I'm working on a piece for Sporting Classics Magazine detailing my recent waterbuck hunt in SA. I'm tying my hunt into that of Roualeyn Gordon Cummings's safari in the same area circa 1850. A waterbuck gutted one of his dogs and wounded another.

My PH tells me he was charged by a "dead" waterbuck a few years back and nearly had his hand run through.

Are waterbuck the most dangerous antelope? What are y'all's thoughts? Anything to keep me from actually doing my job is worth reading so don't be shy.

Gayne

I keep reading about the bushbuck being the most dangerous, or at least the most mean encounters registered.

Gayne

I couldn't say which antelope I believe to be the most dangerous, but have heard some pretty hairy tales about wounded bushbuck and sable. I actually heard that a PH was killed by a bushbuck somewhere in central Africa (I think), some time ago. Does anyone know anything about this?
I don't recall hearing too much about the aggression of wounded waterbuck and would personally rate bushbuck and sable as more of a threat, but that's just my opinion. I'm sure I wouldn't write that if I had been skewered on a waterbuck horn!

Dave

In my view wounded Bushbuck with Gemsbok a close second

There isnt really antelope that can rank as dangerous but most of them are only dangerous when trapped, wounded or surrounded.

Gemsbuck, sable, bushbuck and waterbuck even the small ones like steenbuck can cut you badly with their hooves when you walked to a downed one. Gemsbuck have been noted to flick off stones thrown at them with their horns now that is accurate. Imagine what it can do to you.

Always treat any downed animal as dangerous and approach with caution.

GY,

I've heard that "Bushbuck" statistically have the worst reputation.

I know of a PH in Zim who's father in law has a picture of a Sable with a dead Leopard in his horns...

...My vote: Bushbuck and Sable.

JW

All this is sounding good--thanks

I know a serious Botswana DG/Elephant who almost was run through by a Lechwe. Based on reputation, I would say Bushbuch, Gemsbok, Sable would be the top three.

The fact that the incident took place in New Hampshire, and that the Waterbuck had been dead for over a year, was what really caught me off guard. I received my shipment of last years Trophy's a few days ago, and had promply hung them in my study. All were secured to the wall through solid studs, except for the Waterbuck, in which I used a drywall anchor due to the lack of a stud in that location. All looked great, but I was still a little concerned about the wall anchor securing the Waterbuck to the wall. Two day's passed, and the Majestic Rowland Ward Waterbuck, my most prized trophy, was still on the wall. While admiring it, I noticed that it was slightly angled to the left just a "smidge". Well, that "smidge" adjustment was all it took. Off comes the Waterbuck from Nine feet up, and attacks me with a full frontal assault. Using my hands to keep the rabid Waterbuck from smashing me directly in the face, I fall back and smash into my custom carved elephant table, which sends wood splinters in all directions. There I am, wrestling with this Waterbuck in a pile of broken debris, and hoping that his horns have not punctured me. I finally get the animal off of me and get to my feet to access the damage. Hand painted glass lamp, shattered. Ivory figurines and carvings, a few small nicks and scratches. Oriental rug, two one inch holes where the horns punctured through. Back of my head where it smashed into the now cracked table, three inch long cut. Waterbuck, no damage thank God. After spending about an hour cleaning up the mess, I patched the dings and dents in the wall, and re-hung the Waterbuck with a four inch lug bolt through an actual stud this time. Needless to say, I realize now that I unessarily provoked the Waterbuck into this attack, due to my carelesness, and take complete responsibility. I guess that Beautiful animal will always have the last laugh on me.

MAU MAU

Now that was entertaining! I saw it happening!

Dave

I would say the Dik-Dik. I have heard when cornered they will viciously attack and chew on your ankle with a viciousness that is unmatched in the animal kingdom.

I probably should not admit up to this but I will.

I shot a rather large waterbuck in the Ghonarezhou in 1993. It was down but still breathing. It didn't move when prodded. I was reluctant to shoot it again. I grabbed it by a horn. No reaction. I stood on its shoulder while holding the horn. No reaction. I pulled out my trusty Randall know and stuck it behind the shoulder.


The thing threw me about 10 feet but never got off the group itself.

I'll never do that again.

Not an antelope, but.....

Here is a post action photo of PH Thierry Labat mere moments after facing down and surviving a ferocious attack by an enraged mopani squirrel. Note the look of extreme relief on the dial of this experienced dangerous game hunter. After the encounter, once everyone had calmed down a little, PH Labat was overheard saying that there is no such thing as too much gun. I apologize for the poor picture quality but I was still shaking like a junkie coming down.

Dave


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Seriously though has anybody ever heard of someone catching the bad side of a eland I would think that by sheer size alone you would be in some big trouble if they wanted to hurt you.

Not wounded, but....

I have been in a bit of a hairy situation with a semi-domesticated eland bull, and I know another guy who was run over and trampled by a semi-domesticated kudu bull. The lesson? Wild animals are always wild animals, never semi-domesticated.

I had an apparently dead Waterbuck take a swipe at my leg a couple of years ago and narrowly. Lesson again learned. Make sure they're dead before you get too brave. We also had a sable in Zim that was hit very hard and down but was still trying to get to us. My vote goes to the Sable.

Bushbuck and then Gemsbok. Another nasty critter is the bushpig. If you agrivate any African antelope enough you might be in for a big surprise. My one helper was "attacked" by a porcupine, more about it once I write my hunt report.

FWIW, I was under the impression that the Gemsbok was the one to be careful of.....but then we have folks hurt badly every year in the states by white tail deer!

quote:

There isnt really antelope that can rank as dangerous but most of them are only dangerous when trapped, wounded or surrounded.

Gemsbuck, sable, bushbuck and waterbuck even the small ones like steenbuck can cut you badly with their hooves when you walked to a downed one. Gemsbuck have been noted to flick off stones thrown at them with their horns now that is accurate. Imagine what it can do to you.

Always treat any downed animal as dangerous and approach with caution.

I was about to say a-men to Chris Troskie's comment but then I read Frederiks reply which I subscribe to: any threatened or wounded animal can be dangerous. My friends in Africa have told me more bad encounters with a Bushbuck than all others combined. But don't underestimate the little guys. My friend Arnold Payne had his hand cut open by a Duiker once and some close calls with Steinbok...sorry, forgot to call it a Steenbuck. A word to the wise; respect all game as a wild animal, and a wounded animal as dangerous. LDK

Bushbuck, Gemsbok, Roan and Sable.

I met a farmer in the Limpopo area of SA who had a scar running from ankle to above his knee from an unprovoked attack by a bush buck!

Also have a friend who got jabbed by an enraged Steenbok....

Mau Mau
Great story!
Did you shoot that thing with a 45-70?

JD

My vote is for the Dik Dik. If put in a pound of animal for damage inflicted it's a hands down the winner!!

Larry Sellers

Bushbuck. Why? Because you would be nuts to mess with anything larger. On our last safari, Mrs Blacktailer took a nice bushbuck. Since she had shot it well and it was down but not quite out, she did not want to shoot again. Well Claude, our PH and I decide we can end things a bit more quietly. We sneak up from behind and both jump on it to hold it down while Claude attempts to issue the coup de grace with my leatherman. By the time the bushbuck is sudued, Claude and I have both worked up a sweat and have also lost some blood. Next time I'll just shoot the damned thing again!

Hunted with an outfitter in SA who had a PH who walked up to a dead nyala, and the nyala ran him through from the inside of his knee to his crotch. He was back to work within 10 days. I don't know who was tougher the nyala or the PH

Here is the story of Reinhard Mosich.

http://www.huntnamibia.com.na/index.php?fArticleId=203

The hunter was RM007 who posts here regularly.

quote:

I know of a PH in Zim who's father in law has a picture of a Sable with a dead Leopard in his horns...

Any chance you have a copy of the picture? Sure would be interesting to see.

After quite a long walk, lots of blown shots, lots of futsing around, a couple of miles back from the Zambezi, my PH, up to this point, me considering him a personal friend, telling me to "quit effing around with the scope!", etc. I shot quite a nice waterbuck in the boiler room. When we trotted up to the ridge where he had been standing, we saw he had, after being shot, gone down the ridge, and was trotting away about 100 yards down and away to our right. I had to drop on my arse and deliver a second shot that put him down. The PH kept asking the trackers what kept him going. One tough animal.

Their are stories ad nauseum about white-tail deer killing and wounding folks when walked up to wounded and some about deer not wounded.

There was a story from Namibia last year, about a hunter who was killed by a gemsbok. Apparently it had been shot, but was not dead. When the hunter approached it, the gemsbok ran him through with its horn.

I don't know where this ranks gemsbok on the dangerous antelope list, but it's enough to catch my attention.

Well I killed a Gembuck, A warthog, Zerba, Links cat And these aren't really dangers unless youn get really close to them.

quote:

Originally posted by kamaatu:
Here is the story of Reinhard Mosich.

http://www.huntnamibia.com.na/index.php?fArticleId=203

The hunter was RM007 who posts here regularly.

Thanks for posting this. I have always wondered why a kudu is so, well, et's call it 'docile', despite fearsome looking horns. It is hard to believe that nature and natural selection developed those spiral horns just for show. There must be some other real advantage to having those horns. Then why is this the first story of a kudu actually using them in a manner as described?

Anyone ever heard of an eland 'attack'? Like one said, with that size, you are sure to be in some serious trouble if you are attacked!

I second the adition of bushpig to the list of really nasty critters. I've shot two, and were charged twice! Small statstics,but all bad!

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren.

BUSHBUCK!!! There are many more bushbuck hunted each year. Certainly many more than sable and probably signicantly more than waterbuck or gemsbok. Therefore, many more opportunities to wound a bushbuck and have a bad day. If you want to see your PH "switch on" during a plains game hunt-wound a bushbuck. I have been involved in to follow-ups of other hunters wounded bushbuck and the actions and reactions of the PHs I was with were remarkable as compared to follow-ups on eland, kudu, impala, etc. Also, trackers track and approach shot bushbuck like they are man-eaters.

The following is one example of why I nominated this guy. My father shot a bushbuck in 2002 along the Limpopo River. The hit was obviously good and my dad had been shooting extremely well on the trip, but the critter dashed off into some tall reeds along the river. After a considerable amount of trashing around in the reeds we headed toward the river. All hands-me, my dad, my PH, his PH and the tracker start the follow up. The track got a bit confusing as the buck had run back and forth in the reeds and the tracker was having a bit of difficulty sorting out the track and we were all spread out a bit on river and tree line sides of the reeds in case the buck tried to dash back to the bush or toward Botswana. The tracker was heading back my way toward the river side and I stepped up on a small rise just as he passed me and spotted the buck laying down on his belly just inside the reeds. I announced I had spotted him and was pointing my rifle at the ground a few feet in front of the tracker. At this announcement-everyone jumped, whirled and shouldered there guns while the tracker levitated out of the edge of the reeds and went by me at speed. The buck was dead, but had laid down as low as he could and was watching his back trail. The mean little bastard had taken a 180 grain 30-06 through the heart and lungs and still had the pluck to want a piece of who ever was coming to find him.

Perry

I had one incident with a bushbuck so far out of my own fault. The bushbuck was at quite a distance but standing completely in the open and I opted for the shot with my 303. The shot went off and I had that bad shot feeling he buckled but hinged and not like normal with a fatal shot didnt run away as fast as normal.

Lucklily I could follow him by sight until he vanished in the bush by that time he was starting to walk slowly. Something told me that he would not go far and lie down so I opted to wait a couple of minutes before we went closer. We my dog and I a staffordshire terrier, we moved closer and at about 80 yards I saw him lying and not moving we came closer and my dog spotted him and rushed forward. He was about a foot from the buck when the buck suddenly stood up gave him a wallop with his head luckily not his horns and ran past me into thicker stuff. I pulled of a shot at him running but missed. My dof after him I ran as quickly as I could and my dog bayed him and got him turned and was facing him this my chance and I ended it with a frontal shot to his chest.

I was very glad my dog was with me he didnt always accompany me when I was hunting but Murphy wasnt playing that day.

Mau Mau, it takes a lot of guts to talk about getting your butt kicked by something that died a year before. Fantastic! I would have paid good money to witness that.

My vote would be Bongo.

Although I haven't yet hunted one (and I am saving money to do so!), I've known several PH's who worked in Cameroon and CAR.

All three of them (seperately) had stories of trackers, clients or themselves charged or injured by wounded Bongo.

This may have to do with them being held at bay by the pygmy's dogs, but still, the Bongo seems to think that running over (or through) humans is a safer way out.

Garrett

According to some old stats I read someplace the Bushbuck is the champion..followed by Sable and Gemsbok...I think that pretty well goes along with what I have observed, read and picked up in conversations with very knowledgable PHs....

I know you can toss a coin in a pen of Gemsbok and the one you toss it at will ping it out of sight with the tip of his horn and thats what I call accuracy.. I know a downed Sable that is kneeling and on his belly is setting a trap for anyone that approaches him. I know a Bushbuck will come up out of the bush and drive those little daggers up your groin and/or rectum and probably severe your femur artery, and thats not real healthy...

Bottom line is any wounded animal can and may kill or maim you if you are careless or stupid, even a mule or whitetail deer or elk.

I was charged by a wounded busbuck and survived!! It was in the Kosonso back in 98"

No.. it's true.. My hunting partner shot a nice BushBuck with his 375 H&H, a back raking angle that went through rt. ribs and out left shoulder breaking it and dropping the lil-guy.. Well, I go trotting up to it all fat dumb and happy when I got the surprise of my life, at about at 50yds he just comes alive (must have heard me huffing and puffing as I came up to it) spots me, and next thing I know I got the red streak bearing down on me at about mach-3 with it horns lowered and ready for business.. Just as I relise, HOLY SH*T!! I'm gonna have to shoot to defend myself. I'm bringing my 06 up to bear as if wing shooting a low flier.. He simply ran out of gas and crumpled up about 20yds in front of me.. Stone dead.. My P/H say's... Ment to warn you about that, but you looked like you got it handled..

I am a PH in CAR for 19 years now and will safely say that Bongo is by far the most aggressive and dangerous antilope in Africa!!! I have been charged by them, sometimes unwounded, they need now provoking. I have no experience in hunting Bongo with dogs, but i know the dogs can bay them because they are so aggressive!!! I found a local once on the DRC border killed in his hut by a Bongo Bull that he tryed to chase out of his garden!!! Killed him inside his hut!!! No question, they are very aggressive!!!

Andre Roux

I shot a gemsbok bull that plotted revenge but lost in the end. I'd sure hate to have those long rapier horns slide though the midsection.

This morning my ten pound rooster decided to give me a fight, I played kick ball with him for a bit. I was fortunate to survive.

ndege, bienvenu chez AR! Heureux de voir un PH de l'Afrique Francophone parmi nous. Welcome aboard!