"Black Death" is a nickname for Cape Buffalo. This bull takes multiple shots and goes full charge at the hunters before going down. I've said on occasion, "There's no sport without a good chance of being gored."

58, i want to apologize to you, i was needlessly harsh to you when you came back here. you seem like a decent guy. lemme start over.

lurker wrote: Fri Jan 03, 2020 1:00 pm 58, i want to apologize to you, i was needlessly harsh to you when you came back here. you seem like a decent guy. lemme start over.

Thank you, appreciated.

OMFL...

Ahem...

With regard to video, I have to say that was pretty messed up. I can only imagine one justifiable reason to shoot said buffalo and that is if he is rabid and likes to trample villagers and tiny children on a regular basis. But what I see here is a huge herbivore getting up from an afternoon nap and getting ambushed like he’s Capone leaving a speakeasy. Damned right he’s pissed. But why shoot him from behind? If it comes down to a contest of nerves why not wear a red cape and shoot him from the front? Get two, maybe three shots at his charging snout with a 300WM before the buffalo gets his shot at wearing your puffy white body as a tiara. Seems fair don’t it?

Meh, what do I know. I’m just not a man’s man.

Got buffaloed, eh?

SR

watching the shooter fumble with his bolt...

I certainly hope they will be eating it or at least give the meat to the natives.

Shooting through neck high bush- not a great first shot. Should have waited for a good open shot and dropped it with one shell. Some hunters deserve to get gored.

lurker wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 11:47 am watching the shooter fumble with his bolt...

Yes the first thing I noticed, with a more experienced shooter it could have been faster, with less suffering for the animal.

highdesert wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 4:59 pm

lurker wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 11:47 am watching the shooter fumble with his bolt...

Yes the first thing I noticed, with a more experienced shooter it could have been faster, with less suffering for the animal.

No, faster is not the issue here. As I mentioned, an experienced hunter would have never ever taken that first shot through the heavy bush.
The bush most likely restricted his view of the shot. And most likely resulted in a deflection wounding the animal instead of dropping it.
As you can see in the video after the animal came out of the thick bush he was in full on pissed off.
These idiots who buy a gun and think they are big game hunters make me sick.

tonguengroover wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 8:32 pm

highdesert wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 4:59 pm

lurker wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 11:47 am watching the shooter fumble with his bolt...

Yes the first thing I noticed, with a more experienced shooter it could have been faster, with less suffering for the animal.

No, faster is not the issue here. As I mentioned, an experienced hunter would have never ever taken that first shot through the heavy bush.
The bush most likely restricted his view of the shot. And most likely resulted in a deflection wounding the animal instead of dropping it.
As you can see in the video after the animal came out of the thick bush he was in full on pissed off.
These idiots who buy a gun and think they are big game hunters make me sick.

The shooter was following the guide's instruction, whose experience one ought to rely on. I can't tell what their vantage is from the camera angle. As the bull gets up from where they'd stalked him up, you can hear at the beginning, "Do you see his shoulder? Take him." The bull goes down on the second shot and then gets up again. The whole of the shooting before the charge was 10 seconds. Cape Buffalo don't go down easy, hence why there are backups to the main shooter. Of the final shots, two of them came from the backups. Even lung or heart shots are not instantaneous death and these bulls are prone to circle back around behind hunters if they get out of sight. They're not like elk where they go find someplace to lay down and die. I'd guess that's the motivation to keep firing rather than let him off from the two lung hits. It looks like the main shooter's last round is what dropped him on the charge. I'm curious as to where it hit since it doesn't look like a brain shot. Maybe an aorta through the shoulder, or the other hits caught up with him. The fumbling on the bolt is embarrassing, but I can't imagine how I'd react with one of those beasts bearing down on me. I've cycled my bolt too fast and jammed one round on another. Ripped my fingernail past the quick extracting it to line up the follow up. Lesson learned and practiced muscle memory a whole bunch after that.

Yes I think I might piss my pants having one charge me, certainly fumble too. Lots of cus words.

Bisbee wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 2:33 am I can only imagine one justifiable reason to shoot said buffalo and that is if he is rabid and likes to trample villagers and tiny children on a regular basis.

Yep, hence the name "Black Death". I believe it is only hippos who outpace them for human deaths. Cape Buffalo don't need to be rabid to be aggressive. They are just @$$holes.

All that stress of facing a charging buffalo is easily avoided by just not taking the first shot. Shooting a buffalo (that you don’t need to eat) just for sport is an invitation for a lot of trouble -for what? I still don’t see the upside to all this but also know that many people who don’t know guns also don’t understand my interest in them. I guess this big game hunting is at one end of the spectrum when one gets into firearms in the first place.

Bisbee, coming from a family that has always hunted I understand the excitement of the hunt. We hunted more for putting meat on the table than entertainment. That said I don't hunt big game and never would fancy a hunt in Africa just for the sake of mounting a head on the wall.
Most people I know learned how to shoot because they hunted, dad hunted so naturally most of the kids wanted to as well. But i get it that some just like the sport of punching holes in paper or downing clays. What ever turns your crank. Paper tigers is what we call them target peoples.

Yup. I’m becoming more aware of my blind-spots as I practice meditation and self awareness. I’ve not gone out on a big hunt but always though I would do a wild pig hunt in the SW (not just to bring down an animal but also process it by my own hands and consume the meat -pork is yummy). I’ve only done this with squirrel and rabbits thus far.

But for the most part I’ve approached shooting from the perspective of “martial arts” the way that the sword and bow have been turned into a method for personal development in Japan with Kendo and Kyudo. For me the practice of reloading and breath/trigger awareness gives me a sense of control and engagement with the world that comes from the inside out. I can see how the same firearm skills have been applied for centuries primarily to affect the outer world through power. Whoever has the greater power (and skill wielding them) wins on that dimension. But the physical world is actually beholden to the inner world of human beings (hence the popularity if samurai and spaghetti westerns where the protagonist “wins” but walks away saddened by the loss of a brilliant opponent).

Everything I’ve written points to when one masters the power and conflicts within himself, there is no more conflicts left in the world to engage. But I’m not silly enough imagine I know all there is to learn about myself or the world around me. Hunting is a big blind spot for me.

Bisbee wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2020 3:43 pm Everything I’ve written points to when one masters the power and conflicts within himself, there is no more conflicts left in the world to engage. But I’m not silly enough imagine I know all there is to learn about myself or the world around me. Hunting is a big blind spot for me.

Precisely. And you find there is a lot to learn about yourself and the world around you when you've got a couple thousand pounds of horns bearing down on you and you get to see just how well all that breathing and trigger control holds up. Hence, fumbling on the bolt on that last shot. If one has the money for the activity and does the research to be sure of where it and the meat is going, the question is, why wouldn't you?

Some guys go and drop a few grand to sleep in a hut for a month in Okinawa to see what else a master has to impart on them, some see whether it'll be them or the bull who bites it. Beyond "villagers", Cape Buffalo inflict the highest number of casualties on hunters. My eyes always get a little wider when watching footage of them or American bison and you hear a guide say, "Everyone get ready to run in a different direction!" Not going to save everyone, but going to better the odds of most in the group.

I have always found hunting very enjoyable, down right fun. It's the only reason why I ever indulged in it.

I've read a lot of books and articles on African hunting, I believe the Cape Buffalo is the most difficult to kill with one shot. Never had any desire to hunt any really big game in Africa, but I'd like to go fishing and small game hunting for camp meat.

Ernest Hemingway was a real adrenalin junkie when it came to hunting, his dream hunt was for nazi uboats in the seas around Cuba during WWII, he hoped to lure one to the surface with his boat the Pilar and fire a couple of rounds of 577 nitros into its hull.

i'm content to hunt with a camera. many of the skills are, i think, the same.

lurker wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 9:48 am i'm content to hunt with a camera. many of the skills are, i think, the same.

Indeed. I've heard from several taxidermists who hire hunting guides to be able to get more live pictures to hone their craft. They don't harvest the animal, just spend as much time as possible getting pictures of different activities for realistic portrayal.

There's a character around these parts who "hunts" mountain lions with cameras. He holds workshops for folks to come help him set them up. I was going to join one of them before I went on my hunt as part of putting in my dues for conservation and to learn more about the animal. Then I saw that he charges $200/person for the privilege of joining him. He notes that in the decades he's been doing this, he's only seen a live cat seven times. So, in essence, he is charging people a couple bills for a day of doing legwork for him and his hobby. Good for him and the people with the disposable income to pay for the experience, but I'm out.

eelj wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 8:04 am Ernest Hemingway was a real adrenalin junkie when it came to hunting, his dream hunt was for nazi uboats in the seas around Cuba during WWII, he hoped to lure one to the surface with his boat the Pilar and fire a couple of rounds of 577 nitros into its hull.

"There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter." - Hemingway in his short story, "On the Blue Water"

The main character in Rodriguez' Predators quotes it. I like that movie way too much. Particularly the dog scene. Having hunted with dogs multiple times, there's something about the portrayal of being on the other end of it that appeals to me. Clip below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDLK7FNHZZY

eelj wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 8:04 am
Ernest Hemingway was a real adrenalin junkie when it came to hunting, his dream hunt was for nazi uboats in the seas around Cuba during WWII, he hoped to lure one to the surface with his boat the Pilar and fire a couple of rounds of 577 nitros into its hull.

Big Hemingway fan here. Although I don't like the way he ended some books. hehe Definitely a mans man. I admire most writers and always wanted to be one but I suck at writing stories. I have some pretty decent cameras too. Old Nikon that takes real film with some hefty lenses.

tonguengroover wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 11:00 am Big Hemingway fan here. Although I don't like the way he ended some books. hehe Definitely a mans man. I admire most writers and always wanted to be one but I suck at writing stories.

There is something about the wistful, descriptive quality of his writing that reminds me of mine. But mine just comes across as dry and bland. I don't have the fortitude to do anything major. I have a couple of historical fiction pieces in me to follow up my genealogy research, but I don't have any illusions anyone other than a fraction of family members will enjoy them. I had a fantasy that I'd write something about the history of bison hunting into the modern era. Turns out Steven Rinella beat me to it and by about a thousandfold of quality that I could ever hope for.

58Hawken wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 10:48 am

eelj wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 8:04 am Ernest Hemingway was a real adrenalin junkie when it came to hunting, his dream hunt was for nazi uboats in the seas around Cuba during WWII, he hoped to lure one to the surface with his boat the Pilar and fire a couple of rounds of 577 nitros into its hull.

"There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter." - Hemingway in his short story, "On the Blue Water"

The main character in Rodriguez' Predators quotes it. I like that movie way too much. Particularly the dog scene. Having hunted with dogs multiple times, there's something about the portrayal of being on the other end of it that appeals to me. Clip below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDLK7FNHZZY

Man hunting man will turn a person into an animal. Many who have gone through war will have nothing to do with guns ever again. Some turn into mice. Or killers like Lennie.