Big Game Shooting, volume 1 (of 2)Phillipps-Wolley, Clive
General
Big Game Shooting, volume 1 (of 2)
Phillipps-Wolley, Clive
Game and game-birds; Hunting
Buffaloes, like rhinoceroses, are very often attended by birds
(_Buphaga erythrorhyncha_), when they are much more difficult to
stalk than at other times. Besides the rhinoceros bird, buffaloes,
particularly when in herds, are often attended by a flock of little
egrets (_Herodias garzetta_), which, like the former, are attracted
by the great numbers of ticks on these animals. They do not, however,
render the stalking more difficult, as they do not warn the game of the
stalker’s presence like the rhinoceros bird, but are rather a source of
danger to the herd than otherwise, more particularly in bush country,
their habit of rising and circling round in the air before again
settling being often a means of indicating the position of a herd,
which would otherwise have been passed unnoticed; whilst, should they
rise on detecting the sportsman, the buffaloes are so used to these
sudden and short flights that the occurrence causes them little or no
alarm.
When single, or in twos and threes, buffaloes are quite as easy to
approach as a rhinoceros.
To kill a buffalo the shoulder shot is the best. This should be rather
low down, if anything, below the central lateral line on the body, as
the enormously thick neck and the high dorsal ridge are rather apt
to deceive the sportsman as to the actual depth of the beast’s body,
more especially when standing in grass or low bush, so that the legs
and lower outline of the body cannot be discerned. Should a beast be
standing behind a thick tree or bush, so as to present only its head
and neck, a shot in the neck, rather far back to avoid the backward
curve of the horns, and about half-way down, would be almost instantly
fatal; but this shot should not be attempted if the beast, although
standing broadside on, has its head facing the sportsman, as the near
horn will probably be in the way. This reminds me of a curious shot
which I once made at a buffalo standing in this position behind a small
thorn-tree, which, when I came to measure it, I found to be 11 ins. in
circumference, and which just covered the best spot for a shot at the
shoulder. On getting up to a small bush within seventy yards of it, I
decided to take the neck shot; but just as I was getting into position
to fire the beast saw me. Fearing it would bolt on discovering me,
I took a quick aim at the shoulder, rather than risk the neck shot,
knowing that if the bullet did not hit the tree it would be pretty
sure to go somewhere near the lungs. Directly the smoke cleared, my
gun-bearer told me that he had seen the tree fall, and on going up to
it I found the bullet, an 8-bore, had caught it exactly in the centre
and so shattered it that the heavy table-top had caused it to break
off where the bullet entered. Whilst measuring it I heard a deep groan
in the direction the buffalo had taken, and on taking up the spoor
found my beast quite dead, lying in the grass about 150 yards off, shot
through the shoulder. On cutting it open I found the bullet had gone
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