Ladies & gentlemen: I just finished watching Boddington's "Tracks Across Africa," a great show for us "Africa Addicts." The client was using *my* rifle, a Ruger RSM in 416 Rigby. They were up in Dande North where I killed a buff back in the summer of 05.

Shot the buff through some thick stuff (that I questioned, but then again I wasn't there), but he was very close, I assume in the chest or shoulder. Regardless, not good enough. He was using Hornady Interbonds which as most of you remember, Terry Carr and others related poor penetration incidents last year.

Tracking job in the thick jess ensued. They followed the blood trail to a clearing with some THICK green bushes behind it. Yep, he charged.

The client impressed me. He was behind the PH who was knocked a bit off balance by the RAPIDLY retreating tracker (gee I wonder why ). He stepped to one side and snapped a shot that had to hit as he was no closer than five or six feet and the PH got off a shot or two as well from his double.

The camera goes ass-over-tea-kettle in the process but recovered enough to film the back end of the buffalo as he retreated and got one up the tailpipe.

Eventually he bellowed and it was over. A very exciting hunt indeed and brought home the importance of bullet placement, construction and shoot the biggest caliber you can shoot accurately! jorge

Jorge, I share your view of the footage. As you said not being there it's hard to say. The clients shot from behind the hunter could have resulted in a mess. It was a great clip to watch.

Yep,
It was impressive to see the client hunter's muzzle blast flapping the breeze into the PH's shirt-back, left rear flank. Really close to a mess happened there. Could not have been any good for the PH's hearing, but good for his overall health after all.

The PH exclaimed about the buffalo having bowled him over as the cameraman recovered the still running camera from the grass diving view.

saw it and thought the same things, Jesu Christo, that was close man...

What network are you guys watching this on? I've not seen it on my Sat system for a couple of weeks now?

The Outdoor Channel.

Gentlemen

I looked it up for those that missed the earlier episode, like me!!! There is another show on Sunday 3:30 PM Mountain Standard---Daylight saving time.

Steve

"He knocked me over Mick." Is what the PH said about it before wiping his sweaty brow with his hat, after the drive-by by the buffalo.

Interesting that in one of the "pointer" segments of this show (sponsored by Ruger, Trijicon, Gander Mountain, etc.), Craig Boddington showed off his .416 Taylor on a rebarreled lefthand Ruger M77MkII. Stainless barrel, blue action and iron sights, walnut stock looked factory, with front swivel stud on the stock forend, and Trijicon scope in Ruger Rings.

RIP, I believe he was also wearing his "Official" Gander Mountain Safari Shirt.

mikeh375,
Of course, and a Gander Mountain hat to boot. Craig does have that Gander Moutain line of safari clothing to sell, afterall, officially Craig Boddington endorsed to guarantee success.

And the shooting client using "Jorge's .416 Rigby Ruger RSM" (lucky the PH didn't weave a few inches left) was the Gander Mountain employee responsible for the Gander Mountain booking agency setting up these adventures for the rest of us.

And the PH had a double, but the client with the scoped bolt action got off a shot first, from a few feet behind and a few inches to the left of the PH! Must have been that Trijicon scope.

I'm sold.

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:

Craig does have that Gander Moutain line of safari clothing to sell, afterall, officially Craig Boddington endorsed to guarantee success.

Careful now, we are all capitalists, aren't we?

If anyone is wondering, I endorse cut-off Levis and fishing shirts (with the web liner) for use on safari. And of course I waive any royalty for AR members who choose to utilize that wardrobe.

Hey, I'll put up with all that capitalism if they keep bringing us a pretty darn good show each week. Somehow, they keep putting a new twist to the buffalo hunt that I continue to enjoy.

BT

quote:

And the shooting client using "Jorge's .416 Rigby Ruger RSM"

Rip: *my* rifle would have dropped him on the spot . Seriously, I wonder if the Hornady "Interbombs" had anything to do with it. jorge

I just watched the show. What struck me was how close I came to watching a PH get shot in the back. I bet that nearly getting killed by your client happens more than PHs will admit. An angry poorly shot animal to the front and a nervous armed nimrod to the rear, leave one of them in the truck.

SG,

It struck me the same way. Looked like the PH was lucky he wasn't shot in the arm. But it might have been a better angle than what the camera was indicating.

They didn't mention where the initial shot hit the bull, did they? Just said that they were getting lung blood.

-Steve

I did not see the show. Who almost shot the PH in the arm/back?

Just watched it. To answer 500 grains' question; the client (Gander Mountain guy) fired while standing behind and somewhat to the side of his PH. Wasn't clear to me how close it was to the PH's arm.

What struck me was taking the shot through all that brush. It appeared to me that the bullet struck numerous branches making its way to the buff! You could actually follow the path of the bullet by observing the movement of the bushes as the bullet plowed through. At least that's what it looked like to me.

Anybody else see it that way?

500grains,

It was some gander mountain salesman with a 416 Rigby (ruger) using those hornady factory interbonds and solids, that may explain the chase.

Dan, PH was Mike Payne, now of Chifuti Safaris. The client was from Gander Mountain, and is the one that shot from behind and just to the left of the PH. He shot just prior to the PH, and looked like he may have moved left to give himself a few more inches to fire.

Sounds like 2 errors in judgment in a row. If hunting is anything like medicine, it's the 3rd error in a row that gets someone killed.

And of course it is completely understandable that jorge would wish to upgrade to a Hein to distance himself from this Ruger user. Will BillC be next?

quote:

Originally posted by Hunter Formerly Known As Texas Hunter:

What struck me was taking the shot through all that brush. It appeared to me that the bullet struck numerous branches making its way to the buff! You could actually follow the path of the bullet by observing the movement of the bushes as the bullet plowed through. At least that's what it looked like to me.

Anybody else see it that way?

I was also surprised by how much brush they shot through. I could not even see the buffalo that was in the middle of the screen. You could see the bullet busting up a ton of brush before it got to the buffalo. Couldn't be good for any bullet, let alone the Interbond.

On the charge, I think the client probably had a better angle at the shot then the camera shows. I also think that Mike Payne (PH) was significantly delayed in his shot as a result of the tracker turning around and running into him.

They were all lucky that it did not turn out worse.

N'gagi hunted buffalo with Mike Payne when we were in Chewore North in 2004 and we both spent a lot of time with him. Mike is a great guy and from what I have heard he is a very good PH as well.

I had heard about this buffalo charge through the grapevine, shortly after it happened. At the time, I think Mike was not happy about how many people were in his group for the follow-up. In addition to the client, PH, two trackers, game scout, and camera man I think there was another person or two in the group. Kind of the cost of doing business when you are filming a safari, but I think that Mike may have felt that the amount of people and noise everyone was making may have contributed to the charge. I could be wrong on this, as it was quite a few months ago when I heard it.

In any event, I think we need to applaud Tim Danklef, Andrew Dawson, Craig Boddington and crew for getting these videos on TV. I know that we have to live with some of the sponsor information and product plugs, but for the people who complain about that, you need to get over it and realize this is not PBS. I'm so thankful when I turn on the Outdoor Channel and see Tracks Across Africa or the World of Beretta instead of the 1 millionth turkey hunting show or someone in a tree stand waiting to shoot a whitetail deer over a food plot.

Tim

Hey! Shumba,
What do you think I'm doing here? I'm plugging the sponsors big time here.

And thanks for the insights. It was indeed a great show.

I'm even going to buy some Trijicon scopes to go on my Rugers.

I do love that Craig Bodding safari clothing line in olive drab.

And no, I couldn't see the buffalo at all through the brush for that first shot by the client at the non-wounded buffalo. I sure hope that was a camera angle thing too.

I spent a month filming in the Chifuti camp back in 2005, two weeks in which Mike Payne was the PH and two weeks with Andrew Dawson. Mike's very good at his job and one hell of a lot of fun to spend time with in the bush. If I were to book a dangerous game safari in the Zambezi Valley, Mike would easily be my first choice as the PH.



When we got finished with the hunting I would want to spend a few days on the river fishing. Mike's a hell of a fishing guide as well.





I haven't caught this particular episode, but camera angles are a very tricky thing. On TV it may look like certain shots were taken at very bad angles but in reality they were not. Unless the cameraman is setup right over the shoulder behind the action what you see on the screen can be very different that what went on in the field.

Tyge: What camp did you stay? I was there in June of 05 and stayed at Mururu. Regarding the charge and shot angles, all I can tell you is you can see the blast effects on the back of Mike's shirt as the 416 goes off. I can appreciate the camera angle issue, but man it looked close! jorge

I saw this episode and am too one that is very grateful to those who constantly bring us this kind of "up close and personal" quality productions. I have no problem with the sponsor thing as none of this would happen without them. Also the sponsors who help out "Tracks" are all quality products and are most always presented in a tastefull straight foreward manner.

As far as how the initial shot as well as the followups were concerned, I would bet they were a whole lot better than the "camera angles" projected. Just take a look at the Tigerfish above, looks to be mere inches from the face, while in fact is probably closer to 18".

Great photos Tyge.

Larry Sellers

Jorge,
I stayed in Chifuti's main camp (Dande, I believe) for the most part the whole month of July 2005, except for a few days when we made a short run to Doma for Cameron Hopkins's sable. Cameron's buffalo, which Andrew stopped with two well placed 470 bullets after it charged at the end of a 5.5hr followup, stopped just 11 paces away.





I also covered Jim Gianladis' (Cabela's) safari. He took a buffalo, hyena and some plains game. The hyena hunt was interesting. We walked right into a pride of sleeping lions that had been having their way with our bait. All hell broke loose in the dark of the morning. One female really wanted to come but Mike and Jim had her pegged in the shadows with guns raised and ready, the parks ranger had his back mashed up against mine covering our six where at least two females were calling for their cubs. It was pretty damn hairy there for a minute until the lions left after scolding us. We then moved on the the blind thinking there was no way after that blowup there would be anything on the bait...we were wrong. Jim took a nice hyena.





I also covered Mark Baker's (Gander Mountain CEO) short safari after he ran into some travel difficulties. He took this bull one the first day of his safari. We had been on this group of dugga boys twice when I was with Mike Payne. Andrew and his trackers did a hell of a job of outsmarting them and getting Mark in range for a shot. Unfortunately, my camera was very sick and I was unaware at the time. All of the footage from this hunt was corrupt with a tape transport problem. I was seeing video through the eyepiece but it wasn't laying down video on the tape. Shame.



I'll take your word for it on the shot in question. Any time you see clothes move like you mentioned that's too close for me!

Who did you hunt with there? Big Five? Gibbo?

Bill C was in a Chifuti spike camp just up river from us hunting elephant with Buzz Charlton while I was there. As a matter of fact, I helped a Chifuti Appy break the camp down when they left.

Thanks for the comments on the photos. I took over 800 digital photos on this assignment.

quote:

Originally posted by Fulldraw Outdoor Media:
I haven't caught this particular episode, but camera angles are a very tricky thing. On TV it may look like certain shots were taken at very bad angles but in reality they were not. Unless the cameraman is setup right over the shoulder behind the action what you see on the screen can be very different that what went on in the field.

Excellent points. And I'm no cinematographer, but I do know that cameras can play hell with accurate depth of field perception too.

I remember those episodes when I saw the pictures of the "players" involved. Nice OLD dagga boy on that last picture! I hunted with John Sharp who use to contract with Swainson's before Chifuti bought them out. I'll send you a link to the sory I wrote for SCI via PM. Here's my buff. Not spectacular, but certainly he made me work for it! Five days of hard hunting. jorge

Something I have been thinking about the last few weeks following my hunt in Hwange and the killing of the mother/daughter there…when close to elephant in a confrontational situation, I found that I was typically a step or two back from the PH (who was often with the lead tracker and we were in line and/or brush prevented me moving up) - and as I needed to wait to see what action he was going to take (retreat a few steps, or fall-back many, shoulder the rifle, yell and wave arms, etc). It was difficult as one is trying to interpret and react to the situation at hand (given limited experiences to draw from) while keeping an eye on the PH to see what his action is going to be, and gauging how alarmed one should be. This frustrated me and it was difficult for me not to be "in charge". If the ele is the one that is to be shot, well then no problem, step on up and take over. But otherwise as a visiting hunter it can be difficult to be shoulder-to-shoulder with the PH, as was the case in this TAA piece w/the buffalo.

I took my safety "off" exactly one time during the entire trip and then just for a few seconds, and we were close to ele an numerous occasions, otherwise I was ready and was constantly aware of the angles in the event that I had to shoot, but as we know these can change in a hurry. So the PH assumes a risk here, considering also this is not something that one goes over before a trip. But if it were I, and I was in a follow-up situation, I'd want the 2nd [client] gun there [unless the client was not capable] but I would review this carefully with the client and make every effort to insure that his muzzle was pointed at the back of my head as infrequently as possible (which I am sure some PH's do, or they keep the client back and handle it themselves).

Based on this, and having only seen the TAA clip once, IMHO I think the hunter did a pretty fine job given the circumstances. And, after all, the buffalo is dead and Mike is not.

Hey Tyge, how's it going!

I have the program on dvd and have been watching the scene in question in slow motion. As another or should I say "the only" useless arm chair general, heres what I see: The PH is directly in front with gun up and on target when client takes aim. The camara is over clients right shoulder. You can see clients entire rear arm and the rear of the scope. The angle looks like client is aiming maybe 4 inches left of PH's left shoulder/back. Next, camara moves to clients right, neither client or PH move to any degree left or right, only camaraman moves. Both PH and client stay on their sights. The camara man continues too his right and as he does so the illusion is tha the clients sight plane is a good foot or so off the PH. In short, When client aims and camara is over his shoulder, PH is clear by 4 inches, camara moves right but shooters stay nominally in place, the farther camara moves to clients right the appearance changes so that it looks like client is aiming a good 1-2 feet off of PH's left shoulder/back. Client fires, then ph. I cannot see blast effects on PH's shirt. Very interesting to take it appart like this. Thanks to the cameraman.