AHC#5 Tale of Two Charges | african-hunter

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A Tale of Two Charges

By Lance Nesbitt

This is a short story based on two safaris I conducted in the Zambezi valley, Zimbabwe. It is a true testament to the tenacity, strength and aggressive nature of the African buffalo, the unpredictable danger involved in hunting this animal and the underestimation of how he can absorb heavy calibre fire power.

The first safari was with a good friend of mine from Dallas, we had hunted buffalo on previous occasions and were looking for another good old “dagga boy” to put in the salt. After an early start to the day looking for tracks of bulls to follow, we came across some fresh spoor of two bulls from the evening before. We geared up and decided to follow, thinking they would not get too far. I was carrying my .470 NE double rifle, loaded with two Barnes X bullets, my client was also equipped with a double .470 NE, he had just purchased for the safari. He usually used his .458 when hunting buffalo, but at the last minute had decided to buy a double! Someone must have whispered in his ear as you will find out later on in the story. We also had along a young video man, it was to be his first ever buffalo safari.

After about an hour of careful tracking we were moving up a small valley when the trackers suddenly stopped and pointed ahead. About 40 yards in front was a buffalo bull walking straight towards us, he had a good spread and heavy bosses, so I motioned to my hunter to get in position to shoot, and to take him when he had a clear shot. At about 35 yards he fired into the left shoulder of the bull, it hunched and started to run off, he fired a second shot at the buffalo as it thundered off through the brush, with a second old bull not far off to the right. I did not fire as I prefer to only shoot if I think it is needed. We both thought the first shot had been good, as did the trackers. Now, the usual rule of hunting is to wait for at least 10 to 15 minutes for the wound to bleed out and for the adrenaline to fade. But we did not do this, we were confident and perhaps a little over zealous in our optimism. We followed after only five minutes or so, but did not follow directly on the spoor - this may have saved us in the end! The bulls had run off into a thicket fifty yards over a small rise. We followed in the general direction but off to the left along a small path, stopping and looking every few metres. We had not gone far when, from the corner of my eye, I noticed a strange shape. All the sticks were in a vertical sort of arrangement, but the one I noticed was horizontal…

An example of Bayaka face painting

The author, PH Lance Nesbitt, and client, Greg Allyn, with one of the buffalo mentioned in the story

I stopped and slowly raised my Swarovski 8x30 binoculars, trying to make out the shape in the darkness of the brush. As I did this, the bushes erupted with a loud deep throated grunt. Then he came at us, head raised over the lowest sticks, eyes full of hatred and pain and with a determined course - kill or be killed, no other options...

As can be imagined, what happened next took place in a matter of seconds, but seemed to take forever, as the whole episode played out in slow-motion in our minds.

Uttering a few choice expletives, I raised my double, aimed at the only thing I could see - his head - bobbing from side to side as he favoured his wounded shoulder - and let rip with the first barrel! Almost simultaneously, my client, positioned just behind me and to the right, also fired from his .470. The muzzle blast was quite something and I instinctively took a step to my left. Neither shot appeared to have had any effect, and the bull, now just 15 yards away pressed home charge! I fired the second barrel, aiming at the point of the bull’s right shoulder. The heavy bullet struck home and he stumbled, both shoulders now broken. My client, at the exact same moment let loose with his second shot, aiming directly at the centre of the eyes, but in the split seconds of my shot hitting and the bull stumbling, his bullet hit directly between the bosses, knocking the bull to the ground only three steps from where we stood. We both put in a couple of insurance shots.

After examination of the entry wounds we concluded that the first shot had hit slightly high and back - a mortal wound but not resulting in a quick death, we could not find the second shot. As the bull charged us, both our first shots had hit it right and left of the head entering in to the neck but not doing much to slow him down. My second shot had broken the other shoulder, hence he started to stumble. My client’s second shot had amazingly just glanced off the skull, not entering but exploding bone fragments into the brain, thus the knock out blow at the end.

The young video man did a fantastic job, stood his ground and managed to get it all on film. I’m not sure if he thought this was all ‘normal’, or if he was frozen with fear to the spot, either way he did well. We all relived this moment many times in the next few days and were very thankful no one got hurt.

My very next safari was also a buffalo hunt with another good hunting friend. Ironically, he had also brought along a .470 NE double rifle. As can be expected, the events of my previous hunt and our encounter with the enraged buffalo, were discussed at great length - were very pumped up during the next few days tracking.

We were hot on the tracks of three bulls that day and had bumped them once or twice already that morning. After waiting for a while to let them settle, we continued on their tracks. They were following a river course and were heading along with the wind. I decided to try and loop around ahead of them, cutting out to the right and finally ending up on a slight ridge ahead of where I thought they would appear. After sitting and glassing for about half an hour, we saw them ambling along an elephant path through the brush.

They were spread out a little but the bull in the centre looked good - good depth of curl nice big bosses on his head. I instructed my client to take him as he quartered towards us, aiming for the point of the shoulder. It was about a 50 yard shot. He let off his first shot. The buffalo lurched at the hit and turned to run. My client fired his second and hit him quartering away. Two great shots - our quarry was not expected to get very far before going down. The bush was pretty thick in the river course, and having learned a valuable lesson on the previous safari, we decided to wait a full half hour before coming off the ridge and looking for blood. We walked down to where we had last seen the buffalo run off, and found sign of his direction of flight. Once again, I decided to walk off at a slight angle from the exact line of spoor. As we proceded cautiously along some open paths looking all the while for blood or any sign, my tracker and I spotted a solitary buffalo bull standing with his head held low, he had not seen us yet. As I was watching him, he lay down. Now we had problems!Of the three bulls, which one was this? Was he the one we had shot? Could it be another member of the group? Had our buffalo fallen close by and this guy was hanging around with his buddy as they often do? I couldn’t see any blood, but he did look a bit sick or tired. Had he just been in a fight with lions? These are all factors one has to take into account when buffalo hunting.

He was only about 35 yards off but we were trying to view him through some fairly thick brush. We finally concluded that he must be our wounded buffalo. We could not see any other members of the group. His horns looked the same so I decided to shoot. There was not enough room to get my client up in to a shooting position so I told him that I would shoot first. If the bull ran either left or right he would have a better view and shot. I fired, aiming for the joint of the neck and shoulder - all I could see. At the impact of the shot he got up and charged…straight at us, grunting all the time! I fired the second barrel hitting him in the centre of the chest. My client somehow also managed to get off a shot off through some very thick bush - the two shots hitting the buffalo less than two inches apart - a combined impact of over12000 foot pounds of energy! He did not even flinch! I was now out of bullets and had my rifle open, reloading as fast as I could, at the same instant my client fired his second barrel, hitting the buffalo in the neck with enough shock to drop him just five yards from us. By this stage I had reloaded and put in another shot to the back of his head. It was all over.

There is a saying that an old dagga boy looks at you like you owe him money...

We found that both the first two shots had hit the buffalo very well - it still amazes me to this day how he could have still been alive, let alone have the energy to get up after a third shot and charge into a hailstorm of big lead bullets? The mind boggles! I have seen buffalo die with just a single well-placed shot from a .375 rifle.

In no way do I want to underplay the .470 NE bullet, or any other calibre. This account is in no way meant to be a set of rules, do’s or do not’s for the buffalo hunter. It merely illustrates the unpredictability of Africa’s buffalo - their sheer will to live, to take out retribution on anyone or anything that gets in their way. The ability to take hits from so called ‘stoppers’, and the cunning to wait in ambush for the pursuer.

Africa’s big game has a lot to offer - all will excite you, all are to be respected, and all are to be pursued with dignity and fair chase. However, hunting buffalo is like a drug - it gets the adrenaline going. Hunt him once, and you will be hooked for life. There is a saying that an old dagga boy looks at you like you owe him money... most of the time he will try and collect!

About the Author

Lance Nesbitt is a Professional Hunter and Guide and operates in Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Mozambique. For more information visit www.nesbitthunting.com or email:neshunt@mweb.co.zw