Would you rate this as a Buff charge?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sn2eOYlMrg

Don't know why he is shaking his head so much.

Gerhard

looks like he was shot just prior to film rolling.

You need to watch the whole tape to see exactly what happened. The footage is from a safari in Tanzania in 2003(i stand to be corrected on the exact date), the Ph's were Jason Bergman and Gavin Hume from Hunters & Guides Africa, filming was Nicky Crausaz. It was a totally unprovoked charge, they were set up on the stick with the client( a lady) looking at the buffalo, when he saw them he jumped up and charged straight at them. Gavin and the client were using .375 H&H and Jason a .458 Lott. The whole tape is really good footage and worth watching - i think it is available commercially. Great footage from a camerwoman who had just started he career!! Not sure where she is now but she used to work for Mandy Robertson from African Video productions - a great team.

Thanks Scott,

It looked as if it had been shot and was starting to slow down when it was shot again.

I am interested in why he was shaking his head.

Other charges I have seen the buff come in straight with his head hold low.

Gerhard

Hi Gerhard

I am not sure why he is shaking his head but he took a lot of lead in a short space of time(3 guns) and probably got one in the head that missed the brain but concussed him a bit. The video doesnt quite do the charge justice, when he finally goes down he is really close.The client has hunted probably upwards of 20 times in Africa and she is a brilliant shot and was hitting him solidly every time. When they checked him out after he was down he had a torn scrotum and a bad infection - enough to make even the most reasonable man grumpy!!

Scott spot on - here is the whole thing (poor quality tho) - African hunters guild - scroll down to vid No 6

It is evident to me that the Bull had already been shot prior to the filming! He may have been shot in the face traumatizing the neck allowing his head to sag, because buffalo do not normally charge with their heads down.

I think he was simply runing toward the shooter, not charging, and the head shakeing is due to trauma of the shot taken before the film started! NOT A CHARGE, IMO!

After watching the full video, it's a charge. The headshaking is interesting. He definitely had been hit just before that. He comes about 1/2 way before the first shot.

I love the indigo blue jacket and top hat. So "Africa".

Brent

I don't know what else it could be but charge..

He isn't shaking his head he is doing what buffalo do when they charge, most will do that at the very last moment when they want to kill you..They will drop one horn or the other and hook upwards and the horn will slip right up your rectum or scrotum, take out you testicals or probably your femer artery, and some intestine. That is the usual would pattern that accompanies a buffalo attack that is "successful" (for lack of a better word) on a hunter or PH..

The full video shows the whole thing. The buff stands up when it sees them and then runs straight to them. When it gets about 1/2 way there they start shooting (the PH had been yelling to shoot) and at that point the buff shakes it's head. You can see dust flying off the ground behind it from either misses or pass throughs...hard to say exactly as there is a lot of shooting. Some of both most likely.

How are you seeing the whole film? I don't see him get up anywhere in that film, the only thing I can see is the animal is already running shakeing his head,with his nose pointed at the ground , and it is evident he has already been shot. One more shot is seen to raise dust behind him, and the whole film last less that 8 seconds, and I don't hear anyone talking at all, only two rifle reports. I suppose the whole film would change my opinion!

Mouse93 replied about 1/2 way up the page with an African Guild link. Go down to the 6th video and you will see it all.

quote:

Originally posted by yukon delta:
Mouse93 replied about 1/2 way up the page with an African Guild link. Go down to the 6th video and you will see it all.

The whole film changes things somewhat, but the charge started after the first shot, as I thought, and the head wagging is the result of the first shot, IMO! Damn close quarters there at the last second before he went down! If the terrain had been a little flatter, they may not have stopped him in time!

I had something very similar happen in 2004 only on a wounded buffalo.

The similar part was the head shaking.

I put him down with a neck shot because he was wildly shaking is head both side to side and up and down.

Of course I was questioned by some of our resident Monday morning quarterbacks as to why I didn't simply "shoot him in the head" and get it over with.

The same reason you don't simply flip over a 1200# croc over on it's back and put it to sleep when it attacks you. It might look good on paper but in reality it doesn't always work that way.

I have had 3 full charges and one that was a beginning of a full charge and in evey case they came exactly like that bull does, that is what makes it hard to stop a charge as the head is a moving target..

It seems to be accepted on these threads that a Cape Buffalo charges with his nose pointed at you and comes in smooth making it easy to shoot him up the snout. and nothing is further from the truth..

He will point his nose until he gets you loacated then the head will start swinging in a hooking motion. Sometimes it takes him awhile to locate you, thus the pointy nose charges, adn sometime he knows where you are before you shoot him,

This head swinging and hooking is how he fights and that is how he kills you. You never hear of many injuries above the belt in buffalo charges and if you do it means that he just ran over you.

If he charges you with his nose pointed then he will duck and hook at the last minute. That tells me he was charging you in a general direction and has not located you exactly or has not actually seen you.

Looks to me as if he was staggering and lurching form side to side so much it exaggerated the head tossing.

After seeing the full video, I am assuming its because he was already hit a couple of times. Put into the dust and then he came back up shaking his head.

Gerhard