actually feel that if you sneak up on an animal while it was sleeping you are fortunate and have done your job well. If the animal is the one you are looking for, BLAM!
If we are hunters,we are opportunists.

Daryl

Buffalo really are all that they are cracked up to be. The are best of all affordable. If you hunt them by tracking on foot they can and do lead you on the type of adventure that we all seek as african hunters

JohnDL,

If you start to develop a taste for tea and fish & chips, then for God's sake man, STAY HOME!

Now don't get me wrong, obviously the Cape Buffalo is a formidable beast, but I wonder if this talk results in kind of a let down for some if not the majority of hunters? I can imagine the pulse speeding up as you approach a herd or even a lone bull, so the excitement is there. But aren't most buffalo taken in a rather uneventful way? Or at least in a way no more frightful than most other large plains game?

You shoot well, they run off 40-60 yards or less and fall over dead. It seems like many people expect every buffalo hunt to end in a charge and a hail of lead.

An acquaintance shot a buffalo some years ago, he said it was the most disappointing thing he'd ever done. 20 hours in the airplane, first day in Africa they drove out to the plains, found a herd, walked a couple hundred yards from downwind, he fired one shot from a .458 Ruger #1 and the buffalo dropped at the shot. $6,000, please, thank you very much. This was about 15 years ago.

Again, NOT denigrating those who have had to "sort things out", and as was said I can imagine the tenseness of even approaching one in the bush, but given the stories surrounding m'bogo (Hollywood would call it pre-release publicity), aren't a lot of buffalo hunts kind of anti-climactic?

Saeed, how about it? Is it just the thrill that things MIGHT get out of hand that causes all the excitement?

No experience at this, hope to find out myself some day, just wondering what others experienced.

Jim in Idaho:

Does this mean you have never hunted buff, or just haven't experienced a charge?

Sometimes you get them first day out, most times you don't. Not sure what the point is, other than he had a successful hunt. If that didn't do it for him, a good thing he didn't go back. Nothing like familiarity getting you in trouble buffalo hunting. Your acquaintance has written a book about buffalo hunting from a single buffalo hunt, I suppose.

Sorry.

[This message has been edited by Will (edited 07-11-2001).]

Jim,
That's the way the majority of buffalo hunts happen, nice and uneventful. The chance of something going wrong is an adrenaline pumper, as is the chance that you might run into one that is having a bad day anyway! I would think Geo. Hoffman could tell you how many times or what percentage of his hunters had a go with m'bogo, but I bet it is a small percentage.

gentlemen and ladies if you are looking for an adrenalin rush , put the sneak on one with an 80# recurve or for that matter any bow . odds of getting stomped in the mud would be about 75% . i don't think you have much chance of stopping a charge with a bow .but a well placed arrow and the animal might not even know he was hit until he was dead . all the best ---- herb

JohnS:

Please see above. George stated the number of his problem buffalo could be counted on one hand.

Gentlemen:
After reading some more about buffalo experiences, it seems some people are more prone to get charged than others. Jack O'Conner, told me one time that he had three serious buff charges out of the few he had shot. I am sure I could have provoked a few more charges had I played the game a little different. On a follow up, If I saw the wounded animal I shot first then took pictures. I have know of three buffalo charges in Botswana that was caused by locals hunting or should I say shooting buffalo and refusing to follow them up. I think I told the story of the two chaps in Botswana, who did follow up some wounded buff
while using a .375 and a 30.06 they paid the price. A few tales like that among the local hunters/shooters deters some of the less intrepid. It is all fun though.
George

My first Buffalo was shot from about 50 yds, standing in a chevron formed by seven Bulls, he being the point of the shevron. Behind them was some very thick bush that contained the rest of the herd of about 200 Buffalo. One shot with a 375H&H 300 gr Nosler partition, he turned ran with the herd, out of sight. We reloaded, and went in a large circle to, a down wind possition, but could not see him, but could hear him gurgleing blood, within 30 feet or so of us. We backtracked,to where we shot from, and went in from up wind side which was more open, hopeing he would come to us, in the open, he didn't. Then we heard the death rattle, and we knew it was probably over. we went in carefully, and sure enough he was dead. The adrenelen rush was not the shooting of this bull, but the going into the somewhat tight bush after him. The PH, and I followed his tracks while the boys worked on him,this is what we found. He had turned with the other bulls, and was covered by another bull, so I couldn't hit him again. He made about 30 yds, did a fish hook to come round, and stop in the bush beside his backtrail. If we had followed him on the spoor, we would have been within 8 feet of his horns before we could have seen him. It is an almost sure thing someone would have been stomped. So the actual shot was uneventful, yet the adrenelen rush started when we entered the thick bush, but it flooded my whole body when we ran the spoor, and saw what COULD HAVE happened! By some standards this wasn't a big deal, but I can guarantee you it was to me. One has to take in the whole experience. As Yogi says, "IT AIN'T OVER TILL IT'S OVER". This Bull was taken by 9:00 am on my first morning in Africa, and I had already taken a Hippo, and an Impala before the Bull, was My 7 day hunt ruined? Absolutely not! That experience with that buffalo, has been my downfall, because I want to hunt nothing else! I hunt Buffalo, and the other things I take on Safari, are only time consummers!

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..Mac >>>===(x)===>
DUGABOY DESIGNS
Collector/trader of fine double rifles, and African wildlife art

A repost of 5-10-01 posting in "Buffalo Charges". Seemed appropriate.

"On day 6 of an early season buffalo hunt in the Guayi River area of Zimbabwe we got a radio call from a nearby family member inviting us over for lunch and asking if I would care to shoot a "meat" buffalo for them, from their garden fields.
An hour later, after losing our opportunity due to the incessant swirling winds of that particular week, we were returning on foot to the farmhouse on a steep, heavily shaded ridgetop. Glancing down and back to the rear left, I noticed a line of cow buffalo ambling along a sunlit footpath running about
parallel to us. We silently stopped and upon receiving a tap on the elbow, I put a .416 behind the shoulders (to save meat) of the lead cow who then turned off the path into the field a few yards and stopped, very sick. Still, we said nothing, the "PH" lighting a cigarette and moving a half dozen steps downhill as we waited.
It was only then we heard a bellow and noticed saw her 2 year old bull calve bouncing around the field in a circle, a terrible red wound across its' back. We had no idea the poor fellow was behind and below the cow at the shot. Witnessing this, the cow spotted us and came instantly, slamming into and getting hung up in some small trees only yards from us as she took a head shot from my "PH". An instant later the 2 year old was on us out of nowhere, flew right under the "PH's" extended rifle and coming up at me. I could hear my "PH" screaming "brain him!" as I twisted aside and put one through the ears at 6 feet.
Well, they had their meat, my "PH" had a good chuckle and I had a good lesson to be careful with buffalo, ALL buffalo. I took a bull the next morning at 10 yards without incident".

[This message has been edited by Nickudu (edited 07-11-2001).]

George is quite right. Getting charged or not getting charged depends alot on how you handle the situation. Personally I would rather see them go down and out at the first shot, rather than the Sullivan plan of harrassing them into charging (of course only when they're not in the long grass!).

And if you keep harrassing a buff long effort, you are just asking for it whether it is wounded or not.

Jim, how long do you think we are going to be able to read all these great stories without going back to give old m'bogo a try? Now I'm REALLY worked up about getting back over there to get my turn at all this fun- guess I'll have to buy some iron underwear "just in case"! LOL- Sheister

Howdy back at'cha, Bob!

Damn straight I want to go hunt a buffalo! My post was kind of feeling out anybody else who may have found the hunt to be less than the blood curdling experience it is "always" supposed to be.

Will, to answer your question, no I have never hunted them. So again let me emphasize that I am NOT making light of how dangerous buffalo can be. But reading between the lines I sort of got the idea that it was the expectation of possible violence that made the excitement, but that if done right the actual shooting was usually about the same as shooting any other big game. Bang - shoot straight, they die. From what the experienced guys report, thankfully that DOES represent the majority of buffalo hunts. We'd probably have a lot fewer posters here if 90% of buffalo hunts ended in a charge.

I can just imagine the feelings and emotions being on foot in the vicinity of those things with no tree to climb and no vehicle to hide in, just you and your rifle, and hopefully the PH's rifle. Mano a beasto, to butcher my basic Spanish! My pulse is quickening just thinking about it.

Now that I do think about it, it is the anticipation that is the kick. Get close to get the danger adrenaline going, but don't shoot. Get close again and again but don't shoot. Once you shoot it's all over. I'd probably drive the PH nuts, or else he would stand behind me and wave a red flag just to force the issue and get it over with !

FWIW, I have an appointment with an investment counselor tomorrow afternoon. Going to set up a dedicated fund just for Africa. Higher risk than my retirement account but with possibility of much higher return. Kind of poetic as it matches the dangerous game hunting experience, no?

Back when dirt was young, they used to cull buffalo by running the herd over you, maybe 3or 400 of'em...You held your line position and shot them on the come, they were'nt charging they were just comming your way, like theres a difference? Now that could get exciting, I always got the impression when they saw you, they went from comming your way to charging...but I have never seen a Buffalo that wasn't at least perturbed or at least thats the impression I get.

Lions are scary in a charge cuz they roar and come fast, you will notice that they roar very very loudly and one shoots into the middle of a ball of yellow...A female will devour you and a male will quit when you act dead (with a little luck)

A Leopard will rip you up real bad but you will more than likely survive a Leopard charge even if he gets to you..Some hearty men have choked them to death...

All that said, the real bastard of the dangerous game is the Bushbuck, he lies in wait and sticks you in the testicles, prostate, lower abdoman and takes a chunk out of your femur artery, curtians with an insult, an unmanly death...

I guess the point being is when the sh--t hits the fan, it just may be one of many animals, lots of African game will hurt you...but old M'Bogo holds all the records for whatever reason!

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

The "fun" of buffalo hunting is finding the animals, looking them over and "making a plan" and then working in close and depending on the bush, it can be real close. I was fortunate in that we worked over several herds and groups of buffalo before we found the one I wanted. The first time the buff were in a fairly open area and we worked our way around them in the fringes of the open area...got to about 75 yards and decided the bull we liked wasn't what we wanted. The 2nd and 3rd times were some really thick stuff..we spent a lot of time up fairly close trying to get a good look but again backed away. The 4th time we followed 2 bulls back from their morning drink...on the trail for about 2 hours when they made a hard left turn and went into somemedium cover to lay down.
It took us about 30 minutes to cover 100 yards when all of a sudden one stood up about 15 yards in front of me and a few moments later the second stood up a few yards further away. We stood there looking at each other, the buff looking at me and the PH and me and the PH looking at them. The staredown lasted either a minute or a year, I don't remember, when the one closer to me tossed his head and started walking away...his buddy followed. Both buff were only around 35" but I got my first experience with "the stare"...if DeNiro were an animal, he'd be a buffalo. The next time we saw where a herd had crossed the road and we followed and eventually got around in front of them but a little off to the side. The bull we liked was on the far side of the herd and we had resigned ourselves to making another loop around the herd after they passed us. Then we got lucky. A smaller bull started making a move on a cow near the end of the herd and the bull we liked came thru the herd to set him straight. The tracker set up the sticks and we waited. The younger bull saw him coming and moved along but the cow kept grazing as she moved. At that point the bull, at about 45-50 yards, noticed us and turned toward us and I saw an industrial version of the look. PH said "take 'em" and I did.

Buffalo hunting is not just taking the shot...it's walking down a dimly lit street at night with $100 bills sticking out your pockets...you know there's a good chance for some action.

DBBill

You should be headlining at a standup comedy club for buffalo hunters.

Maybe you could get a part time job at Hemingways restaurant in the Bass Pro Shop in Springfield, Missouri. It's close to Branson,
so you could fill in your spare time as a standup at one of the "opry" houses there.

I get 25% as your agent!