Reading two recent threads regarding buffalo charges forces me to relive an incident that occurred this past May. I had booked a buffalo and sable hunt in the Linyati/Selinda area of Botswana and decided to take my twelve year-old nephew, Allistair. I was hunting with an extremely experienced PH whom I had last hunted with two years ago.

On day one I took a nice kudu with a 60 yard running shot. The bull folded like a dove.

On day two we left camp early and cut fresh buffalo tracks by 8 am. As my PH loaded his 458 I joked that he wouldn�t be doing any follow-up shooting and could leave his rifle in the truck. He smiled and said he�d carry it any way. Allistair�s instructions were to pay attention and to stay behind the PH or me when things got interesting. One of our two trackers was told Allistair was his primary responsibility as well.

We were following the spoor of 4 or 5 bulls that immediately went into some very thick shrub mopane. The wind was blowing from our right to left. The PH and the lead tracker were in front followed by myself, Allistair and the number two tracker. We were trying to stay on the downwind edge of the buffalo and were making good progress for about two hours. I whispered to Allistair, �You won�t believe how big these things are until you see one up close� and, �You�ll remember this day for the rest of your life.�

Our conga line stopped dead in its tracks when we spotted a bull elephant feeding about 40 yards in front of us. The elephant didn�t know we were there but we were too close for comfort. The PH decided to take a dogleg-right into the wind and let the elephant catch our scent and hopefully he would head the other way. The PH took Allistair from the rear of our line and held his hand as we made our way around the elephant. From about 75 yards away we could watch as the elephant scented us and, just as planned, he casually started walking at an angle away from us.

We immediately cut the buffalo spoor again and had only tracked for another hundred yards when tracker number two spotted a buffalo bull facing us about 25 yards away. The PH told me, �Shoot him in the head.� I looked through the scope on my 375 and decided that there was a little too much brush covering his head for a clear shot. I had an open shot into the center of his chest so I took that shot. The buff spun around and took-off at an angle to our right. I felt good about the shot but didn�t have time for a follow-up before the buff disappeared into the thick cover.

I darted ahead cutting through the brush in the same direction as the buffalo. I just wanted to put one more shot into him and then give him time to die. I had only gone about 15 yards when I came into an open lane and the buff crossed at the far end of the lane about 20 yards away. I shot and hit him just behind the right shoulder. The bull turned at the shot and then stopped, facing me with his head hanging down. Blood was pouring out of his nose and mouth and he looked like he was about to drop.

I heard a commotion behind me, but didn�t look back, as everyone else came through the brush to where I was. I started to jack another round into the chamber to finish off the buff when my rifle jammed tight. The buffalo picked up his head and came. I hollered to my PH, �I need some help up here.� I glanced down at my rifle and then looked up and the buffalo was right on top of me. I stepped to my right as the bull came by me and I felt the spray of his warm blood on my leg. The buffalo turned on a dime right behind me and came back when he saw Allistair just a yard behind me.

The buffalo hit Allistair in the left thigh and hip and pitched him at least ten feet in the air. Allistair came straight back down and the buff went after him on the ground. It was a cloud of dust and intermittently I could see Allistair being batted around like a rag doll. I screamed and the PH yelled trying to get the buffalo�s attention so that the buff would separate from Allistair and give the PH a clear shot. All this is taking place in an area the size of a small bedroom.

The bull looked up at us and my PH hit him straight up the nose, then instantly fired again hitting the buff just between the eyes. The buffalo went down on his left side and Allistair was laying face down between the buff�s legs. I jumped over the buffalo to pull Allistair aside and had to break the binocular strap that was still around his neck because the binoculars were under the buffalo.

Allistair was unconscious and covered in blood and dirt. I could immediately see that his right ear was almost completely severed and hanging from his scalp. He had a cut open to the skull over his right eye and a rapidly swelling contusion behind his left ear. We could find no other readily apparent injuries. He was breathing and his pulse was fairly strong.

I thought there was almost no way Allistair would not go into shock. There was not going to be time to go for help. I rinsed his wounds as best I could with some bottled water then cut the sleeves off his shirt and tied them around his head to keep his ear in place and his open injuries covered. We had the trackers take off their jumpsuits and laid them double on the ground. We put Allistair on the jumpsuits and each of us grabbed an arm or a leg of the jumpsuit and carried him like he was in a sling.

We headed for the truck back the way we came. It was just head-down and march. I looked at Allistair and tried to imagine what I would say to my sister as to how I had let her son get killed.

As we walked my PH told me what was going on behind me after my first shot. At the shot the elephant we had earlier avoided spooked and started running in a beeline towards our group, not charging just running �away� from the shot. The PH still had Allistair by his side and they were trying to get out of the elephant�s way when they broke out into the lane behind me. My PH looked at the buffalo at the end of the lane and, like me, thought he was finished or at least under control. To him, the elephant was the problem. The elephant was still coming and the PH pushed Allistair out of the way and raised his rifle to shoot the elephant when I first hollered that I needed some help. Allistair ran across the lane to get behind me and that caught the buffalo�s attention. Allistair and I blocked the PH�s shot at the buffalo. Tracker number two threw the shooting sticks hitting the elephant in the side of the head and he veered away, crossing just 7 yards behind me. This was the commotion I had heard but not seen.

After about an hour, Allistair started to regain some consciousness. We stopped to change sides and tried to give Allistair some water but he couldn�t swallow. He repeated the same questions over and over, �What happened?� �Where am I?� �How long have I been like this?� We talked non-stop to try to keep him awake, but he would slip in and out of consciousness.

We carried Allistair for about 4 miles until we came to an area the PH said he could get the truck into. The PH and the trackers went for the truck and left me with Allistair. I prayed like I had never prayed before and felt a comfort that everything was going to be o.k. Allistair was starting to stay coherent for longer stretches and could finally swallow some water. I reasoned that if he was getting better, not worse, then he probably did not have serious internal injuries. The lump behind his left ear looked the worst; it was now swollen from his neck to the top of his head. Allistair was also starting feel a lot of pain.
He could move his extremities but his left hip and thigh were in extreme pain.

I held Allistair�s hand and we had a man-to-man talk. It was supposed to work the other way, but he was the one making me feel better. After about 45 minutes we could hear the truck breaking brush. We put better bandages on Allistair and laid him across the laps of the PH and me in the front of the truck. We got back to camp about 1:00 pm.

The PH got on the radio to get some transportation. Luckily a plane had just dropped off two clients at a photo safari camp close-by and could be at our airstrip in an hour. We put Allistair on a mattress in the back of the truck and made a bumpy trek to the strip. We took the back seats out of the plane and put Allistair in on the mattress.

My PH was devastated. In thirty years of hunting, and plenty of close calls, he had never had a client injured by an animal. He was racked with guilt. We hugged. I told him that he had saved Allistair�s life and that we would be back. I got in the plane and we took off for Maun.

By 4:00 pm we were at a clinic in Maun. I was hoping for too much, so my first look at the clinic didn�t make me feel any better. The facilities and staff gave me little confidence. Foggy x-rays showed no apparent fractures but Ie knew we would have to get to a real hospital.

At 8:00 pm we boarded a jet ambulance for Johannesburg. At 10:30 pm, almost exactly twelve hours Allistair was trampled, we arrived at Milpark hospital trauma center.

Here, I�ll make a long story short. After lots of x-rays, ultrasound, and cat scans; after four hours of surgery to repair his head wounds; and after four days in the hospital the doctors told us we could go home. Allistair had other plans.

We flew back to camp to finish our safari. Alli had dreamed of this trip for almost a year, and he wasn�t going to let an ill-tempered buffalo stop him. The reunion in camp was a tearful joy.

The next day Allistair shot a wildebeest and later a hyena and an Impala. Our PH was ecstatic. He told Allistair no one had ever been hit that hard by a buffalo and come back to finish a safari. I would have never believed it myself. Alli has a burr haircut and behind his left ear was the perfect imprint of a buffalo�s hoof. In camp all the staff called him Nyati boy.

I ended up taking a fine sable after a terrific all-day tracking job (Allistair was there every step of the way). Alli came home looking none the worse for wear except for a couple hundred tiny stitches. Even my sister is still speaking to me. As one of the doctor�s told Allistair, he got a great story relatively cheap.

I�ve done a lot of thinking about what happened and why, as well as what I/we should have done differently. Here�s a little of that post mortem:

Run all your ammo through your rifle FAST. I was using Trophy Bonded Sledgehammer solids (these have a very large flat tip). All of these rounds were fed through my rifle several times prior to the trip and no problem was evident. But after the incident I ran them through as fast as possible from a full magazine and about every 20 or 25 times I would have a jam. I was shooting a custom Mauser and rounds coming off the left side of the magazine would catch at the front part of the left rail. As a note, my hunting companion on this trip tried the same routine with factory loaded Sledgehammer solids in a factory Model 70 and he got a jam about every other time when cycling rapidly. Needless to say, we�ve had some modifications made to allow better feeding of these type bullets.

Cockiness can get you or someone else killed. After my snap shot on the kudu the day before, I was a little cocky about my shooting skills. Even though I know it�s a different game when dangerous game is involved, I could have used a reminder from the PH.

Don�t get separated in the thick stuff. I had a good first shot on the buffalo - I could have just waited instead of taking off trying to get a second shot in him. As it turned out, my first shot took off the top of his heart and the second shot went through both lungs and lodged in the off shoulder. Which brings up another well-known rule: Buffalo are incredibly tough.

When you have a wife or a youngster along as an observer the rules are different. They are there because YOU want them to be there. I should have told my PH ahead of time that I expected him to back me if the buffalo was still standing after my first shot, especially when in the thick stuff.

Even with the right mind-set and careful planning, a lot can go wrong. The elephant in the wrong place, a gun jamming at the wrong time, a dead-on-his-feet buffalo making a charge � all low probability occurrences by themselves happened in sequence and set off events with tragic consequences.

It happens faster than you can think. From my first shot until the buffalo was dead was no more than 30 seconds. It�s all instinct and reaction. Our PH has killed more than 800 elephants, over 300 lions, and countless buffalo. He has carried the same bolt-action rifle since 1974, and his two shots came as fast as I can fire a double. I�ll only hunt with someone I can trust.

And finally, there is a God. He doesn�t always supply miracles; but if you take your problems to the man upstairs wonderful things can happen.

Sorry if I�m being long-winded. It actually feels good putting this in print. I haven�t shared this experience with anyone other than a couple of experienced African hands, most people can�t relate.

I don't think that any of us can add a thing to this story.

Forrest,

Thank you for posting the story, it truly takes courage to post an introspective piece like that. Amazing story too!

Oh, and also not to sound shallow but I would be curious to know how much the medical charges were? If you could give a rough estimate of hospital charges, air transportation, etc I'd be appreciative.

Something I've always wondered about is how much might it cost if someone got bit or trampled out in the bush.

Thanks!

[This message has been edited by MarkWhite (edited 10-15-2001).]

Forrest,

It sounds like you have a great nephew there, and a good PH. $hit happens, I'm glad all are around to tell the tale.

Thanks for speaking up.

Don

Allistair is one tough youngster. Nyati Boy indeed.

------------------
JD

ForrestB,
One doesn't have to read between the lines to see how a proud uncle you are.
Allister has proved, like many others before him, that is not age or size that makes a man a MAN.

I wish I had a hunting partner just like him!

B.Martins

Thank you for sharing with us. I'm sure the review of mistakes and accidents will save someone's life in the future.

I will be a much more prepared buffalo hunter someday because of the discussion on these boards.

Thanks,

Ski+3

Quite the experience Forrest. Know doubt you and Allistar will have many more fantastic adventures as time goes on. Both of you are lucky to have each other as hunting partners.

Forrest,
You did a splendid job, telling that story.
Very candid and well thought out. My only comment, is, about the Trophy Bonded bullets.
I tried them in several 416's that I had and could never get one to reliably feed. That nose is simply a too-broad meplat. I remember on Mauser I had that would hang on the ramp about every second or third round. One of the best feeding FMJ's I have used is the Hornady.
Thanks again for the story.
George

For Mark-

No, I don�t think you are being shallow asking about the medical expenses. Actually it was one of the most incredible parts of the incident. I�ll give all figures in US$.

The Delta Clinic in Maun, Botswana charged me $772. It was a complete rip-off. My dog�s Vet could have done a much better job for half the price.

International SOS operated the air ambulance. It is a Falcon jet setup to carry two patients. This crew was good. Two EMTs showed up at the clinic with all the supplies and equipment that you would find on a lifeflight here in the States. I felt much better after they had arrived. This ride cost us $5,251. I know a little about what it costs to operate a private jet. This was a bargain.

We were taken by ambulance to Milpark hospital. Here�s where I began to get dumfounded. I paid each provider or doctor group separately when we checked out. Here are the bills:

The emergency room charges, including the doctor�s services totaled $104.

The radiology group took a lot of x-ray, sonograms, etc. Their bill totaled $97.

Allistair�s primary physician was a plastic surgeon. His bill was combined with an assisting surgeon, and an anesthesiologist. The combined bill was $1,034.

A neurologist saw Allistair twice and reviewed his x-rays and CAT scan. His bill was for $37.

The physiotherapist that worked with Allistair�s leg and hip for three days charged us $17.

The blood lab took several blood samples on two occasions to check for infection and for enzymes that would indicate some organ damage. Their bill was for $2.61 (that�s not a typo).

The hospital gave a bill inclusive of room charges (four days), operating room charges, lots of drugs and miscellaneous supplies. The total bill was for $1,247.

Milpark hospital is a private facility and I am told it is one of the two best hospitals in Jo�burg. I would feel comfortable having almost any procedure done there. They are about 10 years behind major U.S. teaching hospitals with regard to technology but are light-years ahead of us in bedside manner. The doctors gave me their cell phone numbers with instructions to call anytime with questions or concerns. I used it a couple of times and they answered the phone! Try this idea on your doctor.

I have no idea how they will keep up with the price of medical technology and facilities as almost all equipment is from the US or Western Europe. A larger question is how do they keep their doctors? I�m afraid the answer is they don�t. Allistair�s plastic surgeon could move to Houston and quintuple his earnings (and have fewer major crime concerns).

It�s a long post and somewhat off-thread, but you asked.

Forrest,

A truly amazing story you have to tell forever. May the joyous memories of that trip forever outweigh the moments of sheer terror you and yours endured!
Regarding the hospital charges, I don't know but my guess is the health care system in South Africa is subsidized in the European or Canadian tradition. That would account for the relatively low charges and the simultaneous presence of physicians. Someone from the RSA might be able to comment on this.

JohnTheGreek

Forrest,

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. Was the jet flight 2 hours long then? It is also something to ponder about when you have to deal with a culture that values sincerity and compassion, and makes us realize sometimes what we have lost as a culture over the years.

Mark-

The Ambulance flight took only 55 minutes from Maun to JBG.

As to patient care and compassion - the circumstances of Allistair's accident made him a bit of a celebrity at the hospital. However, it seemed to me that everyone there was receiving the same standard of care.

I do think that, here in the States, we overemphasize the role of technology in patient care and underemphasize the human factors.

Also, I understand the public health system in RSA is a shambles do in large part to the AIDS problem. Health care workers are severely overwhelmed and certainly the level of patient care is much lower than we experienced. For the RSA citizen that cannot afford private care or private-pay insurance, health care is a real problem.

Am I missing something here are what? Sometimes I wonder about you guys a bit. Your talking about doctor bills and all I can think about is how STUPID ,STUPID!! is a person who would put a 12 year old child in a dangerous situation like that.

Well that is one of the consequences for doing this thing we call "living life". I might agree that I would have done things differently than the author, but who knows?

No matter what your comments are here I can guarantee that he thought worse ones about himself while he was cradling his wounded and unconscious nephew......

It could be considered stupid I suppose to have brought him along while hunting DGR, or it could be considered stupid to have brought him to Africa had he contracted malaria or a host of other illnesses,just like it could be considered stupid to let him take up boxing, bungee jumping or even skateboarding, in fact sometimes it could be considered stupid to take any risks in life at all, but what are our options otherwise? You use your best judgement and do the best you can, which is what the writer did.

It also shows that he learns from life and has integrity that he contemplates about it after the fact and then writes about it. To me that speaks volumes about this person.

MW,With all do respect, I agree we must take risks in life, I myself rodeoed for a living for 13 years, I know about risk. It's ok to take a risk yourself, BUT , it's never ok to put someone else at risk,especially a 12 yr old child who could never know the real danger and is too young to be able to make that decision for himself. Comparing this guy taking a small child Cape Buffalo hunting to skate boarding is absurd. When you have a little person like this in your care, his well being should be your only objective, not going after wounded buff or anything else!! I'm not saying the man is stupid, I'm just saying he did a stupid thing do endanger this boy in that way. Regardless of the things he says he learned about what to do after you wound a buffalo,he still should not have EVER put the boy in that situation to begin with.

Agreed, but where does one draw the line?

Not following up on the buffalo into the scrub when he knew it was already hit hard? Not having the foresight to tell his nephew what to do -or what not to do- if things start going to pieces? Even taking him to camp? Or how about to Africa?

I guess my point is that the term "stupid" is relative here, and it implies a certain know ignorance of the facts. I have the fortunate experience of an incredibly varied background so I can be a little more evaluative about what things I might do differently than this person, but that is me and not him..... My interpretation reading this is that he did take most all the precautions he was aware of, and regarding his charging off to get a second shot I'm sure we have all done things under the heat of a very tense situation that weren't so brilliant in retrospect but seemed like a good thing to do at the time. And again, the very fact that he is posting this for all others to read implies to me that he works at least a little on evaluating life and making changes to it rather than just ignoring past screw-ups.

We are basically in agreement. My point is he should have never taken this boy into a situation that is for adults only. It's wrong to put him at risk because, he is not old, or mature enough to decide for himself the risk. I say again, it's ok to take a risk but, it's not ok to put someone else at risk,especially a child, from your decision. 12 year olds should not be hunting cape buffalo. When he is older and can understand the dangers then he can decide for himself.

/

Alf,

With all due respect, the health care provided in the U.S. is the best in the world. Period. As for the "kids" between ages 15 and 19 who are murdered by gunfire, the vast and overwhelming majority are gang-related. I'm certainly not condoning it but my kids stand little risk of this.

There are some 12 year-olds I would take on a buffalo hunt and there are some 12 year-olds I wouldn't take to a city park; most of the rest fall somewhere in between.

I wouldn't take a 12 year-old on an elephant hunt and I wouldn't take any observer on a lion tracking hunt.

Others with some experience might have different ideas. To each his own.

In my youth, I believe I derived some benefit from early exposure to places and situations that, had things turned out differently, made my older chaperones look not too smart. It's important to weigh the probability of a benefit versus the probability of some adverse outcome.

The incidence of observers being injured or killed while buffalo hunting is miniscule. I'd be quite interested to hear about other situations similar to mine.

Allistair's adventures in Africa, buffalo incident aside, will probably have a lasting positive impact on his life (it certainly has in the short term). He'll face many more dangerous and less adventurous situations before he gets out of high school.

[This message has been edited by ForrestB (edited 10-22-2001).]

Alf while I agree with you for the most part, I think you fell for some propaganda here regarding homicides. If you got to the Center for Disease Control website, www.cdc.gov and look up the injury mortality reports, leading causes of death you will see that there were 5506 deaths in the 15-24 age group. Of interest is that is the only age group where homicides outnumber suicides BTW.

Regarding Allistairs situation again, in the 10-14 year old age range suicide is the THIRD LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH!!! I'm sure that if more uncles and parents took their 12 year olds buff hunting that number would go down...