WE all wish him the best.

And the client too, as I suspecy he is suffering many sleepless nights too.

This is one of thos nightmares one hopes never happens to him.

Prayers go out to the family.

I also have herd that the arm was lost and the PH career is in doubts.

Medical cost will climb and when a designated bank is found i am sure members will help as best they can.

The hunter while following will replay this for his entire life. We do hope that he does the right thing and helps this your man and his family out.

Bad news.

Best of luck and speedy recovery to Mr. Harland.

Such a tragedy! Is the wounded PH related to Richard Harland?

Hey Ant

So so sorry mate!! The first focus must be that you have survived thanks to an incredible donor response!! You have a great support group here just waiting to be aloud to visit!

Very, very sad for all involved.

Both the physical injury of the PH and the emotional injury of the client would be difficult to bear.

Just a moment and a lapse in judgement or situational awareness is all it takes.

A miracle it isn't more common.

Prayers for all involved.

A tragedy; all the best and prayers for a speedy recovery. I certainly hope this is possible!

And despite how this may have occurred, my sympathies to the client, who must be in a terrible emotional place right now.

I'm sick to my stomach of hearing about this, yet almost equally angry.

Bloody hell, not again. Being run over by wild animal is one thing but to be shot by another person in your team just should not damn well happen.

I very much hope this was not bone headed carelessness but rule one is to assume your firearm can go off at any time and point it accordingly.

Apologies for the rant but with all the other crap that goes down I find this type of avoidable event very hard to take.

Someone please let me know where to send a contribution to the rehab fund.

Prayers sent for all involved.

Best regards, D. Nelson

There is nothing friendly about friendly fire.
Prayers sent to all involved. I believe even a PH with loss of an arm could make it as a PH. Those guys are tough and if Ant is as tough as Doctari told me he will hopefully recover and continue to hunt. I'd go on a hunt with him.

I hope for a full recovery for this PH, but we all know he will never be the same agian!
..........................................SAD!

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
With one up the spout there always is a chance of an AD. I carry my rifle now on my shoulder with a sling. I may not be able to get into action so fast but I'm not pointing the muzzle at anyone. With and other method of carry it is almost impossible to not at some point be pointing your rifle at someone sometime. This includes the African carry which may be the worst offender. Even some of the most experienced have killed people in their party with that method of carry.


Mark

quote:

Originally posted by 465H&H:
That is indeed sad news! Let's not place blame without knowing exactly what happened. It is too early to blame African carry or a careles hunter. Maybe for once we can not jump to a conclusion!!!!

465H&H

Mark but the way you have decided to carry your rifle is probably the safest way to carry your rifle with a round in the chamber! But the key is not having a round in the chamber at all! I have to agree with 465H&H on this one! That being said I would like you, or anyone else here, to present the rank and file here with just one verifiable case where the so-called “PH CARRY” has been responsible for an accidental discharge happening or in fact hitting someone!

The shooting of another member of a hunting party is certainly a possibility in the middle of a fight with an animal bent on harming one or more of the party. This is when everyone is locked and loaded, and ready to fire the rifles, and I would bet my next retirement check that a full 90% of all ADs are not ADs at all but accidental HITTING of someone instead of the target animal. This is IMO, where most are killed or injured by firearms, not the method of carry. This is because everyone in the party is now holding a rifle with a round in the chamber and with the safety in the OFF position. The method of carry is a no-brainer if there is no round in the chamber.

Of course we do not know, in this case, when or how this happened, but I would guess the offence was most assuredly because there was a round in the chamber!

This is not a flame but simply a question as to the main reason for ADs! My opinion is the carrying of a rifle with a round in the chamber, more than any other reason!
……………………………………………………………………............................................................................. ..

This has been a tough season for the PH community in Zimbabwe. Ant was Mike Payne's appie at Chifuti, and nobody liked hunting more than Ant. Heartfelt prayers go out to Ant for a speedy recovery as well as to his family and friends.
Mangwana

Guys
I have talked this morning to Paul Smith of Chifuti. As you know from my last post, Anthony Howland, (not Harland) worked with Chifuti during his appy years and continues to be a good friend.
The situation was this. Anthony was guiding a client who wounded a warthog. During the follow up, the client himself stepped into a warthog hole in long grass, stumbled, dropped his rifle which went off and the bullet then struck young Anthony in the arm. Several years ago filming a client being guided by Andrew Dawson, a large male warthog shot out of some long grass to our right, and in trying to break through our extended line of tracher, PH, hunter and myself, hit the double rifle carrying client dead center in the knees resulting in a complete sumersault. I can still see that .470 spinning through the air before hitting a large rock pile and doubling both barrels upon impact. We were all sprayed by rock, I thought I was shot, and the rifle was thrown into the grass a solid ten yards from it's point of impact with the rocks. It was a miracle that none of us caught a bullet in what was just a freak, once in a lifetime sequence of events. But that is how most all accidents happen. Client swears the safety was on when the pig hit him..we will never know. But the damn thing loosed both barrels on impact, that is a fact. This whole thing was hard on my mind last night. I saw first hand how dedicated this young man was when following his dream to get his license. To have that dream, and his chosen career stripped from him this way, well it is the height of unfairness. Another pile of medical bills, not to mention the physical and emotional hardships now being endured by one of brothers. Ideas on how we can help. I know there is a fund out there with the stated purpose of helping EXACTLY this type of situation. I hope someone will put it to the test to see if it can't help this fine young man out.
He needs our help fellas.

Terrible news. Prayers sent.

I had meant to post prior to this terrible event that the SMS fund that Larry Burgin is heading is a very honorable and generous fund.

Despite been offered this for Criton for which I turned down for the simple reason that he will recover fully I do feel that Ants case well justifies this great fund! I do hope that Larry will consider this.

While on this point spare a thought not only for Ant on this life changing event but also for the client who must be going through emotional hell. Lets hold back on the blame until we all get the full story from those on the ground.

Heart felt thoughts for all involved.

http://somethingmoresafaris.com/boddington.php

Above is the link for the tax deductible fund that has been set up to help hunting industry professionals for situations such as this.

A couple seasons ago I hunted with Owain Lewis recently killed by a wounded Buffalo. During my stay a Dande North Camp, I met and regularly dined with Anthony. We tracked a wounded Buffalo together (shot by Parks Dept). I thought what I nice energetic young man..he will surely make a fine PH someday. And now this !!! Sad and disgusting when bad things happen to good folks. I wish him a speedy recovery Regards CHRIS

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Fulson:
During the follow up, the client himself stepped into a warthog hole in long grass, stumbled, dropped his rifle which went off and the bullet then struck young Anthony in the arm.

There but for the grace of God goes every one of us. Just awful in every conceivable way.

Prayers going out to him and his family! Crying shame.

On the flip side of this discussion, many years ago I was following up a wounded Kudu bull and, after about an hour of tracking was the first to spot him in a clearing. I fired and the animal went down. Two or three seconds after my shot however, an almighty BOOM came from 20 feet behind me and 8-10 feet to my right....it was the PH putting in another shot. I smirked uncomfortably and let it pass...until a few days later when me so much as making a move for my rifle while tracking three feet behind him and three feet to his left brought a stern lecture about "safety". Yes, maybe we were both wrong, but you can bet he heard all about the meaning of "hypocrisy" for the better part of about 10 minutes. I guess the moral of the story is that we are all capable of doing stupid stuff.

To all, and thanks Buzz for mentioning our relief fund. I am working on a writeup so you will all understand what it is about. Just busy with some things and will commmit to get out today. In the meantime, it does not hurt to send any donation to the directions on the SMS website. I will make sure that any donations so noted go to help this young PH.

Larry

I sincerely wish that he makes a full and speedy recovery.

Best-
Locksley,R

Our thoughts and prayers go out to this fine young man and his family.

Sad to say these type of accidents occur all too often. One must be vigilant in the safety of firearms, especially in times of unforeseen circumstances.

My sympathy and prayers go out to this young fine man and hope he can make a recovery in both the physical and psychlogical aspects of this unfortunate incident.

Please take this as reminder of gun safety and the impact that can happen when not practiced deligently.

I recieved this email from Gavin Rorke in reference to Mr. Howland and his accident. It would seem this is an accurate account of what happened. I don't know who the client is. I've been thru a somewhat similar incident ( my wife was badly injured by a Cape Buffalo) and its really important that we support Mr. Howland AND the client who I'm certain is suffering greatly as well.Who is to blame matters not at this point but we all can learn from it.

PH ANTHONY HOWLAND ACCIDENT/JUNE 20


Just to let you know Anthony Howland was accidentally shot in the right elbow this morning they were away walking and all jumped over a small water course [spring] when the client jumped his rifle sling slipped off his shoulder and in the process of trying to catch it and it hitting the ground the .500 nitro went off hitting Ant in the right elbow. A huge ordeal followed as they were far from the truck and had to stop the bleeding as well as carry him out they radioed the river camp who phoned me in Harare, I then had him air lifted out from the near by air strip, he arrived in Harare where we had organised blood donors as he is A neg and were worried as to how much blood was available for him. Got a top surgeon to see him, the arm was very badly damaged and could not be saved, it was amputated just above the elbow, He is stable now and will need further surgery in a few days.
Gavin

My god what a horrific year it's been for professional Hunters in Zim...

Little known fact folks, but if your rifle doesn't have a sear intercepting safety like a Heym and some English guns or de-cockers like a kreighoff or a Blaser they can and DAMN well WILL go off if they are dropped just right, just exactly like an old single action piston and many older shotguns can!

MANY older and current made double rifles fall into this category.

If the safety on your rifle only blocks the trigger from being pulled and doesn't physically lock the firing pins back these rifles CAN AND WILL fire if dropped with enough force and happen to strike the ground in the correct fashion.

God! What an unfortunate accident.

MacD37

Roger whittal shot his tracker while using the "African" carry back in the mid 90's. I was not referring to that incident in my comment but to my own experience with carrying my rifle in that manner and having 470 muzzles inadvertently pointed at me by the PH.

Mark

quote:

Little known fact folks, but if your rifle doesn't have a sear intercepting safety like a Heym and some English guns or de-cockers like a kreighoff or a Blaser they can and DAMN well WILL go off if they are dropped just right, just exactly like an old single action piston and many older shotguns can!

MANY older and current made double rifles fall into this category.

If the safety on your rifle only blocks the trigger from being pulled and doesn't physically lock the firing pins back these rifles CAN AND WILL fire if dropped with enough force and happen to strike the ground in the correct fashion.

TRUE! Be careful out there...

The unexpected can happen! While hunting in namibia a member of our party was using one of my modell 70 winchesters. About mid hunt when the safety was moved to the off position the rifle dis-charged. Luck it was pointed in a safe direction. We reloaded and tried it again with the same result. I increased pressure on the trigger spring, but it continued to malfunction. Up untill then I had always trusted the M70 safety. No more, Now I carry them with a round in the chamber, but not cocked.
Returning home I flushed the trigger assembly with lighter fluid and have never been able to get the AD to repeat. What I did learn is not to trust any mechcanical safety. Safe gun handling is the only answer.
Just my .02 cents worth.

quote:

Now I carry them with a Now I carry them with a round in the chamber, but not cocked.

Larry,

That is EVEN MORE DANGEROUS!!!

DO NOT carry a round in the chamber on a dead bolt! IE You are carrying the round in a chamber after you've relaxed the firing pin spring by holding the trigger back and closing the bolt on a live round.

If you drop the rifle with enough force it can cause the rifle to fire as there is nothing to block the firing pin. Jar it hard enough and it can send the pin into the primer causing an ND.

This form of carry is an old urban legend that was propagated by Mr P.H.Capstick in many of his writings. It's actually very dangerous.

Listen guys there is no such thing as a full proof safety mechanism. If it's mechanical it can fail. However the very safest style of safety is one that mechanically blocks the firing pin like on a Mauser 98 or a M-70 or a decocker like a Blaser or kreighoff.

And obviously they all need to be cleaned and checked from time to time. As has been mentioned the most effective safety is the one that resides between your ears.

quote:

Originally posted by surestrike:

quote:

Now I carry them with a Now I carry them with a round in the chamber, but not cocked.

Larry,

That is EVEN MORE DANGEROUS!!!

DO NOT carry a round in the chamber on a dead bolt! IE You are carrying the round in a chamber after you've relaxed the firing pin spring by holding the trigger back and closing the bolt on a live round.

If you drop the rifle with enough force it can cause the rifle to fire as there is nothing to block the firing pin. Jar it hard enough and it can send the pin into the primer causing an ND.

This form of carry is an old urban legend that was propagated by Mr P.H.Capstick in many of his writings. It's actually very dangerous.

Listen guys there is no such thing as a full proof safety mechanism. If it's mechanical it can fail. However the very safest style of safety is one that mechanically blocks the firing pin like on a Mauser 98 or a M-70 or a decocker like a Blaser or kreighoff.

And obviously they all need to be cleaned and checked from time to time. As has been mentioned the most effective safety is the one that resides between your ears.

Exactly....in chamber with firing pin down is less safe than cocked with the safety on. Please take note of that and consider it.

Wishing the best for the PH and the client. I imagine it will be a long time (if ever) before they are at peace with the situation.

Yes, I agree. I forgot to mention we done this in the back of the hunting truck sitting on the high seat shooting cull animals. When walking & Stalking we carried it with a empty chamber.

I am always surprised at the casual attitude some people have toward gun safety. Inexperienced hunters can be bad but I think experienced shooters can be the worst. Go to a trap shoot sometime and watch the guns being waved around. Throw release triggers into the mix and look out. That said the scariest situations I have personally encountered were with African PHs who carry bolt rifles with a round in the chamber, no safety on and the bolt slightly lifted to prevent firing. I have seen four different Phs using this technique. I have had a PH complain because I insist on carrying my gun with an empty chamber. I am told I will miss an opportunity but I don't want to be responsible for something like this. While I collected English double rifles, I hunted with a Krieghoff because it was safer to use. Many dislike the cocking lever but it is an added measure of safety that made me comfortable.
I understand a client shot himself in the foot with a 500 double recently. I wonder how many accidental discharges are double rifles and how many are bolt guns. I have had a couple PHs confide in me they hate to see the client show up with a double rifle rather than a bolt gun. Most have used bolt guns for years but only get a double for Africa. Watch the Boddington DVDs and you will be struck by how poorly many hunters handle their doubles.

I bought a Searcy Deluxe Grade 470 primarily because it has intercepting sears negating the chance of a dropped rifle firing.

465h&H

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
God! What an unfortunate accident.

MacD37

Roger whittal shot his tracker while using the "African" carry back in the mid 90's. I was not referring to that incident in my comment but to my own experience with carrying my rifle in that manner and having 470 muzzles inadvertently pointed at me by the PH.

Mark

Mark I was made aware of that shooting in a PM this morning. However if that method of carry was as bad as some seem to think there would be graves all over the hunting areas of Africa. Again the key is empty chambers till game is spotted, then carry the rifle in your hands at port arms.

It seems however in this case the loaded 500NE double rifle was on a sling, and was dropped by the client hopping over a small stream, dropping the chamber loaded rifle!

My grand pa alwas told me to break a double or open the bolt on a gun when crossing a fence, climbing or crossing a creek. Even then empty chambers is the key!

..........................................................................

I chatted with Ant who I have to say was in high spirits considering. He is a remarkable young man.


The facts were the rifle was on a sling it was dropped and the safety was ON and the rifle still went off. Regarding walking with an empty chamber-PH or client- if I had followed those rules I certainly would not be around to be writing this.

quote:

Regarding walking with an empty chamber-PH or client- if I had followed those rules I certainly would not be around to be writing this.

A whale of a difference between quail hunting and DG hunting.
Some people think otherwise.

quote:

Originally posted by Buzz Charlton:
I chatted with Ant who I have to say was in high spirits considering. He is a remarkable young man.


The facts were the rifle was on a sling it was dropped and the safety was ON and the rifle still went off. Regarding walking with an empty chamber-PH or client- if I had followed those rules I certainly would not be around to be writing this.

Buzz - Thanks for the update on Ant. And I hope all on AR take note of your last sentence - too true! You will never find me afoot in africa with an empty chamber!

I am curious as to whether the sling slipped off the clients shoulder or if the sling actually failed by coming apart? I've seen this happen and it behooves everyone to check their sling just like they should check their rifle at the beginning of each day, at lunch and again at the end of the day - minimum.

Keeping an empty chamber seems to me to be a ridiculous idea when DG hunting or hunting anything in a area with DG. I am not doing it.I am not going to hunt with anyone that does.

When crossing anything whether it be a fence, rocks, a stream, etc the gun should be handled differently. A double should be broken open. That is a basic rule drilled into me many years ago.

I might as well make my comments on the other items here. First, the so called "African carry". Personally, I think it is much safer if one is paying attention. I often carry my rifle over my left shoulder with the barrel forward. I can see where the barrel is pointing. I keep it pointed away from everyone else all the time. I can't see the barrel when I have the rifle on a sling. Any bending for whatever reason can have the gun pointed where it should not be. I don't think the African carry is the problem. I think the person carrying is the problem.

Finally, the loaded chamber with the firing pin down. I agree they can be made to fire under the right circumstances. I believe a cocked gun is at higher risk for this than a gun that has been put on safe but cocked. Further, I have personally witnessed twice where a gun fired the instant the safety was disengaged. I will take my chances gentlemen.

I will tell you what drives me nuts and makes me cringe. I see people rest their stock on their foot and have their hand over the muzzle. Not me brother. No thank you.