Always go into the African bush with somebody who is fatter / less fit than you are, so when you bump into a bull buffalo / lion / grumpy warthog or whatever at close range, al you have to to do is run away slightly quicker than your friend.
Secondly always have in mind the closest climable tree.
Those are the very words I said to my guide whilst out in Poland, we were getting a little to close for comfort to some european bison
He was getting very nervous while I happily snapped away with the camera at around 15 yards
the look on his face when he realised what I had said
Priceless
Never run, you will not win on either Elephant or Cape Buff. Its an interesting photo, and aiming for the boss on the head is not the place to put the shot. Shoot for the nose to turn him and then take him from the side. But if its that close you had better make sure you shoot straight and luck is on your side.
Malc, You are correct, buff can run bloody fast. Got chased once across the jeki plain in Zambia when I was young and stupid. Me in a ligtweight land rover. He took ecxeption to my precence and charged me from a good 400 yds out. I had to drive flat out and only just kept the distance. After a few minutes he did give up the chase. A friend out there for a dare did once rugby tackle a buffalo calf and lived to tell the tale.
Silly question realy. Stand ! If its a freebie, chuck stones at him to get him to come Never aim between the eyes,as Malc says up the nose,then in the chest or side, well placed shot(s)
Trouble is when you come across this in the bush and you don't have a rifle with you it gets kind of interesting. Even if you did have a rifle the implications of shooting an animal that is off permit don't bear thinking about. I would just back away very slowly. When I was working in the lower Zambezi in Zambia in the early 1990's we were n't allowed to have or carry any weapons in the park. You just had to be very careful not to bump into something and frighten it. Actually of much more concern to us was not being eaten or squashed but bumping into a bunch of poachers or renamo or ANC bandits.
I think there was a shoot to kill policy on poachers at that time? in Zambia. In fact I know of one english guy who was hunting at that time with Luanga Crocodile Company (now no longer) and ended up tracking a wounded Elephant that the poachers had blasted with an AK. They then realised that the poachers were also tracking the Elephant, and were shot at by the poachers.
A 416 goes right through dead trees, so its not the best place to stand if you are a poacher and spraying an area with your AK!!
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