Took me a while to put it to pen as after the accident I spent some days hospitalized and am still going through physical therapy. But it's a good story, and most importantly, 100% true. Aaron Neilson, who arranged the trip for me knows it, as does my buddy Chris who was travelling with me and so do the guys at SSG Safaris who were nothing short of life savers for me during and after the ordeal.

It was September 4th, 2013 at 5:30 AM when we finally sighted buffalo along the Limpopo River.
It was day 5 of my 7 day buffalo hunting trip with my buddy Chris.

As some of you may know, in that particular area in Zimbabwe, right across the Limpopo river from South Africa's Kruger National Park, the buffalo has a habit of going into South Africa before sun rise and coming back into Zimbabwe after sunset. That's a reason why they do that but that's not really important.

We were in the bushes on top of the north bank of the river when one of our trackers, Robson (a.k.a Robo), heard the animals. We darted off through the bushes and down to the river bed and see the first few buffaloes (a dozen or so) already making the cross to ZA. My guide, Ishmail, signaled for me to be ready and sets the sticks down. We were about 130 yards from that particular herd, which was the closest to us. Important to say that we were facing east, with the rising sun exactly where you don't want it, behind the target. He says "the third bull from the left."

I get the trusted 416 Rigby on the sticks and after a good exhaling, I pull the trigger. According to the guide, who had been glassing all along, I hit him on top of the right shoulder, which was good news given the distance and the overall setting. But... the whole bunch of animals, including mine, turned 180 degrees and head right back into Zimbabwe. We ran after them and climbed back onto the river bank. To make a long story short, we tracked that buffalo for the next 9 hours. At the end of which I was exhausted, dehydrated and kind of annoyed that my guide didn't back up my shot.
I told them I couldn't take another step and if I had to pay for an un-recovered buffalo, so be it. We headed back to the truck, which was parked about 2 miles away from us at that point. We get to the truck and there's about an hour of sun light left when Ishmail says "you stay here, the trackers and I will go back to the field as the buffaloes are about to come back from ZA and will make a mess out of our tracking scene." 15 mins passed and I hear a shot. I was elated... I had my buffalo... Or so I thought... Another 15 mins and a further 6 shots were fired. I really thought then the buffalo was dead. 30 mins later and the 3 guys come back looking really unhappy. It seemed that the buffalo, despite 8 slugs in him, was still alive and well and running away from us. The guide said "don't worry, he'll certainly be dead before the night is out. We'll get him tomorrow morning."

Next day, September 5th, 2013 at 6:00 AM... We had been walking for 15 mins or so when my guide crosses into a small clearing, no bigger than maybe 10 ft long by 4 ft wide. Robo, one of the trackers was second, I was third, flanked by the other tracker, Marruf. When I made it into the clearing, it was just in time to see my guide already in mid-air. The buffalo was hiding under the canopy of the bush at the end of the clearing and hit Ishmail, who never saw him coming, at the bottom of his legs and sent him flying. Robo, who was behind him saw it before it actually happened, managed to get out of the way. By the time my brain processed this bizarre scene, it was too late for me to do anything, least of all try to shoot the animal. He was less than 6 feet away from me and at full gallop already. Instinctively I knew that there was no running away from him, not in that kind of thicket and sandy terrain. If I turned around to flee he would be on top of me in 2 or 3 seconds and break my back in half. So I just dropped the rifle off my right shoulder and when the buffalo lowered his head to hit me in the gut I took a step forward and, with both hands, grabbed the end of his horns, hanging myself from his head. Needless to say, now the animal is absolutely furious and trying very hard to shake me off his head, like a rag doll. I'm screaming all the way "Shoot him, shoot him, shoot him..." but no shots were fired... the rest of my party was afraid of hitting me in such a tight space. The buffalo now pins me down to the ground and proceeds to bang my back against the trunk of a bush; that is my butt is on the ground and my back to the tree trunk. I'm still screaming but now I feel I can't hold on much longer. My focus is only one, to keep his boss away from my face. A few seconds of this pounding and I hear the much awaited shots.... 9 in total, they told me. The buffalo sank on top of my right leg. Both my legs were stretched on the ground. I then hear my guide calling my name and telling me to walk away. But, believe it or not, the buffalo wasn't dead yet; thankfully he must have been hit in the spine so he could only move his head, which was still trying to hit me. Ishmail came around and pulled me from under the animal and it was only when I saw that it didn't try to rise to follow me that I breathed a sigh of relief.
BUT... my left leg refused to work and I saw then that my lower leg and boot were covered in blood. While trying to get me off his head he stepped on my left leg, just above the knee. The crushing injury caused the flesh to burst behind and above the knee. I couldn't walk so they carried me to another clearing and set me down. Ishmail and Robo went to get the truck and Marruf stayed with me for first aid. 20 minutes later the truck arrives and they drive me - through the thicket, mind you, to a nearby village that had a clinic. By the time I got there, less than an hour after the accident, my leg was almost double the size and purple from top to bottom; there had been a lot of internal bleeding. And I can't move the leg; we don't know if it's broken and there's no x-ray machine within 4 hours car ride. By the time we got to a "hospital" that had one it was late in the afternoon and by the grace of God I had no broken bones. But that was all they could tell me. Nothing to say about vascular damage or muscle compartment syndrome which is very serious. Despite the risk of flying home with all that damage to the leg, I decided to come home...It took me 4 flights and 32 hours to get back to New Jersey. I went straight to the hospital and spent 4 days there. I was VERY lucky. I'm not quite 100% but nearly there. Lesson for all of you African hunters: When they tell you not to track a wounded cape buffalo, you should listen.
Safe hunting!

Wow! Glad you are ok. Said a prayer for you. Get well soon.

Man tough business. Hope you make it back %100. I would tell you that you did the right thing.

There exists a responsibility of your PH to you AND you to your PH. Often those are the only guns in the party.

You did right. If you are not willing to follow up then stay home IMHO. Sorry you got whacked, but I commend your courage.

Jeff

Wow!

Speedy recovery.

Mike

It's amazing how ugly it can get, real quick! Glad your doing better, just know your Ph, trackers and you did the right thing..

Best Regards,
Butch

Prayer for full, fast recovery. The beast had to
be followed up on, by moral standard. You did
what was right. Michael458's insistence on short
bbls and .500 caliber draws more followers with
your story I suppose...

I hope you recover soon ,i would like to know more details about your PHs experience and rifle ,bullets ,calibers etc .Every detail is important .We have had some accidents here in Argentina with water buffalos this year too ,not in my outfit but in my hunting area .

quote:

Originally posted by juanpozzi:
I hope you recover soon ,i would like to know more details about your PHs experience and rifle ,bullets ,calibers etc .Every detail is important .We have had some accidents here in Argentina with water buffalos this year too ,not in my outfit but in my hunting area .

+1

Speedy recovery!

I hope they're sending his head home to you. That's a trophy of a lifetime all things considered!

Certainly glad you are going to be ok. Rough go of it or so it sounds. But you survived. Dangerous game the buffalo are. Good for you that you went to follow up.

Thank you all for your kind wishes and words.

For those of you who asked for more info, I had a 416 Rigby as primary and a 375 H&H as back up, which my PH was using. One of the trackers was using the PH's 375 H&H and the other tracker, who was in fact a National Park's Ranger monitoring the hunt but was an incredible tracker too, was carrying a small tactical rifle (AK) that didn't really do anything but he tried valiantly anyway.
Nixon's outfit, SSG, was very good. Nixon himself was amazing at orchestrating my medical care while I was there and my extraction as soon as it was possible. My PH himself was a good man, and it's just one of those situations where a couple of small mistakes can add up quickly and have very ugly consequences. I was very pleased with the SSG guys, can't say enough good things about them.

Wow!!!
Glad you're alive
Wishing you a full recovery!!!

Good luck on your recovery-

I hunted Sengwe 1 with Ishmael as 2nd PH last yr. Can't say that I was impressed with him

Glad you are OK and I wish you a speedy recovery. Your story points to the fallacy of always expecting the PH to pull one's arse out of the thin butter as the attitude so many take to the field with. They never assume that the PH may have been hit as well, or that he may have a malfunction! Sounds like you did everything you could in this situation and sometimes bad luck just strikes.

Anyway, welcome home and take care of yourself as you recover!

Glad you came out of this incident in one piece.

I have never hunted DG with a PH whose rifle was a .375 - they have always been bigger, starting with a .4 or .5. Likewise, I stopped hunting DG with a .375 after my first animal. Aside from leopard, all my DG since have been taken with a .416Rem, .458Lott, 500NE (DR) and now a .458B&M with a 20" bbl. I also cannot imagine a PH who would not be carrying his personal DG rifle while hunting with clients. You were well armed with a .416.

As a point to others, Global Rescue would have been invaluable in this incident. I carry Global Rescue year round and, fortunately, have never needed it. That could change at anytime.

Glad to hear you made.

Best of luck for your recovery.

My wife and I hunted with Ishmael. When she shot, wounded and lost her buffalo, Ishmael was in his glases also instead of backing her up as requested. I like Ishmael, he's a great guy, but if hunting SSG, I'd ask for Nixon or Simon.

Very interesting ,sorry for asking, but your information is very usefull for my articles.
What kind of points did you use ,can we see photos of the PH and his rifle,did he atted RIFA RIFA examination ,is he a native Zimbawean ,white or colour man ,not disrespect here ,but all this data will be used in future articles .This accidents happens even to the most experienced PHs ,and thats ,why we call it dangerous game .Two of the most experienced water buffalo Phs of Argentina were badly injured by water buffalos in very similar accidents .

Glad to hear the outcome wasn't worse! I have been in to those very same thick palm bushes with the SSG guys. Its not a place to take lightly. It's a bit of tough place to hunt, you mainly see the buff in the river bed, if you don't anchor the buff on the spot it will cross in to South Africa and you cant follow and will lose the buffalo OR it will go back wounded in to Zim in to the palms and then you follow at your own peril!

Arjun Reddy
www.huntersnetworks.com
New York

quote:

Originally posted by juanpozzi:
Very interesting ,sorry for asking, but your information is very usefull for my articles.
What kind of points did you use ,can we see photos of the PH and his rifle,did he atted RIFA RIFA examination ,is he a native Zimbawean ,white or colour man ,not disrespect here ,but all this data will be used in future articles .This accidents happens even to the most experienced PHs ,and thats ,why we call it dangerous game .Two of the most experienced water buffalo Phs of Argentina were badly injured by water buffalos in very similar accidents .

Ishmael is a black native Zimbabwean,AFAIK he has passed all his requirements and is a certified DG PH.
Last year he had a Winchester M-70 375 H&H. To be fair he was wanting to upgrade to a larger caliber-the 375 was all he could afford/find at the time I hunted with him.

As bad as it was, you were mighty lucky. Bet you know that much. It's amazing how fast those big animals are when the time comes for them to move. IF you happen to be in the way, they'll eat you up, count on it.

Good luck on healing w/o problems.
George

Speed recovery.

thats a scary once in a lifetime experience you dont really want to do again.
Luckily thats why you carry a big stick and walk slowly.It could have been a hell of a lot worse.
Speedy recovery Mate

quote:

Originally posted by Sean Russell:

quote:

Originally posted by juanpozzi:
Very interesting ,sorry for asking, but your information is very usefull for my articles.
What kind of points did you use ,can we see photos of the PH and his rifle,did he atted RIFA RIFA examination ,is he a native Zimbawean ,white or colour man ,not disrespect here ,but all this data will be used in future articles .This accidents happens even to the most experienced PHs ,and thats ,why we call it dangerous game .Two of the most experienced water buffalo Phs of Argentina were badly injured by water buffalos in very similar accidents .

Ishmael is a black native Zimbabwean,AFAIK he has passed all his requirements and is a certified DG PH.
Last year he had a Winchester M-70 375 H&H. To be fair he was wanting to upgrade to a larger caliber-the 375 was all he could afford/find at the time I hunted with him.

I am sure glad none of our friends involved in this got seriously hurt.

Still, we all wish you a very speedy, and complete recovery.

Not having any bones broken is a big plus in your favor..

The PH carrying any other caliber would not have made any difference.

In close quarters, any hit that misses the CNS is not going to stop the charge, regardless of how big it is.

Get well, and please keep us informed of your progress.

Good luck on your recovery!

quote:

it was too late for me to do anything, least of all try to shoot the animal

Actually I don't understand why you did not shoot?

So glad to hear you are alive and recovering. I was the hunter with Ishmael as the PH and Rabson as the tracker just before you.

Rabson is a fantastic tracker and I enjoyed Ishmael as well. Ishmael was carrying a Model 70 in .375 H&H with solids. I was using a .458 Win Mag with a soft up and solids down. Fortunately, one soft was enough for each of my buffalo. The apprentice game scout on his first mission had an old SKS 7.62X39. Rabson was not armed. Fortunately on the day of your incident there was an extra rifle present and I assume Rabson was using it. It may have made a huge difference for you.

I know the very area you describe and I have some photos of it I can send you if you wish. There is some nasty tangle in some of that area because of an earlier flood.

Grabbing the horns of a wounded buff and being shaken like a rat happened to another AR member somewhere in Sengwe not too long ago as I'm sure you know. I think he called Sengwe buffalo cheeky. Under the circumstances you describe, grabbing the horns was probably the best thing you could have done to keep him from hooking you.

I wish you the very best. If you want any of my photos please drop me a PM.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

The PH carrying any other caliber would not have made any difference.

Perhaps a larger calibre would have made a difference with the shots the previous night. Had those shots been even poorly placed the night before, a larger calibre would have certainly made a difference by the next day.

quote:

Perhaps a larger calibre would have made a difference with the shots the previous night. Had those shots been even poorly placed the night before, a larger calibre would have certainly made a difference by the next day.

Nobody knows. Maybe smaller caliber would be placed better?

Thanks for sharing your story. Hope you recover fast.

quote:

Originally posted by ozhunter:

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

The PH carrying any other caliber would not have made any difference.

Perhaps a larger calibre would have made a difference with the shots the previous night. Had those shots been even poorly placed the night before, a larger calibre would have certainly made a difference by the next day.

Why would it make any difference a day later, when it had made no difference before?

Glad you came through this alive, and wish you a speedy recovery and a return to the hunting fields !!

Bottom line here is "Shit happens". Not many PH's carry a 375 anymore, but remember guys, for many years these were the calibre of choice. It has the ballistics required to do the job, and is more than capable of taking care of a buffalo. Its more about the initial shot placement, and not so much about the backing up by the PH either.

The situation conspired against you, and unfortunately you came off a little worse for wear, but survived, that in itself is an achievement !!

This is dangerous for a reason, if nothing ever happened to us it wouldn't be called dangerous.

I didn't shoot because I was less than 6 feet away from a buffalo at full gallop.
I figured by the time I unshouldered the rifle and point he would have been on too of me and I would have nothing else to do.
The way I computed the problem at the time I could do only one thing and it was either try to shoot him in very precarious conditions or prevent greater harm to myself.
But, it was a choice, probably not a great one but I believe it would have been worse had I done anything else.

Thank you. I would love to see your pictures.

Indeed, the additional rifle made a difference during the incident and that extra rifle in the equation was my own .375 H&H (a CZ 550 Safari) that I had brought as a back up. Ishmail used mine and Rabo used Ishmail's M70.
In my 416Rigby I had 400 grain Barnes ballistic copper solids and so did my 375 (300 grains).
That buffalo just happened to be unusually strong and very stubourn.
He got tired of running away and decided to wait for us.
Both Rabo and Marruf were conviced he ambushed us; knowing we'd be looking for him again.
In the end, all that lead from the day before almost certainly weakened him, which is why -I think- his right front leg wasn't 100% (I had hit his right shoulder befor) and hence my left leg still is in one piece ;-)...

It's true the PH made a couple of mistakes, and in this DG business you can't afford to make too many.
But as I'm being stitched up at the clinic, after Ishamail got the scrapes on his legs attended to,
they went back to the site to prepare my trophy and at that point risking running into the cats or hyennas that we had heard before. But they brought it back to me any way.
As someone said, it's called DG for a reason. The pity is my wife will hear none of that and already ruled "No more Africa!". I can't really argue...

You are a very brave and lucky man. You have lived to tell this tale. Get well soon.

Im afraid too often we have a hard time relating to what goes on in Africa.

For instance when Ishmael was my PH he carried a 458 win mag. Why wasnt he carrying it now? (who knows) He asked if he could back up my shots and I told him to feel free to shoot after me. He put a round in both of my buff nicely placed thru the lungs.
Cant really say why there seems to be inconsistency's with the way things are done. I saw the same thing play out in my RSA hunt.

Im glad you survived and I hope you recover fully.

Wow!! Heck of a story and I'm glad you have the good spirits to share it. You get healed up and go get us another story it's okay if it is not so life threatening but however it works out many of us learn from other's adventures.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
[

Why would it make any difference a day later, when it had made no difference before?

Even if one happens to only hit non critical organs like the Liver or even the guts, the bigger the hole the better to stiffen him up. Remember eight or so shots were fired at the Bull the evening before the incident.

quote:

Originally posted by Roman BGH:
Good luck on your recovery!

quote:

it was too late for me to do anything, least of all try to shoot the animal

Actually I don't understand why you did not shoot?

I didn't shoot because I was less than 6 feet away from a buffalo at full gallop.
I figured by the time I unshouldered the rifle and point he would have been on too of me and I would have nothing else to do.
The way I computed the problem at the time I could do only one thing and it was either try to shoot him in very precarious conditions or prevent greater harm to myself.
But, it was a choice, probably not a great one but I believe it would have been worse had I done anything else.

quote:

Originally posted by LionHunter:
Glad you came out of this incident in one piece.

I have never hunted DG with a PH whose rifle was a .375 - they have always been bigger, starting with a .4 or .5. Likewise, I stopped hunting DG with a .375 after my first animal. Aside from leopard, all my DG since have been taken with a .416Rem, .458Lott, 500NE (DR) and now a .458B&M with a 20" bbl. I also cannot imagine a PH who would not be carrying his personal DG rifle while hunting with clients. You were well armed with a .416.

As a point to others, Global Rescue would have been invaluable in this incident. I carry Global Rescue year round and, fortunately, have never needed it. That could change at anytime.

Yes, agree with you on Global Rescue and I did have it. The problem is that the deal with them is that they will take you to the NEAREST medical facility and it wasn't certain that they'd bring me back home in any easier conditions. So I ended up doing it myself given that I was able to move independently, if you can call my hobbling then moving.. :-)