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Originally posted by Marty:
Taylor said the client must be given time to smoke two cigarettes before commencing follow up on a buffalo.

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Originally posted by Marty:
Taylor said the client must be given time to smoke two cigarettes before commencing follow up on a buffalo.

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Originally posted by boarkiller:
Saeed Sullivan Safari company...where hunting is an adrenaline rush even in camp

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Originally posted by Neil-PH:

Adrenaline is a wonderful thing, and not only for the wounded animal, but also for the pursuer. It makes you think correctly, and focuses your mind on the task at hand. Sit for 30 minutes, relax and take it easy......and let that adrenaline subside, at your own peril.

Nah, me.......I prefer an immediate follow up.

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Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
After my full share of follow ups, I tend to agree with Saeed.

Not always, but 99% of the time.

I would say go right away, and go hard, and go fast.

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Originally posted by fulvio:
What is the point therefore of using this bullet and that bullet which has been glorified for its highly rated performance values and then running hell for leather after the shot animal?

Bullets are designed to inflict the highest possible damage to vital organs for the purpose of accelerating death and causing the animal to drop in the shortest possible distance and time frame.

Yes, there are well placed shots as there are shitty ones and if the bullet is not allowed to work and give the expected results which are not instantaneous unless it has found its mark and dropped the animal in its tracks, chasing it will not help, other than to raise its adrenaline, which is not what you really want unless you are geared up for a showdown (DG).

Whatever rocks your boat is the best way to go.

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Originally posted by sandyhunter:
I had to deal with one wounded lion as an appy, about 5 weeks into my apprenticeship. The client, an 82 year old man from Europe, shot the lion with a .375 and then watched blankly while the thing growled and bucked, giving him plenty of time for a follow-up shot, especially since he was shooting a Blaser (I'm only half-joking, as they do cycle quickly). It ran toward a dense thicket and disappeared. Richard Bell-Cross sent the trackers to go get his father and another Landcruiser--one with an enclosed cab--with the plan for Rich's dad to drive us to the edge of the thicket while Rich and I stood in the back and used the height advantage to try to spot the cat sooner than we might on foot. After we reached the thicket, we'd have to get out and continue the follow-up on foot.

It took about 45 minutes from the time of the client's shot until Rich's dad got back to us--a fairly short time given the size of the GMA, but this cat had been baited fairly close to camp. During that wait, we repeatedly heard the lion growling from the direction of the thicket, but we never heard anything that sounded like blood in its lungs. It was early morning and quite cold out, and I tried to tell myself that my legs were only trembling because I was wearing PH short-shorts in the Zambian winter, but I knew that wasn't true. I looked over at Rich, who had stopped two lion charges the season before, and noticed that his legs were shaking too. This was both comforting and terrifying at the same time. In hindsight, I think it's just something that happens when adrenaline goes into overdrive, but make no mistake, it was a very scary situation. Rich reminded me that once on foot, I should take a knee when a lion charges to keep from shooting over it, as they come low and very, very fast. Then, we both practiced responding to the charge--he with his new .500 NE double and I with his .458 Win. Mag. Mauser. Take a knee, mount gun properly, shoot, work bolt or switch triggers, and shoot again. The idea was for it to all be automatic and very fast, as we would have almost no time to react, and certainly none for a screw-up like a bolt short-stroked or the front trigger pulled twice.

By the time we got in the back of the Landcruiser to begin the follow-up, the feeling was pretty grim, as we had heard additional growls that sounded just as strong as the first. But as we edged toward the thicket, Rich's lead tracker, Jingo, spotted the very top of the lion's mane in the tall grass. Covering it with our own guns, we edged the old man into position, and he blew the back of the cat's skull off with the Blaser. By that point, the lion had already bled out enough from what turned out to be a brisket shot that it couldn't muster the strength to charge. Had it been able to, it most certainly would have, and Rich and I would have been shooting downward onto it as it came for the vehicle, hoping to hit its central nervous system before it leapt up and nailed us.


The next year, in the second season of my apprenticeship, I dropped a charging wounded buffalo at twelve paces. It was a scary, adrenaline-charged event, but nothing like the wounded lion. Afterward, I felt myself craving another buffalo charge--a stupid thought but perhaps a common one for someone who has never been hit by a buffalo. In contrast, I never wanted to mess with another wounded lion--too hard to see before the charge, too fast, won't turn, and even more likely to kill you if they reach you. Oh, and before the follow-up, we let the buffalo bleed out for as long as it took the lead PH to smoke a cigarette. When we trailed it, we came to two or three pools of blood where it had been waiting for us. We finally found it lying down, deep in a thicket, just a dark blob in the brush. When the lead PH shot at what seemed to be the chest, it popped up, saw us, and came for us like a freight train through the thicket.

In the lion situation, I am 100% sure that we would have faced a charge had we not waited to follow up. In the buffalo situation, it's hard to tell if it made much difference. The buffalo likely got deeper into the thicket while we waited, and might have instead charged us from one of its earlier stops had we followed up sooner. Still, in the balance, I think waiting a bit makes good sense when dealing with dangerous game.