Don't mess with Waterbuffaloes. Especially if they're drinking.
They aren't water buffalo, they are Cape Buffs and are considered the most dangerous game animal in Africa.
This is because of all of the "BIG FIVE" game animals, including lions, leopards, hippos and rhinos the Cape Buffalo are the only ones that cannot be turned from a charge with a non fatal shot. If the hunter doesn't place the slug through the nose and into the brain pan (no chance of penetrating that thick horn "armor" on their skulls) the hunters wind up as toe jam.
They aren't water buffalo, they are Cape Buffs and are considered the most dangerous game animal in Africa.
This is because of all of the "BIG FIVE" game animals, including lions, leopards, hippos and rhinos the Cape Buffalo are the only ones that cannot be turned from a charge with a non fatal shot. If the hunter doesn't place the slug through the nose and into the brain pan (no chance of penetrating that thick horn "armor" on their skulls) the hunters wind up as toe jam.
Thanks for the lesson hounddawg. This sounds like the kind of situation Marlin Perkins would send Jim Fowler into.
Thanks for the lesson hounddawg. This sounds like the kind of situation Marlin Perkins would send Jim Fowler into.
Well, one of the unintended benefits of reading HUNTING and GUNS & AMMO MAGAZINES for forty plus years is familiarity with Africa's BIG FIVE, and I've lost count of the number of hair raising hunting dangerous game stories I've read in that time.
My fave is the one where a hunter with a shotgun goes into a dark cave in pursuit of a man eating lioness, and "...he could smell her as she watched him approach in the dark".
But, next in line are those about a charging Cape Buff and how they hold their noses up and present that small target to hunters with nerves of steel. Those who miss the brain and don't get off a second shot find themselves trampled under 2,000 lbs of angry, "Won't take no for an answer" Cape Buffalo.
Can you imagine that animal soaking up a couple of tons of muzzle energy with each round and not being flattened?
It's easy to see from this video why they're so dangerous. If the hunter hadn't damaged something in the "boiler room" he'd have likely been killed. This is why only brain shots are considered reliable when pursuing these critters. If you shoot them anywhere else with an elephant gun such as a .460 Weatherby or .458 Winchester Magnum they get angry!
Ironically, I met a guy in Flint, MI years ago who took two of them with a bow! He said that he stuck them in their hearts and they didn't even flinch or acknowledge his presence, but kept walking until they simply flopped over dead! He also said that hunters with their pain-in-the-ass loud guns signal the buffs as to the source of their unhappiness and that's why they charge!