Buffalo ride!

There's no explanation of the first shot taken for some reason.
Spoke to the cameraman a little while ago.

PH, Hunter and Cameraman stayed behind, busy getting rifles ready and discussing plan of action after following blood for quite some way. Retreated back into a "buffer" zone. Manager said they have working blood hounds available and proceeded with dogs without knowledge of rest of group. During this time, the Buff had already circled back. There is two ways of looking at this story. The buff was circling back irrespective of the hounds. Had this not happened, the Buff would have surprised the group which could have ended even worse and the second scenario is how it played out.
The bolt rifle operator is the client. Mentioned from his angle, his shot was open.
 
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hay all, and Marius
in my opinion there are so many things wrong in this video, yes things can go wrong quickly in the heat of the moment, but there are some things in there control.
im not going to get into a bun fight
but if the things werent wrong, then they wouldnt be in this situation
nobody got too seriously hurt, someone got a free ride on a live buffalo, and everyone hopefully learned from this experience
 
Spoke to the cameraman a little while ago.

PH, Hunter and Cameraman stayed behind, busy getting rifles ready and discussing plan of action after following blood for quite some way. Retreated back into a "buffer" zone. Manager said they have working blood hounds available and proceeded with dogs without knowledge of rest of group. During this time, the Buff had already circled back. There is two ways of looking at this story. The buff was circling back irrespective of the hounds. Had this not happened, the Buff would have surprised the group which could have ended even worse and the second scenario is how it played out.
The bolt rifle operator is the client. Mentioned from his angle, his shot was open.
Thanks for the update.
Not to beat a dead horse but he was left of the cameraman and I don't see how his angle was open and personally I wouldn't take a shot regardless when the man was on the buffalo.
Watch the PH and how he waited..
 
It's pretty easy to 2nd guess while watching in slow motion, but when SHTF you have split seconds to make decisions. there is a very fine line between everything being ok and someone being dead.
 
When the first shot went off, that guy was several feet above the kill zone of that buffalo. While I can’t say exactly how I’d react in that same situation, I do think that if I had a clear shot, I’d be taking it as well. My thought process is this, buffalo are damn fast for a 2000lb animal. They can turn quickly and even if it threw that guy, it could be back on top of him in a heartbeat. If you wait, what makes anyone think that they will ever have a clear enough shot to stop the buffalo and avoid serious injury. You have two options, stop the buffalo as soon as possible so no one dies, or you wait and just pray that no one dies because you waited. I’d rather play the odds and stop when I can and I’d certainly not fault any PH doing the same.
 
I am apparently not old enough to see the "age-related content" on YouTube. :-). This being stated, I have told my PH etc. if a similar situation arises, fire away. He has told me to do the same. I often instruct, "Use good discretion and don't f%$& up." :)
 
When the first shot went off, that guy was several feet above the kill zone of that buffalo. While I can’t say exactly how I’d react in that same situation, I do think that if I had a clear shot, I’d be taking it as well. My thought process is this, buffalo are damn fast for a 2000lb animal. They can turn quickly and even if it threw that guy, it could be back on top of him in a heartbeat. If you wait, what makes anyone think that they will ever have a clear enough shot to stop the buffalo and avoid serious injury. You have two options, stop the buffalo as soon as possible so no one dies, or you wait and just pray that no one dies because you waited. I’d rather play the odds and stop when I can and I’d certainly not fault any PH doing the same.
IMHO The problem with your assertion is two fold,
One, PH is not the one who took the first shot.
He's the pro and waited. Why do you think that is?
Two, several feet above the kill zone?? You mean he was in the air and coming down.
If you consider it a clear shot I've nothing else to add...
 
I could be super critical of both the PH and the hunter here but all we’re doing is Monday morning quarterbacking this situation from a video that doesn’t have great views of the situation. The same views that the PH has as the cameraman is essentially looking over his shoulder. I’d argue he waited because his views were so poor and also that he was starting to move further to his right and further behind cover obscuring his view even more right before the buffalo came into the cameraman’s view. In my opinion, and that’s all this is, where the PH moved to created an issue on when he could shoot. This wasn’t really his fault because he had zero idea where that buffalo was coming from, just a general idea based on the people running towards them. I wouldn’t have moved out of the clearing like that. I would have stayed where I could see, which was right where they were originally standing. Once you go for cover like he did, I feel like he lost a little bit of control of the situation. But again this is all hindsight after the incident. What we would all do in that situation is anybody’s guess until it actually happens to us.
 
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If.... If the the moon was made of cheese we'd all be hungry little mice.

Lot's of if's and but's. The truth of the matter is shit goes sideways often in the bush let alone following a wounded buff. If the client had died or other serious injuries occurred many would be typing away furiously about how the PH should have taken the shot.

He seems like a competent guy and handled the situation. So let's all sit back, raise a glass and enjoy a great video.
 
Did anyone notice the first guy running in the video? More proof of you only have to be faster than who you are with. The second guy made a right turn to bring the bull past the guns. Smart move as had he kept going in the same direction as his companion he would’ve been on the opposite side of the wall of brush when the bull caught up to him.
 
Did anyone notice the first guy running in the video? More proof of you only have to be faster than who you are with. The second guy made a right turn to bring the bull past the guns. Smart move as had he kept going in the same direction as his companion he would’ve been on the opposite side of the wall of brush when the bull caught up to him.
A stark contrast and something worth remembering:
We just had a relatively controlled situation not long ago with an experienced person in a relatively calm situation losing his life to a buff in a gin trap. Here we have havoc in a few seconds and the result was a few stitches.

If it's your day it's your day. The bush is sometimes cruel no matter the numbers or the experience. This party was lucky.
 
The result is the same. Either you take the shot, or someone is getting mauled.
This drove home to me the reality of what it means when DG goes sideways. Quite something.
 
The PH shot the Buffalo twice in this sequence. The cowboy should thank his lucky stars that man stayed focused and had excellent timing and placement. In the third frame you can see the PH's head is up and looking.
(y):P Cheerleader:

He also made sure he was around the bush and peaking vs being a target waiting in the pathway.

The buzzer had not quite sounded and the buckeroo was headed to the sky.

Screenshot 2024-02-12 at 20.35.12.png



This guy was so close to becoming a Eunuch or getting a Colostomy.

Screenshot 2024-02-12 at 20.35.29.png



Screenshot 2024-02-12 at 20.35.47.png


Recoil from the second shot.

Screenshot 2024-02-12 at 20.36.05.png
 
These dog follow ups on buff seem dodgy to me. Always too many people. I’d rather try to sneak in and put down the buff rather than sending a dog in to pick a fight.

It’s pure luck that the client didn’t kill the uneasy rider.
 
I'll play devil's advocate. How is this different to shooting a Leopard off a hunter/PH/tracker?

This reminds me of a Lion hunting video with some fella named Jacques having the good sense to lean in, change the shot angle and shoot the Lion without killing the man in the Lions jaws.
 
This reminds me of a Lion hunting video with some fella named Jacques having the good sense to lean in, change the shot angle and shoot the Lion without killing the man in the Lions jaws.
Exactly.
Did anyone notice the first guy running in the video? More proof of you only have to be faster than who you are with. The second guy made a right turn to bring the bull past the guns. Smart move as had he kept going in the same direction as his companion he would’ve been on the opposite side of the wall of brush when the bull caught up to him.
Yeah, I don't think that was by design. He never intended "bringing" the bull past the guns. He was running for his life.
 
That’s some real scary fast action, the first shot seemed very risky but maybe that’s just how it looked from the video, hopefully the shooter had a better clearer view.

I once got charged by a red deer stag during the height of the rut, we were calling and making our way to an open area, there were a lot of stags around us in thick fir trees, one stag burst out of the trees at about 30ft running straight at myself and my guide, my .338 wm came up like a shotgun and I hit him in the chest / shoulder, it made the stag swerve and hit the deck about 20ft away. It was a super fast crazy moment. The dead stag was a large 12 point beast, I’m sure glad we didn’t have to wrestle!
 
The client was left of the PH and cameraman and had a different angle without as much brush in the way. It’s definitely a risk to shoot with a human close to an animal, or in this case, somewhat elevated above the buffalo, but I don’t think we have enough information to make that judgment. Only the client knows what his sight picture was at that moment.
 
Does anyone have a link to this video. It has apparently been pulled by Youtube.
 

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Grz63 wrote on x84958's profile.
Good Morning x84958
I have read your post about Jamy Traut and your hunt in Caprivi. I am planning such a hunt for 2026, Oct with Jamy.
Just a question , because I will combine Caprivi and Panorama for PG, is the daily rate the same the week long, I mean the one for Caprivi or when in Panorama it will be a PG rate ?
thank you and congrats for your story.
Best regards
Philippe from France
dlmac wrote on Buckums's profile.
ok, will do.
Grz63 wrote on Doug Hamilton's profile.
Hello Doug,
I am Philippe from France and plan to go hunting Caprivi in 2026, Oct.
I have read on AH you had some time in Vic Falls after hunting. May I ask you with whom you have planned / organized the Chobe NP tour and the different visits. (with my GF we will have 4 days and 3 nights there)
Thank in advance, I will appreciate your response.
Merci
Philippe
 
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