PH Holger Jensen – From Northern Lights to Southern Skies…

Jan 9, 2019 | News

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”orange” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fspring-2019%2F%23spring-2019%2F124-125||target:%20_blank|”][vc_column_text]PH Holger Jensen – From Northern Lights to Southern Skies…

African Hunting Gazette: Tell us when and where you were born.

Holger Jensen: It was in the far north of Denmark on a farm – 1954.

AHG: Tell us about yourself and any family you might have.
HJ: I never married, but am looking after the wife and 12-year old son of my late hunting manager Benny, who died from cancer three years ago at the age of 45, after being my PH for 20 years.

AHG: How did you become a PH? How did it all begin?

HJ: As a kid I never wanted toys for Christmas or birthdays, but wildlife literature, and I got the opportunity to get an education as a gamekeeper, and started the day after I left school. That means that I’ve made a career of hunting for 47 years.

AHG: Which countries have you hunted, and where are you hunting these days?
HJ: There are too many to count! I’ve hunted walrus in the Arctic and sambar in NZ, but my last four hunts were in Mongolia, Abu Dhabi, Burkina Faso and Siberia. I’ve been three times to Argentina – I like the nature and the people there. Then, of course, I hunt almost non-stop as a PH in South Africa from March to August each year, and have done so for the past 38 years.

AHG: If you could return to any time or place in Africa, where would it be?
HJ: My African hunting career started in the then Rhodesia, where I shot my first buffalo bull at age 20, and that country still holds some special memories for me, because it has great hunting and wonderful people, politics apart. In later years I hunted a lot at Lake Mburu in Uganda, at the time when that country opened for hunting after many years, and that was also a special adventure, where some huge trophies were taken.

AHG: Which guns and ammo are you using to back-up on dangerous or wounded game?
HJ: My interest in firearms is very limited. I shot 1,247 fallow deer with my trusted SAKO 222 Remington, and I often use my old Mauser 8×57 JS, which is very old-fashioned, but effective, and it cost me less than a USD 100 at the time! Being a bit patriotic I do have a Schultz & Larsen 30-06, which is used by many clients, and then a double-barrel Spanish 375 H&H Magnum, which to me is a better life insurance that you can purchase from Old Mutual!

AHG: What are your recommendations on guns and ammo – for dangerous game and for plains game?
HJ: I like the client to use a firearm that he knows and is comfortable with – the chance is very good that I will never know or remember what he actually used. In my belief it’s that person between the earth and the firearm that is the most important part.

AHG: What is your favorite animal to hunt and why?
HJ: It has to be the bushbuck. I’ve guided hundreds of them along the Limpopo River – a demanding hunt on foot, which is my type of hunting. Believe it or not – I’ve never shot a single one myself!

HG: Looking back, which was your greatest trophy?
HJ: It was my first buffalo in Sijarira Forest at Lake Kariba in 1975. I’ve also tried so hard to get a 30” impala in Uganda, but only got as close as 29 5/8 – my clients took many up to 33”!

AHG: What was your closest brush with death? Looking back: Anything you should have done differently?
HJ: It’s quite embarrassing, but ending up underneath a mad male ostrich in the Kalahari many years ago, who was doing a war dance on top of me. My client shot it in the breast at close range, and for a few moments, I was unsure whether he had shot me or the ostrich. Other than that, there have been some exciting buffalo hunts, but never a situation where lives were in danger. Farmed buffaloes scare the Hell out of me, because they behave differently to wild buffalo.

AHG: How has the hunting industry and its clients changed over the years?
HJ: Being in the Scandinavian market, there has been a marked shift towards more ethical hunting methods, and nowadays we use the hunting vehicle for transporting dead animals only. We’re off-loaded early morning in good wind, and will only see the car again once the hunt is over, or we have had the luck to bag an animal. We’ve adapted to this demand, and I firmly believe that the future of South African hunting lies in offering fair-chase hunts. In Denmark, 18 per cent of registered hunters are now women, and on my last two safaris – five out of six clients were female, and all very good shots and delightful company. Years ago I hunted with the wealthiest woman in Scandinavia – she was 81, and would do the dishwashing in camp if I did not stop her! She bagged a huge rhino bull in 1981 for the princely sum of R5.000!

AHG: Which qualities go into making a successful PH and / or a successful hunting company?
HJ: Hard work and being able to understand your clients’ needs. I prefer to hunt with nationalities whose mentality is familiar to me – Spanish or French clients would best be left to their own PHs – I don’t think I would get along with them. Once you’ve completed a successful hunt, the most important thing is that the trophies are treated and marked properly, and delivered on time. That is one all important part of the hunt that is often forgotten. My motto is, “The hunt is only completed once the trophy is hanging on the client’s wall!”

AHG: Which qualities go into making a good safari client?
HJ: The client that is a bit laid-back on trophy sizes usually bags the best animals. I don’t own a tape – measuring is done by the taxidermists on delivery. It’s nice when the client is fit, but if he/she isn’t, we will adapt the hunt. It’s also great if the client has done a bit of training with the firearm before getting here.

AHG: If you should suggest one thing to your hunting clients to improve their experience of their safari, what would it be?
HJ: Take out the gun to a firing range before coming here, and learn to shoot a bit faster than when hunting back home in Europe.

AHG: Based on your recent experience in the field, do you think that any species should be upgraded to Appendix I or downgraded to Appendix II or closed all together?
HJ: Hunting mainly in South Africa, I don’t see any specific need for either.

AHG: What can the hunting industry do to contribute to the long-term conservation of Africa’s wildlife?
HJ: We have to concentrate on natural breeding of animal populations, once species have been established. Canned lions, artificial trophy genes and various freaks do not contribute in any way to conservation, but do excessive harm to our reputation. We’ve come a long way in South Africa since I started my company in 1980, but unfortunately our industry has become unduly dominated by people that are business people rather than hunters.

AHG: You look after your ex-PH and manager’s wife and son – do you think Benny’s son will follow in his footsteps?

HJ: I hope my late manager’s son Nicolaj will follow, but I can’t tell. He shot his first warthog at age four, and now has eight species, and one overseas hunt for Balearian goat on the island of Mallorca.

AHG: Anyone you want to say thanks to who has played a major role in your life?
HJ: Finn Kristoffersen, alias “Stoffer” back in Denmark was the man that started trophy hunting at foreign destinations. He was one of the founders of the Nordic Safari Club and was highly influential, and then he was a real hunter.

The other person is Jens Kjaer Knudsen, who came out as a volunteer to work for me, and later became the president of the Nordic Safari Club, and worked hard to promote ethical hunting in Scandinavia. He and his committee removed all South African lions from their record book – an appropriate action in the circumstances, and they’ve taken a similar stand towards unethical practices in NZ and Eastern Europe. Today he’s my best hunting buddy, and next project is a black-tail hunt in California – that will be my 16^th antlered deer species – all hunted free range.

AHG: Any Last Words of Wisdom?
HJ: Last week in Siberia, just as the light was disappearing, I bagged a magnificent Siberian roebuck, after a week of mixed luck, and long stalks. The Russian PH said to me in his broken German “Du bist ein richtiges Jäger” – “you’re a ‘real’ hunter”, and that to me is the biggest compliment anyone could give me. Try to be a “real hunter” – don’t take shortcuts, or do unethical or embarrassing hunts, but go for the real thing. Then you will have much enjoyment from this wonderful hobby![/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”orange” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fspring-2019%2F%23spring-2019%2F124-125||target:%20_blank|”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”19704,19705,19706,19707,19708,19709,19710″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

An interview with Professional Hunter, John Sharp

Jan 6, 2019 | News

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”orange” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fspring-2019%2F%23spring-2019%2F132-133||target:%20_blank|”][vc_column_text]An interview with Professional Hunter, John Sharp

For those of you who have paid an interest in African hunting over the past 30 years, you will need little by way of introduction to PH John Sharp, known to many as the African version of Crocodile Dundee. With free-flowing hair and skin tanned by years spent hunting under the glare of the African sun, he’s often found wading across some remote river or trekking the Zimbabwean plains with his Rigby .470 N.E double balanced over his shoulder.

In his three-plus decades of hunting in Africa, John says the Bubye Valley Conservancy (BVC) in the south of Zimbabwe, where he’s now based, is truly the finest area he has encountered. John is a passionate conservationist with a deep understanding of the natural world, a true ambassador for the sport, and has a lifestyle we all secretly aspire to.

John, tell us a bit about yourself.

I got my Learner Professional Hunter’s Licence in 1978. Soon after that, independence came to Zimbabwe, so I decided to return to Cape Town to watch from afar to see what the new government would do.

In Cape Town, I bought the Hard Rock Café and ran that for three-and-half years before I sold it in December 1982. Early in 1983 I returned to what had become Zimbabwe and did my proficiency test, kick-starting my career as a full-time PH, and I’ve been hunting ever since.

Have you only hunted in Zimbabwe, or all over Africa?

No. I’ve hunted extensively in Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Botswana and Zimbabwe, and before I was a PH, in Namibia. You could say I’ve been around, but Zimbabwe has always been my favorite country and I’m pretty much settled there now.

Tell us about the Rigby you’ve hunted with.

I have a Rigby .470 N.E double, which was built in 1927 but re-barrelled by Holland & Holland in the 1960s, so it lost its collector value. A client of mine bought it for me about 20 years ago, and I’ve been using it ever since.

How often have you had to use your Rigby in a professional context? Have you ever had to back anyone up?

Yes, many times. These things are inevitable in the life of a PH, and have happened mostly with buffalo and elephant and the odd lion over the years.

For leopards I use a three-and-a-half inch 12-gauge shotgun. A leopard can come from any direction, and with a few people milling around on the follow-up, I don’t want to be firing a heavy projectile that could wound or kill more than the leopard.

How has your Rigby performed for you?

My Rigby is an extension of myself – as much a part of me as my arm. If I am in the bush and not carrying it I feel naked, and I’ve been told that I look naked too. It has never let me down.

Can you recall a time the Rigby .470 N.E has saved your life?

Each and every time I shoot an oncoming dangerous animal, and I have shot many, that rifle saves my life, and the lives of others.

In the early stages of a PH’s career plenty of mistakes are made, and luck is too often a factor, but one learns. As the years become decades in an older PH’s life, that experience translates into a rich safari without unhappy dramas – only the good kind.

What you’re asking of me now is a dramatic story for your readers, but the trouble with those stories is that someone, either the tracker, or the PH, or even the client, loses their life, or nearly loses it and that doesn’t make for fun reading. The whole point of carrying the best possible double is that I am properly equipped to protect those who are on safari with me. Everyone who comes on a hunt wants an exciting experience – but that doesn’t include loss of life.

What I can tell you is of an event before I owned a double that convinced me that getting one was not a desire, but a necessity.

I was hunting with a client who wanted to take a buffalo with a bow. We were tracking three buffalo and my client wounded one of them – a crack shot, he had been betrayed in the last seconds. The bulls caught our scent and came hurtling towards us, unintentionally. Hearing our warning shouts the first bull broke left, across me, as did the second bull a few paces behind him. I was concentrating too hard on the first two bulls, looking for signs of the arrow that would have been on their blind side. The third bull then also broke to the left, but when it was directly in front of me it suddenly turned 90 degrees and came straight at me. I snapped off a shot with my bolt-action .458, my mind still too focused on the other two that were high-tailing it – no effect. It was then that I realised I probably would not have time for a second shot. My mind raced, but everything my eyes took in became slow motion – very slow motion…

I don’t know how I did it but I remained anchored to the spot. It takes a split second to work a bolt – a split second that I quite obviously no longer had – and the bull was coming in like a freight train. I remember clearly seeing the empty case floating lazily in the air as I frantically tried to close the bolt over another cartridge, hoping and praying that I would be able to fire as the bull hit the end of my barrel. Miraculously, at the very last instant, the bull made a 90-degree turn to my left, his boss passing under my barrel. Still, it seemed to me, in slow motion, the rifle shouldered smoothly and I shot him behind the ear, a mere 10 feet away, as he began to pull away from me. He dropped like a stone, the bloody arrow flicking upwards from his belly and gleaming in the afternoon sunshine. It was one of those occasions where God and luck were the vital factor.

How did you come by your rifle?

It came to me through David Winks of Holland & Holland in London. He said at the time that it was the finest working double that had ever passed through his hands. I had the audacity to ask him whether it would fit me, because I had visions of getting this rifle and having to get it re-stocked at great expense – I simply will not hunt with a rifle that does not fit me perfectly. He became quite annoyed and said: “If I say it will fit you, it will fit you!”

Can you remember how much you paid for it?

It was a gift. The sum that changed hands was not revealed to me but, having carried it for 20 odd years, I can tell you that my Rigby is priceless.

Do you ever have your double serviced or is it a bit of a workhorse?

It is a workhorse. I had an unfortunate incident happen a few years ago. I have a big walk-in strong room with a fan that sucks air through the gunroom to prevent mould. My double always lives in its case but there was the one year I had left it on the rack, and while I was away in the States, one phase on my three-phase power tripped out. That one phase controlled the fan. When I got back home, the inside of my strong room looked like a mushroom farm, with green mould everywhere, and the air was damp and musty.

I couldn’t move the breaking lever on the rifle as it had rusted in place. I raced down to Cape Town to one of the best gunsmiths I knew. He managed to free it and suggested that I use it for the season and then get it back to him at the end of the year for him to refurbish. I told my German friend Walter what had happened, and he suggested that I send it to Otto Weiss of Hartmann & Weiss in Hamburg, Germany. Otto had hunted with me a few times, courtesy of Walter, and he readily agreed to refurbish the rifle for me at a greatly reduced price.

He broke the whole rifle down, re-blued, re-regulated and re-stocked it. I always carried it over my shoulder, shirtless, and the perspiration from my shoulder had seeped into the wood of the forend making it necessary to replace the forend, and thus also the stock, to ensure that all the wood matched.

Soon after I got it back, I was with a client who had wounded a waterbuck. After finding the bull yet again, this time facing directly away from us, head in a bush, he took a shot at the base of the waterbuck’s tail from 100 yards, using up his last cartridge. At the shot the waterbuck took off, and as the front bead of my .470 touched the base of its departing tail, I fired. The bull collapsed in a cloud of dust. My bullet had punched a neat hole, dead centre, through the top of its tail. At around 110 yards that left barrel was spot on.

I love my Rigby .470 N.E. double. It’s a remarkable rifle and has been my constant companion in the bush for years. This rifle is irreplaceable, and is the most essential tool of my trade.

You have just written a book, Facing Down Fear. Tell us about it.

My book is part memoir, but mostly campfire tales of a few of my adventures. I talk about the people – and the dogs – who have touched my life. Inevitably they are stories of a loner who has had the freedom to come and go, and they make up a small part of the tapestry of my wonderful life in Africa. I’m expecting the book to come from the printers any day now, and it will be available from John Rigby & Co. in London, as well as others.

How did you choose the title?

I wanted to share what I have learnt: that facing down fear – of danger, of pain, of failure, of loss – can lead to a rich and rewarding life.

For more information about John Rigby & Co. visit: www.johnrigbyandco.com[/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”orange” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fspring-2019%2F%23spring-2019%2F132-133||target:%20_blank|”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”19689,19690,19691,19692,19693,19694,19695,19696,19697,19698″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

A-FRAMES IN AFRICA By Terry Wieland

Jan 4, 2019 | News

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”orange” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fspring-2019%2F%23spring-2019%2F152-153||target:%20_blank|”][vc_column_text]A-FRAMES IN AFRICA By Terry Wieland

The business of designing a good game bullet is not rocket science: It merely has to expand on impact, hold together, and penetrate in a straight line to the vitals. Simple.

If it’s highly accurate, so much the better, but if accuracy was the only criterion we could hunt with match bullets. We can’t, and we don’t, for reasons too varied to go into here, regardless of whatever snake oil the purveyors of modified match bullets try to sell you on YouTube. A good game bullet is one that does the job even when it seems like everything has gone wrong; a match bullet only performs on an animal when everything (!) goes exactly right — and sometimes not even then.

Anyone who has done any amount of real hunting will never depend on everything to go right, because is very seldom does.

As velocities increased with every succeeding generation of magnum cartridges after 1950, a serious search began for bullets that were tough enough to withstand the stress. Nosler’s Partition was the first. It was a variation on the RWS H-Mantle, a German game bullet that had been around a while but which was never freely available in the U.S.

In 1984, Lee Reed, the founder of Swift Bullets, took that idea further with a more substantial wall of copper between the front and rear lead cores, and improved the idea by bonding the lead core to the copper jacket.

If the Nosler Partition had a fault, it was that it did not lend itself to calibers bigger than .375. Typically, a Partition expands quickly on impact, shedding its front core as it penetrates, creating a generous wound channel. You then dig the bullet out from under the skin on the far side and find that it retained about 65 per cent of its weight. Reed wanted his bullets to retain at least 95 per cent.

The resulting “A-Frame” design was not as aerodynamic as the Partition; it had a more rounded profile — almost a round-nose in some calibers. But it proved to be adaptable and to work well even in the very largest and heaviest, such as the .458 and .470, the two most popular calibers for dangerous game through the 1990s.

Over the years, makers of bullets that tried to compete with the Partition complained that it was not as accurate because of its three-part construction. They were aided and abetted by some writers who, presumably, had either never used Partitions or were simply on the take. Some of the very best groups I have ever shot with hunting rifles have been done with Partitions, and I am talking about three shots in under a half-inch at 100 yards. Even when they don’t deliver to that elevated standard, however, I have never found Partitions inaccurate to the point that I looked elsewhere.

My experience with A-Frames has not quite measured up to that, but honesty compels me to admit that I have never set out to do a comprehensive accuracy test with them either. Also, my experience with them on game has been mostly limited to stuff like Cape buffalo, using a .450 Ackley or .458 Lott.

Although A-Frames are available as small as .257, they may not be the best choice in every application. For example, if I were to go hunting pronghorn antelope with a .257 Weatherby, I would probably not use A-Frames. In 1990, I had an unfortunate experience with an impala in Tanzania. An impala’s about the size of a pronghorn, and I was using the then-new (and no longer available) Trophy Bonded Bear Claw 115-grain .257. It was too tough, went between the ribs on both sides, did not expand at all, and we spent the next hour chasing the impala in the long grass. The softer Partition, I’m convinced, would have dropped that impala right there.

Where the A-Frame really shines is in larger calibers, intended for bigger animals, at closer ranges. The opposite of the above experience happened in Alaska, a couple of years earlier, with an incoming brown bear (17 yards), a .300 Weatherby, and a 150-grain Partition. I was expecting a deer, got the bear rushing in instead, and the bullet disintegrated on its chest bones. It turned the bear long enough for another shot (and another) and it eventually dropped when I broke its neck, but in that situation a 180- or 200-grain A-Frame would probably had done it immediately.

For those who don’t handload, A-Frames are available as premium loadings in a variety of factory or semi-custom ammunition. If I had to use factory .458 Lott to hunt Cape buffalo, I would almost certainly use some of that. It is simply a great bullet — no snake oil, no YouTube-video hogwash, no sexy apps. Pure performance, pure and simple.[/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”orange” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fspring-2019%2F%23spring-2019%2F152-153||target:%20_blank|”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”19669,19670,19671″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

DANGER FOR THE MASSES

Jan 3, 2019 | News

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”orange” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fspring-2019%2F%23spring-2019%2F176-177||target:%20_blank|”][vc_column_text]DANGER FOR THE MASSES By Terry Wieland

A serious safari in Africa has never been what you might call a commodity for mass consumption. The closest anyone has come are the five-day excursions for $1,795 (airfare, taxes and gratuities not included) to kill an impala, warthog, and a gnu in South Africa.

Brag-worthy as this might be with the family at Thanksgiving, it hardly compares with a month in the Rift Valley among the Masai, much less the old six- to eight-week expeditions that encompassed several countries and two dozen species. The latter were common even as recently as the 1960s, but even then they were never cheap. The going rate was usually about a year’s salary for the average guy, which pretty much ruled out any average guy taking one. Today, two or three years’ salary would be closer to the mark.

For the better part of a century, the key component that set apart a real safari was the pursuit of the Big Five (elephant, lion, leopard, Cape buffalo, and black rhino.) All of these animals, you will notice, are dangerous — and occasionally highly so. In the time-honoured practice of ranking the “most dangerous,” each of these has had its champions. It is not my purpose to even offer an opinion on that question, only to say that, without a doubt, they are all dangerous under the right circumstances. That’s what makes them the “Big Five,” and that’s what lends cachet to hunting them.

If hunting these were financially out of reach in the old days, it’s even more so today. Lion hunting costs a fortune; elephant hunting is not far behind, although you can occasionally hunt them on the cheap if you get into a “problem animal” situation with the blessing of the game department. Black rhino, of course, are completely off limits (with a few exceptions that only prove the rule) because of their endangered status.

Leopards are a different story, simply because they are secretive, intelligent, can live close to human settlements without causing too many problems other than the odd lifted goat, and so have not been eradicated the way lions have in many areas. They can also be raised, if that’s the right term, on game ranches. For the right amount of cash, a hunter can take a leopard under conditions that can most charitably be described as “controlled.”

That brings us to Cape buffalo. The fabled mbogo usually ranks no worse than number two on any professional’s list of dangerous game, which means he’s a serious adversary. Their herd habits and rancorous personalities mean they do not fit in well with any semi-domestic situation as the leopard can. You need serious fences to confine a herd of buffalo, and an awful lot of land to provide browse. If you have ten leopards on your property, every one is a potential source of cash; the same is not true of buffalo.

Fortunately, Cape buffalo are very adaptable and can bounce back from reduced numbers in an astonishingly short time. One year they may have been almost wiped out in an area; five years later, given suitable conditions, they are back in good numbers.

Altogether, Cape buffalo combine substantial populations with genuinely wild conditions. They are both affordable to hunt, and it’s real hunting in wild country. It’s safe to say this will never be true again of elephant, black rhino, or lions.

For these reasons, Cape buffalo are the last of the Big Five (barring the semi-domesticated leopards) readily available to anyone with a modicum of cash and an urge to hunt dangerous game.

One reason the Cape buffalo enjoys this enviable situation is that they can adapt and live almost anywhere, as long as there is a supply of water. I have hunted Cape buffalo on jungle-covered mountainsides, in volcanic craters, chest-deep in swamps, and in dry and sandy thorn bush. I’ve climbed mountains that reminded me of sheep hunting, and wallowed in swamps that reminded me how much I don’t like swamps. I have hunted them in burning sun and pouring rain. But it was all buffalo hunting.

Cape buffalo are not only hunted in a variety of terrain, but also using a variety of approaches. As a natural herd animal, of course big bulls are found in herds ranging from a few dozen to several hundred. Stalking a herd of wary animals in open grassland, while trying to pick out one good set of horns from among many, is no pushover. Alternatively, old bulls that have reached a stage of terminal cantankerousness often go off on their own, or with another bull or two of like temperament, to live out their lives in lonely reflection, alleviating the boredom occasionally by tossing and/or stomping the odd villager out in search of firewood.

Hunting these old lads is a whole different story than hunting a herd. It’s a game of cat and mouse with the possibility that the hunter thinks he’s the cat one minute, and finds that he is the mouse the next. Such old bulls have learned not to depend on the collective eyes and ears of the herd for his protection, and has discarded any notion of safety in numbers. He is wary, self-reliant, and superbly capable when it comes to individual combat.

Not all of these old loners are magnificent trophy bulls with deep curves and wide spreads. Many have horns worn down almost to nothing, bearing a massive boss that covers their skull like a helmet, but not much else. They are almost hairless, grey and scaly, usually tick-ridden, bearing the claw marks of lions on their flanks and with ears chewed to rags. If they are brooding and bad-tempered, they have reason to be. Taking on one of these veterans on his own turf, and coming out alive, is an accomplishment for any hunter. Having done so, it leaves many with a nagging dissatisfaction hunting anything else.

Probably the ultimate experience in hunting buffalo is having to track a wounded one and, as often as not, face a charge. In a genuine situation of this type, where you fight down the fear and stand your ground and come out on top, any hunter can take great pride (preferably privately and internally) in having faced and conquered one of the ultimate tests. I say “genuine” because, as with any human activity, it can be, and has been, cheapened and degraded by so-called hunters who have learned how to inflict a painful wound, gut-shooting a young bull with a light rifle, then provoking a charge, made to look more dangerous than it is through the magic of long-lens compression and dramatic camera angles.

At least one licenced professional, having mastered this technique, made and sold videos, and booked clients to go to Africa to do the same. They then came home, bragging to everyone about how they faced a charge and dropped the bull. An acquaintance of mine claimed to have done exactly that, not once but five times on a single safari, shelling out the cash to bribe the game scout for another tag, and another, and another. For years, some of the more ethical members tried to have this professional barred from the Safari Club convention, and eventually succeeded; at the same time, the Tanzanian professional hunters’ association was trying to have his licence revoked, but were never able to overcome the power of bribery.

It is tempting to compare all of this with the attractions (and undoubted profits) of pornography and the white-slave trade, but we’ll leave it there.

Better to end on a reflective note, recalling buffalo hunts past, and the feel of the rifle in your hand, and the sight of the Rift Valley stretching away as you listen to the rasping breath in the brush, and wondering when he’ll come for you, and whether this will be your last glimpse of that blue, blue sky.[/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”orange” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fspring-2019%2F%23spring-2019%2F178-179||target:%20_blank|”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”19682,19683,19684″][/vc_column][/vc_row]