Most Dangerous Hunt(s)

[Ridge Runner]

Oh the memes,....the memes....the never-ending memes.

 

[IvW]

Crop raiding elephants at night.
Hippo in sugar cane fields at night.
PAC lions, often at night and more than 1 to deal with.

 

[K-man]

Sitting in a pop-up blind camouflaged for a leopard hunt and having an elephant eating the brush off the blind in the dark. Amazing how loud an elephant stomach is at 6 feet.

Hiking along an old logging path hunting for moose, with a cliff below and a sheer wall above, coming to a clearing and seeing a rotten log flipped over still wet on top, with a marker tree with claw marks eleven feet high. We silently backed out with the hair standing up on my neck. Never saw the grizzly and glad it never noticed us.

 

[cajunchefray]

Hunting quail with an idiot. I typically am very careful with whom I participate in group shotgun activities. I broke that rule to hunt quail with an in-law and two of his friends. I caught one of them in my peripheral vison swinging on a bird about to fly by my face. I could hear the shot stream as I hit the ground.

Hunting ducks with an idiot. I was guiding in those days. Had a sport struggling with both his Remington 1100 and with hitting anything. After missing a hovering bird over the decoys, he slammed is gun butt first in the bottom of the blind, setting of a round about a foot below and four inches away from my right ear.

In Mozambique we walked around a corner and came face to face with these two. I managed a very very quick photo as managed an even faster retreat.View attachment 699626

Between quail hunters and lions very interesting.
The quail hunters I have cursed. Lions I don’t know.

 

[Andrew62]

Alaskan Peninsula, 1989, sow brown bear with 2 year old cub stood up and stared at me from 17 steps. I asked my God if she would take off or charges, his response was that she would ‘F off’. My guide did not have a bullet in his chamber, and had his scope wrapped up with some rubber thing, meaning I was the only one that had a loaded gun ready to go. After standing there four or five seconds the sow bear dropped and sprinted right for us. That’s one of those days I’ve learned there is a God, because I was able to raise my rifle and shooter in the mouth, which I would never be able to do without God‘s intervention.

 

[Philip Glass]

Leopard hound hunt. Leopard charged before I could shoot. We got him but not before my PH was bitten. Don't want to relive that one.

 

[BGGMKLR]

I still thank God that I missed what should of been my most dangerous.
In the late 70's myself, a buddy who I worked with at Ma Bell, and his brother had a floating blind off of Point Ricmond in Nor Cal. A big storm was forecasted for our normal hunt day which meant early limits. Bob called me the bay before and was as excited as a kid at Christmas. I told him I was going to have to miss it as I had promised a young friend I would take him snow skiing. He was astounded..."The first big storm and late in the season ? Seriously?"
Well..they went.
The following day, X-mas eve,we had our Company Christmas party When I walked in, the usual loud ruckus was not happening. I walked up to a bud and said
" Jeez...who died" he responded "Bob B didn't come back from Duck hunting yesterday".
In conclusion, the authorities went out to the blind and found the boat upside down underneath it, with our 75 decoys balled up in a huge tangle.
They found Bob's body 7 or 8 days later miles away. His brother was found a couple of days later.
I still can't help but dredge this nightmare up...every Christmas...for about 45 years.
But for a ski trip...I was there...100 % guarenteed. God is good.
Spike

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Just the other day in the Save on buffalo tracks, my new to Africa son-in-law after a buff up front and the rest of us tagging behind. The PH motioned down and we all quietly sank. We had walked into a horse-shoe of a big herd, maybe two hundred, they were very close but obscured and just behind some bushes. On the left there was loud wheezing from what was later assessed to be a lung wounded buff from another hunt perhaps. We stayed dead silent, then my buddy wanted to cough, slipped him some water and mopani leaves to chew, but he spluttered nevertheless. The buff moved off a bit. The PH decided to go forward with a tracker and the son-in-law and as the minutes dragged by an elephant started trumpeting close by. She was with a calf apparently and they had walked into her. How this didn't all go south is up to God. I thought "what have I done, what will I tell my daughter?"
The trumpeting continued on and off. My group retreated back to the pickup and what a relief when the others arrived.

 

[Ridge Runner]

Just completed it.

Hunting for my wife in Swakupmund at the plaza unsupervised with my credit card. She was shopping for herself and gifts for the kids and their wives. It was a bloodbath…

The Horror, The Horror....multiple charges....

No doubt in my mind. You definitely win the prize for the Most Dangerous Hunt.

 

[DLSJR]

I’ve had a couple with elephants that could have gone very badly.

The first was in Zimbabwe on my very first African hunt, 1983 on Deka. I was 24 years old and enjoying what had already been a great safari. We found a herd of several dozen elephants in the western end of Deka and there was a good bull among them. A good bull in musth! We tried getting in close for a shot but after several approaches the herd winded us and took off toward Hwange (then Wankie) Park.

NOTE: we had thoroughly discussed where I was going to shoot a bull and I told Roy Vincent I would take a body shot, not a brain shot. This is an important part of why things almost went very badly.

We were running along with the herd, trying to get a clear shot at the bull. Each time he came to a clearing, he’s pause to locate us then run full speed through the clearing. Finally, several clearings later, we were ahead of the bull and waiting for him to enter a large clearing that had a good amount of open ground in front of us. We were kneeling down, me with my 458 Winchester and Roy with his 460 Weatherby. The bull came to the clearing, looked right at us from perhaps 40 or so yards and rather than run, he turned toward us and began walking right to us. We were right out in the open, kneeling side by side in plain view of the bull, we might as well have been in a parking lot as it was just open with no bushes or trees anywhere around us. I was focused where I had to shoot for a frontal heart shot, but his trunk was obscuring where I had to aim, so I waited for a clear view of my target. On the bull slowly came, looking right at us the whole time.
The bull was getting very close and I heard Roy whisper “He’s too close”. The bull took another step or two and Roy whispered “He’s too bloody close”…

At that moment, the bull flattened his ears back against his neck, his head dropped toward us and his trunk curled off to the side as he came thundering down on us. Everything was suddenly going in very slow motion and I could see my aiming spot and our guns went off simultaneously, baa-boom! I had shot the bull in the heart and Roy shot low on the brain to stop the charge. We stood with the bull stumbling around, towering over us. Roy urgently directed me to shoot him again but my f*ckIng gun (A Colt Sauer)jammed! Roy covered the bull while urging me to “SHOOT HIM AGAIN!!!” I couldn’t clear the jam and after perhaps 10 seconds that seemed forever, the bull turned and ran to escape. Roy quickly looked at my gun, said I was going to have to figure it out on my own and he’d keep up with the elephant and for me to catch up as soon as I could. I fought to get the stuck cartridge out and heard a shot occasionally as Roy chased the bull through the forest. Finally, I cleared the jam and took off sprinting toward Roy and the elephant. They were easy to follow as the bull was running over anything in his way, so I just had to follow his trail of destruction. After a couple hundred yards, I caught up to them with the bull just standing and Roy off to the side. He called out for me to spine the bull and with one more shot he was down. To say that was a close call is an understatement!


The other incident occurred just a few years ago, November of 2021 on Mlele South in Tanzania with Alan Vincent, Roy’s son. We were sitting in a leopard blind and it was getting dark. The guys on the truck had gone to check another bait while we sat for a very good leopard that had given us fits. He’d feed but was very inconsistent with time of day. A bit before it got totally pitch black, we could hear a lion roaring perhaps 400-500 yards away, downstream along a creek that our bait tree was located on. We could hear some elephants nearby, so between them and the lion, it was interesting while we sat silently in pitch black darkness, waiting for the truck to come get us. All of a sudden an elephant trumpeted loudly, not off to the side of us but right over the blind! While I couldn’t see anything at all, I did hear Alan moving his rifle, getting ready to fire a shot if need be. We sat as silently as possible and could hear the elephant walking next to the blind. Eventually, we could hear the truck, then the headlights and the elephants moved off. It was a close call as we couldn’t see each other, let alone the elephant standing over our leopard blind. As we were riding back to camp under an incredible, star filled sky Alan commented that he thought we were going to be like the guy sitting on the toilet in Jurassic Park, where the T Rex destroyed the outhouse and snatched him off the toilet. Alan feared the elephant was going to lift the blind right off of us, leaving us sitting in our chairs under it. That was an adrenaline charged moment for sure.

 

[rdog]

This should be fun. What is the most dangerous hunt you have been on and why? What do you think is the most dangerous hunt in the world and why? @Hunterhabib definitely want to hear your opinion.

For me, the most dangerous hunt I have done was in Mozambique for buffalo and hippo. It had rained very heavily that year, and they'd been unable to burn. The grass was 12' high, and the visibility was very poor. On the first day, we tracked buffalo for 6-7 hours, and never really saw them until I shot my bull at roughly 10-15 paces. We also tracked hippo in the thick heavy mopane. The water was about ankle high in most areas, but in some spots the water was 8-10' deep. The hippo had carved a massive path in the mopane, but had disappeared into a small pool somewhere. We never saw that hippo, but if we had, it would have been at most 20' from us... not a lot of space to deal with a potentially charging hippo

I've never tracked a wounded lion, but it seems like it would be towards the top of most dangerous situations. My perception is they are both aggressive, and lightning fast.

As a teenager my be i was 16 we were a way hunting with my father mostly pigs & rabbits dad had a 12 gauge sxs hammer gun i was hunting rabbits with it one afternoon using no 4 shot & i had 2 12 g slugs with me, the property owners dog was also with me, i spotted a big bore rooting up the ground about 25 meters away with the wind in my favor, took out the no4s & loaded the slugs fired 1 i hit the pig in the arse it took off with the dog chasing it i did not want to go back with out the dog so i chased them , caught up to the pig in the corner of a fence with the dog hanging off its ear , i had loaded a no4 in the other chamber so i had 1 slug & a shot cartridge in the gun , the pig frothing at the mouth charged me, the dog let go of the pig & it knocked me over & tore the leg out of my pants & slid to a stop about 8 meters past me , the dog was on the pig again & again let go the pig charged again with the dog clear i fired both barrels at about 3 meters the pig slid to a stop at my feet dead. my mouth was dry & my legs shaking, thank god for the dog.

 

[HookMeUpII]

The most dangerous hunts are often not at all related to the wildlife, but rather, exposure, injury, etc.

I think probably the most dangerous animal related hunts are probably tuskless cow elephant and hunting leopards with dogs. Buffalo is up there too, hippo, and probably grizzly/brown bear hunting.

Tidal waterfowl hunting will kill you really quick for making a stupid mistake. Capsizing your rig, getting thrown overboard, or getting caught in weather when the water is 32F, you're not lasting long. I've had a couple close calls and know of folks having to be rescued by the USCG.

Case in point:

Steven James, Monster Shark Tournament Organizer, Dies Duck Hunting

The fishing community is mourning the death of Steve James of Marshfield, Massachusetts, who lost his life in a duck hunting accident on January 7, 2014.

onthewater.com

Sheep hunting...falling off a cliff or down a canyon doesn't seem fun. In cases like that, I think I'd rather take my chances with a charging buffalo or elephant. I'm not a fan of heights, at all. I will probably never be a sheep hunter for that reason as well as the cost.

If you really look at the causes of hunter deaths in the USA, the #1 cause is falls from treestands. The stands I see some people climb up into blow my mind sometimes. The #2 is firearm related accidents. I've personally been sprayed upland hunting.

Once again, I almost would rather hunt a leopard with dogs than hunt next do a doofus wearing a Philadelphia Eagles hat, holding a 12ga O/U.

 

[RedTag]

Waterfowl hunting in Alaska. Lots of birds flying that morning. Felt like it was starting to rain. Turned out the “rain” was a lot of steel pellets from the group to our left.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

For me, it would definitely have to be hunting my three man eating Royal Bengal tigers. All game animals (under the wrong set of circumstances) can be potentially dangerous. But those which have specifically learnt to hunt & eat human beings on a regular basis (in a mangrove forest where you can barely see what lies 30 feet away from you)… are a completely different ball game altogether. Those of you who’ve read my autobiography, will know exactly how close the first one came to hunting me.

Amongst my African hunts, the third & most recent elephant hunt which I went on (in 2006) left me permanently traumatized regarding elephant hunting. The bull had charged. I was armed with a .375 Holland & Holland Magnum pre ‘64 Winchester Model 70 (loaded with 300Gr Prvi Partizan copper jacketed FMJ solids) and unsuccessfully attempted three frontal brain shots. The creature was less than 12 yards away from me, when Devon (my white hunter) stopped the charge by killing the tusker with a frontal brain shot from his .505 Gibbs. 51 years (and counting) of going on African Safaris, and this was the only time in my life when one of my white hunters actually needed to step in so that they could save my life. A postmortem later revealed that two of my frontal brain shots were properly placed in the correct reason. But the bullets had completely broken apart & ruptured their jackets without penetrating some four inches through. I immediately swore off Prvi Partizan FMJ solids after this incident. It’s not a very macho thing to admit to on a social media platform, but the incident left me with a subconscious fear towards elephants. I felt so small & powerless. Even since then… I’ve hunted several more hippopotamuses, Cape buffalos, lions & leopards in Africa (till now). But I’ve deliberately been putting off chances to go on elephant hunts. Someday however, I hope to overcome my fear of elephant hunting and hunt a super tusker in Tanzania. And also a tuskless cow elephant in Zimbabwe.

Another very notable incident amongst my African Safaris took place during the hunt for this hippopotamus bull on land in the sugarcane fields at night (my first hunt of this kind). When he charged, it was like an 18 wheeler truck was inbound towards me. I did stop the charge on my own with a frontal brain shot from a .375 Magnum Holland & Holland magazine rifle (which was built on a Pattern 14 Enfield action). But only after the first three shots (two body shots & one frontal head shot which failed to find the brain) were futile. The shot which stopped the charge, coincidentally happened to be the very last cartridge in my magazine (a Winchester Safari 300Gr Nosler flat nosed monolithic solid factory load). I said this before and I’ll say it again. If you really want your heart racing on an African Safari, hunt a hippopotamus bull on land in the sugarcane fields at night. You’ll know what danger really is. Excitingly terrifying. Or terrifyingly exciting. In a macabre turn of events, this kind of hunting has actually ended up becoming my favorite form of African dangerous game hunting.

I’ve dealt with a few charging Cape buffalo, three charging leopard (one during follow up on a wounded animal and two which were hunted over hounds) and two charging lion (one of which was a captive bred specimen which is far more likely to stupidly charge the hunter in the open as opposed to a wild specimen which relies far more on ambush tactics). But none of these troubled me too much compared to the incidents listed above.

 

[HookMeUpII]

Waterfowl hunting in Alaska. Lots of birds flying that morning. Felt like it was starting to rain. Turned out the “rain” was a lot of steel pellets from the group to our left.

Yeah that's not good. Upland might be worse but that brings up another firearm risk: Icy decks and loaded shotguns.

The thought of taking a 12ga from close range makes me cringe.

Sad story here:

Burlington County man killed in hunting accident

WEST WINDSOR - A father-son outing to hunt Canada geese on a Mercer County farm ended in tragedy Saturday afternoon.

www.inquirer.com

 

[TOBY458]

Riding in the truck with my PH from Bulawayo to our hunting area. (8 hours) There were times I thought we’d never survive. This made the elephant hunting rather non eventful. lol!

 

[Stetsonham]

I still thank God that I missed what should of been my most dangerous.
In the late 70's myself, a buddy who I worked with at Ma Bell, and his brother had a floating blind off of Point Ricmond in Nor Cal. A big storm was forecasted for our normal hunt day which meant early limits. Bob called me the bay before and was as excited as a kid at Christmas. I told him I was going to have to miss it as I had promised a young friend I would take him snow skiing. He was astounded..."The first big storm and late in the season ? Seriously?"
Well..they went.
The following day, X-mas eve,we had our Company Christmas party When I walked in, the usual loud ruckus was not happening. I walked up to a bud and said
" Jeez...who died" he responded "Bob B didn't come back from Duck hunting yesterday".
In conclusion, the authorities went out to the blind and found the boat upside down underneath it, with our 75 decoys balled up in a huge tangle.
They found Bob's body 7 or 8 days later miles away. His brother was found a couple of days later.
I still can't help but dredge this nightmare up...every Christmas...for about 45 years.
But for a ski trip...I was there...100 % guarenteed. God is good.
Spike

Damn that’s a hard one…. Thank you for sharing. RIP your friend

 

[Wildwillalaska]

Easy response for me…I’ve shared it several times when talking with new sheep hunters. My most dangerous hunt was hands down my first Dall sheep hunt and the danger was created by my own foolishness in the steep mountains of the Wrangells.

My partner and I both took a ram at the same time, and while mine politely flopped mid-boulder field in front of us, my partners ram was just entering the flat-ish area of the boulders and rolled back into a steep slide and down the mountain it went. I was much more prepared than him and had actually carried his pack a few times when we moved our spike camp last. So he looked at me and said he’d clean mine if I did his. Knowing there was no real sense in avoiding the clear need I just agreed. I said I’d drop down and find his ram, secure it, then come up to check mine out and get some photos.

Once into the steep slide, it was like an escalator and every slightest movement I’d shift 4-8’ and each step brought me twice as far. Within no time I found his ram and started trying to make some sort of cradle, even level spot to clean him on. I’d heard tales of guys working on a ram that slides and the hunter gets tangled up and goes tumbling down the mountain to their demise. So I showed caution and planned best I could. Once secured and and I left my pack and turned to go back up so lay eyes on my own sheep and get a photo or ten. It was then I realized just how badly the next bit was going to suck. Every big step up, I’d slide back twice or three times as far.

Ended up yelling up best I could to just go ahead cleaning and I did the same. He never heard me, but later looked over the ledge down at me and figured out the situation. Skip forward a couple hours, everything was caped out and quartered, didn’t take time to bone it yet. Loaded it all in my pack and realized there was zero chance I was making it up the steep slide in one big trip, so dumped out the head and cape and about 1/3 of the meat. Still had about 65-70lbs, and ended up crossing over to this steep shale cliff/wall to see if I could use it to help pull myself up…I mean I only need to 350-400ish feet. And no dice, couldn’t go up.

I did notice that the nose of the cliff seemed to provide some possible ability to climb it…maybe. It wasn’t true vertical, but looked close. So of course I stupidly tried. I was surprised how much easier it was climbing it vs trying the go up the slide. I went super slow and hand over hand made my way. Problem arose that some of the only hand-holds I had would break loose as soon as I really relied on them, and after having about four handholds give out I started to get scared. Then yes another did the same, that time about the size of a basketball and fell into my chest, almost knocking me off the wall.

It was then that I looked down for the first time. I’d been kind of proud of the headway I’d made so quickly, but was about to get to what I figured was the steepest/sketchiest section when the big chunk almost knocked me off. I realized right then that this was totally stupid and if I didn’t stop, I was going to end up as one of those unfortunate stories we read each year in the paper. So I not so reluctantly decided to retreat. Then I realized I was already more than 60’ up, and there was no way I was going to be able to climb down. If I tried, pretty certain I’d have fallen the full 5-6 stories strait down.

There really are things you can climb up that you cannot safely climb down without a rope, which I also stupidly did not have. While not super religious, I hypocritically prayed to God while simultaneously cursing myself (apparently out loud for part of the climb) for the dangerous predicament I had put myself in. I really did not think I was going to make it without a fatal fall for at least about a half hour. I just kept praying, climbing, and cursing. I ultimately made it past the vertical section and it started to slope out enough where it felt at least semi-safe-ish. Finally made it back to the ridgeline at almost 1am, totally soaked in sweat, wind whipping, and temp dropped into the 40’s. Part of the fun being right up against glaciers. Dropped the pack, threw up my little Seek Outside shelter and snuggled in against my hunting partner where I shivered for a few hours of rest before waking to repeat the next trip down.

I scoped out a way all the way down the slide and could loop a couple miles back to a safer slide to climb up closer to our spike camp. Didn’t even need to. Once I loaded the rest of the sheep in my pack, I noticed the shale outcropping the other side of the slide was literally half as steep at the start and sloped out quicker. Proved 10x easier/safer and was right there the whole time. In my exhaustion and fading light, I just missed it, and seriously endangered my life as a result. Thankful I learned a scary lesson vs my kids not having me around. And while I still go up a few things steeper than I should, I don’t climb anything I’m not confident I can descend.

Couple pictures of my ram from few days earlier on a grassy shelf in front the glacier. Live on the hoof are the only photos I ended up with other than after it was parceled out.

 

[Altitude sickness]

The most dangerous hunts are often not at all related to the wildlife, but rather, exposure, injury, etc.

I think probably the most dangerous animal related hunts are probably tuskless cow elephant and hunting leopards with dogs. Buffalo is up there too, hippo, and probably grizzly/brown bear hunting.

Tidal waterfowl hunting will kill you really quick for making a stupid mistake. Capsizing your rig, getting thrown overboard, or getting caught in weather when the water is 32F, you're not lasting long. I've had a couple close calls and know of folks having to be rescued by the USCG.

Case in point:

Steven James, Monster Shark Tournament Organizer, Dies Duck Hunting

The fishing community is mourning the death of Steve James of Marshfield, Massachusetts, who lost his life in a duck hunting accident on January 7, 2014.

onthewater.com

Sheep hunting...falling off a cliff or down a canyon doesn't seem fun. In cases like that, I think I'd rather take my chances with a charging buffalo or elephant. I'm not a fan of heights, at all. I will probably never be a sheep hunter for that reason as well as the cost.

If you really look at the causes of hunter deaths in the USA, the #1 cause is falls from treestands. The stands I see some people climb up into blow my mind sometimes. The #2 is firearm related accidents. I've personally been sprayed upland hunting.

Once again, I almost would rather hunt a leopard with dogs than hunt next do a doofus wearing a Philadelphia Eagles hat, holding a 12ga O/U.

I agree. Big cold water waterfowl hunting. And Mountain Goat hunting can be very hazardous. My brother in law drowned while goose hunting.

But as you mentioned. Following the odds and numbers. Accidental shootings, Tree stands and 4 wheeler accidents hurt and kill the most hunters. A numbers game.

 

[mitch4570]

Rare breed can you post that video?