[Steel]

Did any of you catch the show this weekend on cape buffalo hunting in Tanzania and other Aftican spots. I cannot recall what cable network it was, but I liked it. I recall that they mostly used double guns in the Nitro family of cartridges or other large .40's, et cetera.

I was floored when it was suggested that a fairly common way that wounded capes kill hunters is to flee into the brush and wait. When Joe Hunter follows the blood trail, he eventually hears the thunder of the attacking animal as it doubled back around to flatten ol' Joe. Wow -- when do we leave?!

[Preacherman]

Yep - the two hardest and most dangerous wounded animals in Africa, in the opinion of many who've hunted them all, are the Cape buffalo and the leopard. The buff is particularly dangerous because he's so darned well-equipped to turn you into mush - horns, hooves, and a constitution so strong that he can absorb lead as fast as you can pump it out and still keep coming. If you shoot him from a distance, and he's unaware of your presence, quite often he'll fold up and die quietly - but if you misplace your shot, or he gets whiff of you, it's "Katie, bar the door!" time... BTDT, and thankfully suffered no damage.

[Gordon]

I shot buff in Rhodesia in 76 with .458Win: first one perfectly placed 510 soft at 40 yards thru right shoulder and thru lungs and heart. I got a 20foot rope of blood and he slowly turned toward me. I worked bolt as he started walking toward me I think not quite sure where shot came from . I bashed a 500 solid into front of chest and on he walked looking for me ...and down he went! I was just about to shoot 3 rd .458 and did when I walked up and broke the neck! One tough M'bogo. If I go again I will use .375 H&H with Hawk 300 grain soft point up spout and Hornady solids in mag. I will only shoot over 100 yds and lessthan 150yds and pick shot REAL carefully taking out Top of heart or neck., I hope.:eek:

[Lone Star]

If you didn't already know that Cape buff circle back and try to kill you, you haven't done your homework. Get to the library and the book store and read the classic African authors.

At the least, read J.A. Hunter's, "Hunter", "Something of Value" , by Robert Ruark, and the Capstick books.

And, while you're at it, read Jim Corbett's books on hunting man-eating cats in colonial India. You'll find that a tiger has enough smarts to figure out where you're headed, then plan to intercept you along that route.

For what it's worth, Hunter ( a very famous pro hunter in colonial Kenya) thought the leopard had the best chance of getting to you when wounded, but Peter Capstick made the excellent point that a leopard most often severely mauls. If a lion gets to you, a single bite in the thorax will often do you in. Even a freshly-dead lion slamming into you at full charge weighs hundreds of pounds, and the impact alone can be fatal!

I've never had the money to hunt Africa, but I think the .470 Capstick is the ideal heavy game caliber for close ranges in bolt actions. The .416's should do very well. The .375 is more versatile, and it also reaches out well and usually does the job with precise shot placement. A pal of mine said that if he hunts Africa again, he'll rely on a .375 for his "heavy", but he won't hunt elephant.

I think a little reading will give you profound new respect for the famous hunters who spent months in the bush at a time, and who lived or died on the basis of their marksmanship and the reliability of their rifles. John Hunter's control work on rhinos and elephants is pretty scary stuff...

Lone Star

[Mike Irwin]

Capstick's articles and books about his time in Africa are very entertaining.

He indicates that he was only really nervous when facing a wounded leopard or Cape Buffalo.

[gk1]

Jeff Cooper says that the hippopotamus hunted on land is likely the most dangerous African game animal. That scares me greatly, as I've heard many stories (like those above) about the Cape Buffalo, and they seem bad enough!

George

[Baba Louie]

Alexander Lake's book Killers in Africa subtitled "The truth about animals lying in wait and hunters lying in print", gives a differing view of the critter in question. Another in the "I want to hunt Africa" portion of my meager library.

Dangerous when riled, yet easily tamed (if taken as calf). Doesn't care for the smell of man and will avoid if possible.

He even discusses doing the matador with a cape thing.

But perfectly capable of doing a job on a human when riled.

Bet they taste good too.

Adios

edited to add, he said he used a .303 if you can believe that (but oftentimes wished he had something a little bigger)