Like the day we were tracking a wounded buffalo and nature called, so I took off from the "group" to find a nice bush -- WITHOUT MY RIFLE! Nothing happened, but the PH read me the riot act when I returned. However there were several times when the same PH and I jumped from the Land Rover to walk up a donga to check leopard baits, and neither of us carried rifles.

It was not until I returned that I realized (usually at night in a dream) how stupid you can get when you get complacent.

I guess the fact that there were men and women (so-called "new farmers") walking the roads in the safari area, completely unarmed, both day and night that led to this complacency. Forget that the PH told me that one of the "new farmers" had been killed by an elephant just weeks before I arrived right near our camp. Funny how the event didn't slow the foot traffic even a little bit.

Anybody else ever get "stupid" in Africa?

Never happened to me, but I know several people who walked into wildlife while engaged in the call of nature and checking baits. All the visitors were curious and disturbed lions. Good suggestion to take a rifle along.

Closest I got to trauma is walking early morning to the dining area in a river camp when the hippo were cutting across the camp, very exciting.

Dak

I think sometimes the PH's get very casual when checking baits etc. and that is picked up by the client. If the PH doesn't carry a rifle why should I? Particularly when checking a lion bait how could you know the lions are not just laying back a little ways in the tall grass? I have seen them do that several times. What if an unseen lion takes offense at you fiddling with their food? When in doubt carry your rifle.

Mark

I make it a point of ALWAYS loading my rifle and taking it with me any time I am out of the truck.

Sadly, this policy is not much good when one has to walk back to the truck at night and cannot see much to shoot at.

I brought two friends along with me on the last safari. Neither were hunters or had been to Africa before. One day in the bush, one of them was overcome by bowel pressure. Not particularly accustomed to dealing with this outside an urban environment, and with the pressure meter pegging the red line, he scurried off the footpath, squatted over/sat down on a raised mound of earth with his rump hanging over the back, and took care of business.

Three minutes later, we're walking down the path again and he begins furiously ripping off his shorts and skivvies......

Sometimes, it's the little six legged predators that get ya....

There is a happy ending though. Both gents are officially hunters now.

I'm with Saeed and Mark. I'm there to shoot things and since I don't know when it's going to happen, I assume it's at any time. Some people might call me paranoid, I think of it as just being ready by having a weapon on hand at all times.

I plead the Fifth...

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
I make it a point of ALWAYS loading my rifle and taking it with me any time I am out of the truck.

Sadly, this policy is not much good when one has to walk back to the truck at night and cannot see much to shoot at.

Please see the C. Boddington ads concerning which flashlight to purchase.

What Saeed said , weather there or here... But it is not just limited to packin your rifle ...... People throwing flamables into a campfire can get too exciteing!!!! ect. ect. ect.

After a long and eventually successful stalk on an eland I too needed to find a ladies room out in the thornveldt (too much morning coffee). I spotted some tall shrubbery not too far away and grabbed the TP roll from the approaching bakkie and let the crew know I would be right back.

They carried on with the heavy eland bull struggling to load it whole into the bakkie.

As I neared my destination I passed by a short leafy shrub that let out the following noise:

PPPSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhoooooooooooooo



My right foot was at the edge of this noisy shrub. I knew better than to move but peered down in the morning light to see a reletively large puff adder lying under the bush just a few inches from my planted foot.

It never moved further as it was a cold morning but it sure surprised me. They have a beautiful color pattern and do blend right in.

On another hunt a local farmer had captured a pair of mating Mozambique spitting cobras from under his front stoop. We stopped in to have a look-see. The snakes were in a large barrel with a piece of glass covering it. Anytime one of us would peer down at the snakes they would spray the glass with venom and appeared to be quite accurate in their aim for one's eyes.

Saeed's right on the money. Just this year I was surprised by dangerous game on the way back to the sleeping quarters after dinner and in the dark; a walk that was, in this instance, about 100 meters. (It being the tent camp on the outskirts of the Safari camp) Fortunately I was carrying the rifle and a good SureFire flashlight. (Boddington's recommendation aside) Nothing happened, but I will always carry the rifle with me.

When on safari, I sleep with a loaded rifle propped up right next to me.

Trouble is, I sleep so well that I have been known to sleep through a herd of rampaging elephant smashing through the brush not 10 yards from the tent at 3:00 am.

My wife woke up, was frightened by the uproar, and shook me, whereupon I reportedly responded, unintelligibly and apparently somewhat angrily, but nonetheless I must confess that I did not fully rouse from my sleep nor arise from my bed.

It occurs to me that perhaps I should have followed Charles Helm's example on this topic and pled the Fifth.

Once in Chewore we were looking over part a huge herd of elephants, maybe sevnty-five elephants together. The ele's were stationary and feeding in thick bush.

My guts were gurgling and no one seemed to have the TP. I started stripping leaves when the foremost tracker noticed and pulled the TP from his pocket. We were forty yards from the ele's. Everyone started gigling, trying to not break out in uproreous laughter.

I retreated maybe fifteen yards - with my rifle - and found a good bush behind which I was taking care of business. There was a long clear lane to my left and all of a sudden the ele's decided to move out. I watched a parade of elephants file past forty five yards away and in plain sight. I couldn't move since I was mid business.

I nearly fell over trying not to laugh at my ridiculous situation and could read the headlines "...hunter killed while..." My rifle was always in reach but jeez I'm not sure I could make THAT shot. I mean squatting down the angles are tough!

I finally finished and crept around the bush to rejoin the party and discovered that they had all moved to just the opposite side of the big bush to cover me. Geez we had a good laugh at my expense when the elephants cleared!

JPK

quote:

Originally posted by dakota45056:
Never happened to me, but I know several people who walked into wildlife while engaged in the call of nature and checking baits. All the visitors were curious and disturbed lions. Good suggestion to take a rifle along.

I've been taking a leak behind a bush when hearing a noise behind. An elephant was peering over the bush with its trunk in the air. I didn't worry about the trunk in my hand , I just backed out and away behind the bush. It didn't try to follow. This was in Kenya in a National Park. No rifles at all anywhere.

During lunch breaks I wouldn't even think of carrying my rifle with me when looking for a bush. Usually everyone's rifle is still in the rack on the bakkie. I would feel like a sook going to get a rifle just for a 50 metre walk into the bush.

Had too much curry in India once and twice needed to make tracks behind a bush in Tiger parks. There were tigers in the area, but probably not that close.

I know someone however who shot a very nice sambar stag when once going for a crap near camp. Probably the best reason to take a rifle, ie seeing something worth shooting.

This past August in the Luangwa Valley comes to mind. It was our last night in camp and being generous and friendly with our PHs, I made sure they not only received cash tips but that I doled out gear and ammo also. About 10:00 that evening, I exited a hot shower to the most horrendus lion growls and roars only a few hundred feet from camp. It seems some old amorous male was cavorting with his lady friend in their usual rough and tumble way. My Dad was in his rack with the covers pulled up to his eyes and I, clad only in a towel, opened the front door to see Alistair and Terry shining a flashlight into the darkness in the direction of the caterwauling. I most calmly asked them if they had any spare .375 ammo since they had relieved me of mine earlier in the evening. To which Alistair brought over "one" cartridge at a dead run and then headed back to his chalet. I always figured that one round was to put me out of my misery if that old cat decided to join me in our thatch-walled compound!

Lesson learned: Don't give away ALL of your ammo until the last minute you depart camp!

BTW I wonder if that was the old boy Mr. Terry plugged a week after we left.....

I don't know if this is being complacent or Africa just being Africa. While riding in our vehicle, my PH asked if I had any aspirin. I reached into my pack and was promptly stung three times by a scorpion. Fortunately I did not have an allergic reaction just severe pain for about 6 hours. There was a helicopter ready to come and get me if I did have a reaction. Their last client to be stung spent several days in Intensive Care unable to breathe without help. Believe me I now use a pack with zippers and don't reach into any dark places.

If it would not be presumptuous, I'd like to add something from outside the U.S., but not of Africa.
We were hunting caribou and were trying to get to another valley. To do so, we had to climb a granite face that didn't seem too difficult. Moisture on it from the morning dew made it much more slick than I'd presumed from the previous afternoon's climbing. I slipped, fell, and hit a sharp-ridged rock when I landed. Three cracked ribs were the result and a lot of pain. Thanks to my friend Brett's supply of Motrin, I hunted the next day and got a caribou! And spent the rest of the time lounging around camp until the plane picked us up.

Never made it to Africa yet, but I never go anywhere afield without my rifle with me. Had some "positive reinforcement" from the Drill Sgt. for being more than arms lenght from my rifle, and it has stuck with me.

quote:

Ever get Dangerously Complacent on Safari?

Only when I'm drinkin'
Rich Elliott

Doing a walkabout with camera, sans rifle, at camp on Chobe River, until lioness killed bull calf in broad daylight in full view of camp.

My wife and I were in the "safety?" of the permanent camp. Completely fenced in and gated. It was our first night of our very first African safari hunt. There was a loud screeching followed by grunting right outside the front door of the chalet. We went out armed only with flashlights to discover a leopard retrieving his supper of monkey "inside the Boma". I think we paid alot better attention the balance of the trip.

Fred

I had the same experience checking lion baits (I wasn't hunting them) with my PH in Zambia. After growing up on a diet of Capstick, I didn't think you were supposed to peek out of your hut without one up the spout. My PH routinely checked "hit" lion baits (with me along) and since he never grabbed a rifle I would have felt like a wimp to demand that mine be pulled off the rack. Seemed to me kind of dangerous, considering that you were walking to a bait that you know if being fed on. In fact, we did spot lions moving off a few times. Oh well, when in Rome...

In Masailand at Lokisale the other hunter and all the tracking crew were out after PG, while I rested up for the afternoon. I decided to go outside the boma and take some photos of the camp from a distance. A young lone bull elephant that had been hanging around camp the whole time walked between me and camp. For a 10 minute eternity he kept me from returning back into camp. He then ran off like he was done fooling around with me.

While confessing to checking lion and leopard baits sans rifle, I don't leave the immediate vicinity of the truck without my rifle, certainly not without it for a call of nature. Trekker and I must have had the same Drill Sargent. Kudude

As a young,highly trained, cocky, adrenilan junkie army ranger, close combat was the ultimate rush for us. Hunting DG, or africa in general never gave me that. But being constantly alert to your suroundings permenently drilled into you prevents surprises too.

I have twice hunted in the Save where the Big Five are all present.Both hunts were bowhunts and I was left alone in a blind all day ,every day ,with only my bow for protection.I know some will say that there is not so much worry because I was in a blind.But I have watched the elephants water from mere feet away.Have heard the sawing of the leopard and the roar of the lion.

While I respect them all, the ones that caused me the most concern are the no-shouldered variety.A snake under foot leaves me weak-kneed when I do not know for sure if he is poisonous, and even worse when I know for sure that he is.

My brother was an avid jogger. During lunch breaks in the bush he used to go jogging. His PH had the driver follow him in the truck. One day David ran around an island of bushes in the Okavango Delta. On the other side was a pride of Lions resting. NEW CAMP RULE: You can jog all you want----in your tent.

TeryR

My friend shot his lep at 5 AM after being in the blind for three nights. The cat dropped out of sight so the PH returned to camp to organize the shotguns ( a 45 min trip each way).
It got light before we returned --- my friend got up to look for the lep and found him dead. He was so tired from being up, he left the gun in the blind while searching. It could have turned out very bad.

Id rather be lucky than good. Lee

If I have,I don't remember the occasion. Maybe selective memory though.

I did see a classic case in a PH. We were checking leopard baits in Dande North a few years back and although the PH started out carrying his rifle, he soon began leaving it in the Land Rover. We left the vehicle to check a bait that was about 50 yds. off the road. We had to walk around 40 yards through 12 foot high grass befor we could see the bait on our left. Having read too much Taylor and Capstick I always took my 465 DB on these checks as we had twice seen lion and twice seen leopards as we approached a bait. When we got to the end of the grass, what do we see but the bait torn lose from the tree and hanging by one leg swinging in the air. At the same time a sharp and hoarse warning growl came from the 5 foot high grass immediately in front of us and only 10 yards away. The swishing of the grass as the lion spun around marked her location. I threw up my rifle and covered her location as the PH got behind me and said "If she comes out, shoot her!". We slowly backed away with me keeping the invisable lion covered. Soon I heard the welcome sound of the tracker slapping the PHs rifle into his hand. We got back to the Rover and drove off in complete silence. It was several minutes before the embarrassed PH appologized for his not taking his rifle along.

465H&H