Ladies and Gentlemen,

In June we were hunting in Dande North, out of the Mukanga Camp (which is on the western edge of the concession - across the river from Chewore South).

Late one afternoon, James Rosenfels of Western Safaris came into camp and said that a client had wounded a buffalo which had crossed over from Chewore South into Dande North very near our camp.

We heard nothing further until five days later when we heard several shots near camp (we had returned to camp as I had shot my buffalo that morning). Shortly thereafter, we heard another round of shots fired. A couple of hours later three Cruisers come down the dry riverbed.

It seems that the shots we heard earlier happened because an American client and his PH (Richard Tabor of Roger Whittal Safaris) were walking along the dry riverbed looking for leopard spoor, when out from behind a large boulder in the riverbed, they were charged by buffalo. Several shots were fired and although the buffalo ran through the group, no one was injured. The buffalo retreated to riverine forest on the edge of the river.

Tabor, the client, the Game Scout and the trackers followed. Again they were charged by the buffalo. This time one of the trackers was hit by the bull and slightly injured. The client had his rifle knocked out of his hands by the bull (which broke the rifle) and the bull knocked down the client and stepped on his leg. Tabor was able to kill the buffalo.

As you can imagine, when I talked to the client, he was still quite excited. It was unclear to me how many shots were fired on each occasion and who fired the shots (although the PH, client and Game Scout did shoot). According to Tabor, the bull had an injury to his testicles. There is no way to know if this was the same bull that had been wounded by Rosenfels' client.

Also while we were there, Craig Boddington and several other hunters were in the Mururu Camp of Dande North, along with a three film crews which were videoing the hunts for the TV show Track Across Africa. We talked to PH Mike Payne, the client (Mike Schoby of Gander Mountain) and Tim Danklef (who was videoing the hunt and is also Chifuti Safaris' booking agent). It seems Schoby had shot a buffalo with his .416 Rigby. The shot was well placed but did not penetrate well. Schoby was using a new bullet being developed by Hornady (Steve Hornady was one of the other hunters in camp who was having his hunt filmed for the TV show). It appears that the bullet was too soft and expanded too quickly and did not penetrate very deeply. This was confirmed when they used the same bullet on a bush pig a couple of days after the shot on the buffalo. Immediately after Schoby's shot, they followed up on the wounded buffalo. They were charged and apparently it was quite a mess (fortunately no one was hurt). Danklef said he got most of it on the video, so watch for it to be broadcast on the Tracks Across Africa show.

Regards,

Terry

Terry,

Which TV vendor airs "Tracks"?

The Outdoor Channel
Tracks Across Africa

Thanks Terry. Nice they are doing more than turkey and ranch whitetail hunts.

That must have been very embarassing for Mr. Hornady. I suspect we will see a change in their DG bullet construction if not a completely new bullet from them.

Mr. Hornady! Please bring back the old steel jacketed solid!


465H&H

Terry: great story. I hope it is a well heeled lesson for those who opine bullet construction is not a factor and favor ONLY shot placement! Looking froward to the rest of your buff story and pictures of course! Hopefully you werea ble to take pics of both your camp and Mururu. jorge

As I understand it, the bullet was a prototype and is not in production. Obviously they will need to do some more development. Of course, this is just what was told to me. So I suspect there is probably more to the story, some of which may be more favorable. Just passing along what was told to me by those directly involved.

Regards,

Terry

It sounds like the Tabor crew earned their wages that day.

lets hope hornady takes some lessons from north fork or swift...wishfull thinking i know

why cant hornady catch up with the rest of the other bullet companies who are getting better every year???

too bad hornady wont be able to come out with better bullets before the 375 ruger comes out

thanks for the heads up!

Ann, it would be great to see turkey hunts and whitetail hunts on "Tracks Accross Africa".

And once again I get proved to be right, and again, and again.

When you shoot a buff in the balls, they are hard to kill.

I am not sure, confused really, but according to the Mark Sullivan thread, this might mean that PH Tabor is gay.

I am really impressed with those Hornandy bullets. Especially if they left a shallow nut wound in the buff.

And we all know there ain't nothing meaner than a shallow nut wounded buffalo.



I am glad that no one was seriously injured.

I hope Hornady's testing isn't limited to a buffalo or two shot during the bosses safari.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by surestrike:

And we all know there ain't nothing meaner than a shallow nut wounded buffalo.

QUOTE]

Terry,

Great story, the PH I hunted with in Namibia this year said a client before me shot the nuts off a Kudu bull. I guess they managed to get it the next day with about a 300 yard shot. I asked how were you sure it was the same Kudu.

He said because it was walking kinda funny.

BigB

Well, so much for a dice cup out of that buff! Wonder if he was pissed that somebody blew his nuts off..jorge

quote:

Originally posted by jorge:
Well, so much for a dice cup out of that buff! Wonder if he was pissed that somebody blew his nuts off..jorge

Who wouldn't be!

Great stories Terry. You never know what you might run into hunting in DG country. Extremely lucky that only the buffalo had his nuts wacked.

You just gotta feel sorry for that buff getting wacked in the balls, little wonder he was ornery as hell. Might be he was commiting suicide...know I would!

Will, just courious, have you shot a buff in the nuts before? Come to think of it, it is a vital spot, don't you agree.

quote:

Originally posted by Magnum Hunter1:
I am not sure, confused really, but according to the Mark Sullivan thread, this might mean that PH Tabor is gay.

You are "confused really" indeed or not trying very hard.

Great post, Terry.

I've hunted with Rich Tabor - and met his girlfriend - he anin't gay!

Not only that but he is a cool hand when the shit hits the fan, and his trackers, Tiangwa and Prearson, are first rate and good guys too. Damn glad to see that all ended up OK.

As 500 Grains said, they earned their keep - and more - that day.

JPK

that sucks for the bull...one moment yer hanging out (pun intended) then eeeeoooouuuuccccchhhh!!!!!

yer unit buddies are a red mist in someones recticle.

how do you explain that to the rest of the herd???

"mooo mmooommmmoo mo mmmoo mmoooo moloomooo!" translation (@%#$! i was just eat'n grass and then @$$#@$! there was a breeze where there shouldnt be...@^%$#$!

LOL, BOOM STICK


"mooo mmooommmmoo mo mmmoo mmoooo moloomooo!" translation (@%#$! i was just eat'n grass and then @$$#@$! there was a breeze where there shouldnt be...@^%$#$!

RIP,
I stay pretty confused most of the time and to complicate matters I don't try very hard. You know what might be interesting is to see Sullivan shoot a buff in the nuts and then follow it up. They have certainly shot them everywhere else. Kind of like the rodeo bulls that they tie the rope around the sack and then the rider holds on to it. If you think about it, a nut shot buff is a tough shot to make. Just how do you shoot one there unless from behind trying to make a Texas heart shot???

quote:

Originally posted by T.Carr:
walking along the dry riverbed looking for leopard spoor, when out from behind a large boulder in the riverbed, they were charged by buffalo. Several shots were fired and although the buffalo ran through the group, no one was injured.

Was this first 'charge' actually a charge, or merely vacating the area on the other side of the human party?

quote:

Originally posted by NitroX:

quote:

Originally posted by T.Carr:
walking along the dry riverbed looking for leopard spoor, when out from behind a large boulder in the riverbed, they were charged by buffalo. Several shots were fired and although the buffalo ran through the group, no one was injured.

Was this first 'charge' actually a charge, or merely vacating the area on the other side of the human party?

I guess that would be a question of intent (the buffalo's intent). If a buffalo is running at you, I assume that most would probably shoot first. If you later discover (not sure how one would go about doing that) that it was the buffalo's intent to only run past, then you would be liable to his wife and heirs for damages (loss of earnings, loss of conjugal rights - given that his balls were already damaged - maybe not much recovery for the loss of conjugal rights).

Regards,

Terry

I hunted in 04 with Mike Payne. I can't imagine a better PH to have along in a buffalo charge. Here is a picture of him basically telling me to shut the &^%$# up and get ready for a charge. Out bait was hit hard by lions the night before and i was so busy chattering and snapping pictures he had to shut me up.

quote:

Originally posted by boom stick:
that sucks for the bull...one moment yer hanging out (pun intended) then eeeeoooouuuuccccchhhh!!!!!

yer unit buddies are a red mist in someones recticle.

how do you explain that to the rest of the herd???

"mooo mmooommmmoo mo mmmoo mmoooo moloomooo!" translation (@%#$! i was just eat'n grass and then @$$#@$! there was a breeze where there shouldnt be...@^%$#$!

Man you had me rolling for about 10 minutes with this one. Hell, I'm still laughing!!

glad i can make someone laugh...hella funny (or not so funny) from the bulls perspective.

Folks, is it being suggested, or even possible, that the buffalo was intentionally rendered "scrotally impaired" to make him angered? To cause him to be far more agressive? To cause him to charge?

quote:

Originally posted by NitroX:

quote:

Originally posted by T.Carr:
walking along the dry riverbed looking for leopard spoor, when out from behind a large boulder in the riverbed, they were charged by buffalo. Several shots were fired and although the buffalo ran through the group, no one was injured.

Was this first 'charge' actually a charge, or merely vacating the area on the other side of the human party?

Wouldn't be hard to sort out this intent question if a nut shot buff was bearing down on me.

quote:

Originally posted by duikerman:
Folks, is it being suggested, or even possible, that the buffalo was intentionally rendered "scrotally impaired" to make him angered? To cause him to be far more agressive? To cause him to charge?

No, we are joking. No way to know if that buffalo was previously wounded by Rosenfel's client. The bull may have been injured by a lion and it was just coincidence that he was in the same area as the buffalo wounded by the client.

Regards,

Terry

quote:

Originally posted by duikerman:
Folks, is it being suggested, or even possible, that the buffalo was intentionally rendered "scrotally impaired" to make him angered? To cause him to be far more agressive? To cause him to charge?

Yes,

Craig Boddington walked over to the buffalo held up his tail while the shallow nut wounder also known as a "SNW" (every safari company has one on it's staff)lined up behind the buffalo and administered said shallow nut wound with a new prototype Hornandy shallow nut wounder round. Also known as the new HSNWR.

The buffalo was then paid his requisite $35.00 nut wounding fee and later was paid his requisite "enraged nut wounded buffalo charge fee" with S.A.G. dues taken out of course. You know the buffalo and hunters actors union always gets their 10%.

Duikerman,

I'm glad you brought this up. Not often would one have the deductive reasoning powers to ask such a deep and heart felt question. Yes intentional shallow nut wounding of buffalos MUST BE STOPPED!

HILLARY for president!!

Is there anyway that we can blame this on MS?



465H&H

I'm fairly positive that MS is a certified SNW.

Besides being a gay (as in ha ha happy) PH.

Hilarious thread. SNW technique may have been pioneered by MS for inducing charges. Boddington and crew better practice a bit more if they expect to get footage of the quality of MS.

The photographer for the hunt (Dave Hulme) got alot of the action on film (slides) and we are running a photographic account in the october issue of the African Hunter magazine

Great, I look forward to seeing that.