I hope to come to Africa and hunt someday. A big part of the thrill I'll be seeking will be to hunt animals that are genuinely dangerous.

Bears would top here as animals likely to charge after being shot - but even with Grizzlies - I think that would only happen in a small minority of cases. False charges are more common - full on "to the death" charges are very rare - even with grizzlies.

At the risk of being laughed at - my most determined charge had to be a big raccoon (not that they get that big) that charged me as fast as it was able too after I shot it's foot off with a miss. It died only a few yards from me. I suspect it was rabid. Even that little critter though, did get my adrenaline up - and I love adrenaline!

What I'd like to ask of the people who hunt in Africa is: Which animal is the most likely to charge (not bluff) after being shot? And, what would your guess be as to what percentage of animals of those named species that attempt such charges?

Until I get the chance to come to Africa I live vicariously through your writings. Thanks for replies,

Brian

Notice the TWO bullet holes in this buffalo's chest.





That is because he took a 400 grain Barnes X in the chest from my 416 Rigby at 25 yards. At the shot, he came for us and the PH put a 500 grain solid into him at about 20 yards.

99% of the time, buffalo do not charge. This was my 2nd buffalo hunt. Most of the time (from what I have read, viewed on video, my first buff, etc.) you shoot them and they run away.

My 2nd buff was one of two dugga boys (old solitary bulls) that we had been tracking in the THICK brush for hours. We had bumped them once and caught up to them about an hour later. I finally had an opportunity to shoot and just before I shot, the buff turned to look at us. He must have known that we were the cause of his pain and he wanted some payback.

Anyway, it was pretty exciting to see him bust through the brush to come for us, even though he only took two or three steps before the PH dropped him. I had shot the buffalo exactly where I was aiming.

Afterwards, I was teasing my PH and saying "why the heck did you shoot my buffalo". His response "he would have died from your first shot within 40 yards, but we were only 20 yards away"

Tim

Brian,

Welcome to the forum.

Well, after hunting in Africa for so many years, and shooting literally hundreds of game animals, including well over a 100 buffalo, I have yet to see one single charge!

If you are really after a charge - I know you said not to include buffalo, but I am sure the same system will work with any other animals - you should book a hunt with Mark Sullivan.

Brian

Last year my brother in-law went hunting in Kimberley area South Africa. He took his 10 year old son with, On the second day Jacques (brother in-law) was hunting for a Gemsbok, after a bit of stalking with his son and PH they came across the herd of gem's . Finding the right Male, Jacques put a 180gr through his .338 winmag into his engine room , slightly too far back. So there goes the Gemmie , they follow after him hoping to get a second shot to finish off what they started, but no luck! They radio for the vehicle to come closer to pick up the son so the tracking can continue, the vehicle arrives they start returning to the vehicle , when the son now needs to do a number 2 !!! ( a crap) so the PH leave's father and son to do what has to be done. The Ph is back at the vehicle when the sounds of a young person screaming come's blairing through the bush , PH grab's gun , father and son come running from out the bush closely followed by one time's injured P-O Gemmie with head down ,as the gemmie neared the vehicle it veered off to the left allowing the PH to finish the job with a shot to the heart!

Everybody was fine in the end except for a soiled pair of JOK's !!!

So whether this means that Gemmie's are charger's I wouldn't know but to A little 10 year old boy they sure are !!!!!

Saeed : Do you think Mark Sullivan purposely hunt's the way he doe's to get such close encounters?

cheers.

"op die knoppe"

quote:

Saeed : Do you think Mark Sullivan purposely hunt's the way he doe's to get such close encounters?

I am not sure what the hell he does, but it sure is not kosher.

There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY IN HELL he can get so many buffalo to charge if he hunted them like any normal hunter would.

Gemsbok will charge, I'd watch out for bushbuck as well.

My PH has said that he has been hit/bit by three animals in his career:

Buffalo,
Leopard, and
Bushbuck

Tim, you mean that 416 Rigby I bought from you only pisses 'em off?!

Have shot apx 30 buffalo, and only one tried to charge, but he was just to sick....

Scott,

Even though it happened in mere seconds and dropping a buffalo with one shot is not likely (unless a CNS shot) I was kind of expecting him to drop. We were so close and I hit him exactly where I was aiming. Those buff are tough.

I wonder if my problem was the .416" 300 grain Sierra Match King bullets that I was using loaded to 2,900 fps. They were sure accurate in my (your) gun, so I thought they would work great on buffalo!

Tim

"I wonder if my problem was the .416" 300 grain Sierra Match King bullets that I was using loaded to 2,900 fps. They were sure accurate in my (your) gun, so I thought they would work great on buffalo!

The mad ones, sich ones, intemperant and pissed off ones are the ones that charge as a rule..

On two ocassions we have had sick wounded cows (Lion wounded it appeared) that were lying up in the grass on the outskirts of a herd, get up and charge and nearly in both cases getting someone tossed...

I have been charged full out twice by buff wounded by hunters and once more by a bull I shot but he never got within 35 yards of me and my shot put him down, I would not call it a threat. I have had several instances wherein a charge was developing but was nipped in the bud before it got off its feet...

I know of 2 such instances with Saeed also but he also nipped them in the bud before they developed..One I observed and another I saw on his film...but he is an excellent shot and nothing is goint to charge him as they don't get a chance before the follow up shots hit the spot....

I, like Saeed, know that a charge can be induced easy enough and if you have the right PH, he will probably induce a charge for you and probably charge you extra to do so..I know it has been done many times by a number of PHs, but I do not approve of it..I will chose how my buffalo die, not the buffalo.

quote:

Originally posted by BCBrian:
Which animal is the most likely to charge (not bluff) after being shot? And, what would your guess be as to what percentage of animals of those named species that attempt such charges?

Until I get the chance to come to Africa I live vicariously through your writings. Thanks for replies,

Brian

Brian, I think any animal that is shot and wounded, that gets into the weeds, and requires a follow-up is likely to charge you when you get too close! this is a 100% reality with a wounded leopard! Charges are usually the result of a screw-up, as you found with the raccoon!

In all the years I've been hunting dangerous game I have had exactly one unprovoked charge. That was a Cape Buffalo that we got too close to, without realizeing it! Actually the charge was not unprovoked, because the buffalo decides what constitutes provocation! The fact is, we were too close to him, and he took issue with this!

Many animals will give bluff charges,that turn at the last second, but three that will not turn once they starts are the Cape Buffalo, Lion, and Leopard. When they charge, They are intirely ready to kill you, and must be stopped! They usually cannot be turned with a shot that is not instantly leathal, like a brian, or spine shot! Elephant can often be turned with a high head shot, that is no lethal!

In any event the practice of goading any animal into a charge is the stupidest thing one can do in the hunting field, and is not reccomended!!

I read somewhere that when a wounded animal starts a charge, it is usually for real and not a bluff.

As Ray said, a good PH or hunter will nip it in the bud. That is what my PH did. He dropped the buff at 20 yards out once he sensed trouble.

I was reloading and shot again (a solid) just as the buff hit the ground. He was a bit covered by the brush and my shot went high. You can see the blood from this 3rd shot high up on the buffalo's rear leg/gut. Again, I was aiming for the head and shot high. Wierd things happen when your adrenelin is going.

Great hunt though.

Tim

The scariest charge I ever saw on film, not counting the lion charge on Wees Hixon video, was one by a hippo....amazing how fast they can run on dry ground and he certainly had mayhem on his mind.

The red river hog in DRC will very often charge when wounded and considering the visibility in the rain forest it tends to get quite exciting.

Also a wounded red forrest buffalo will sometimes come for you, again I think it's the lack of visibiity and closeness to the animal which sets it all up.

I have had experience with a wounded leopard, once. I believe that if a leopard is wounded and is physically able he will charge every time. The two PHs that were with me had several experiences with wounded leopards and there was no question that our leopard would charge, the only question was when and from where.

If the criteria is "most likely to charge when wounded" and not "most dangerous when wounded", then my vote goes without reservation to:
Badgers
Anything short of a clean one shot kill has always resulted in an attempt at revenge.

I was charged by a badger and an ostrich and My PH said that the animal he had concern for was the Wildebeest.
It's like this....look at the horns on a Gemsbok.....want them stuck thru you?...well then don't screw up!...Watch your back side and don't loose respect for anything because it's not big enough to stomp you into a rasberry jelly.

The only animal I've ever had to shoot that charged was a really pissed off cow elephant! I do have a good hunting buddy thats been charged twice in the last two hunts in Tanzania by buff. Both were not wounded when they came for him. Both times he hunted in Masailand, don't know whats in the water there but....
Also had a tracker gored by a buff in the RSA when hunting kudu. Wrong place, wrong time, inside the buff's comfort zone.

MMMMMMMMMM Which DGA is most likely to charge when wounded. Seems to me ones opinion is greatly influenced by what one hunts. With that caveat I would vote for a tie between buffalo and leopard. For unwouded game there is no question in my mind. The matriarch of a cow elephant herd. I suggest the question isn't important. Treat any wounded DGA as equally likely to charge. Better safe then sorry!

By far the most injuries I have seen walk into my shop has been from bushbuck. They get extremely mean when hurt. They are small, hide till the last moment and move fast and from close up when they charge. They also have the sharpest horn tips of the spiral horned antelopes. The ewes are placid to the point of stupidity but the rams make up for it several times over.

A friend had a wounded gems take on their Landrover when they caught up with it on a follow up in Namibia. He put a horn through the drivers door and into the driver's leg. They shot it on the door and had to saw off the horn to get it out. Missed the guy's femoral artery by a hair and the closest medical help was almost 200km away.

My harrowing affair is just too fresh and vivid to tell.I'm just lucky to have survived the ordeal.

quote:

Originally posted by JeffP:
My harrowing affair is just too fresh and vivid to tell.I'm just lucky to have survived the ordeal.

Extra credit for using a weapon with a claw extractor.

quote:

Originally posted by Charles_Helm:

quote:

Originally posted by JeffP:
My harrowing affair is just too fresh and vivid to tell.I'm just lucky to have survived the ordeal.

Extra credit for using a weapon with a claw extractor.

Plain and simple, a cow elephant is the most likly animal to charge under most conditions, but remember if their ears are faned out it's a bluff, probably also good to remember when someone tells you this that they can lay the ears back any damn time the want to!!

Buffalo will come for you if they know where you are and they're not too badly hurt.

Leopard will come for you - a statistic I recall said something like 30% of leopard are wounded rather than well shot. Of that 30%, 70% succeed in getting to someone and playing a bit of catch-up. Obviously depends on terrain and thickness of bush, but I believe those are approximate averages.

Unwounded - I'd vote for tuskless cow elephants as the most likely to charge for no particular reason. Next up - buffalo that you bump by accident. Forest buff probably the worst in that respect due to the thickness of the bush they live in.

My PH told a story of last season in Cameroon where the wife of the client was in front of him (the PH) heading for camp, when a buff charged from the side. He shot the buff, and it was so close that the reeds the buffalo was pushing through when it fell were thick and close enough that they pinned the woman on the ground. Now THAT is close !!

A mosquito will get you every time, never go on safari without Rum and garlic.

Wimpie

This bull gave a very determined close range charge. It was a simple case of not giving him enough time to die. He had two .470's through the boiler room and was not much longer for this world.

We crowded him in some very low visibility thick brush. He was down and we could hear his labored breathing ahead but couldn't see him until he raised his head. When he stuck his head up the first shot fired deflected in some brush, peirced his ear and grazed up the side of his neck. That was all it took to launch him into a full determined charge which was stopped at close range.

In the picture you can see one of the branches which deflected the first shot.