DPhillips
.375 member
Reged: 09/10/03
Posts: 819
Loc: Alaska
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I'm sure our Canadian members and friends here know, or know of, British Columbia Guide and Outfitter Bob Fontana.
Bob was killed by a Cape Buffalo while on safari in Tanzania last week. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. Below is the email I received from the Hunting Report.
The Hunting Report has just learned that Canadian outfitter Bob Fontana has been killed by a Cape buffalo in Tanzania while on safari with Luke Samaras Safaris. The fatal accident occurred yesterday in Masailand. The PH who was in the field with Fontana at the time is Paddy Curtis.
"I have spoken with everyone involved by radio," Samaras told The Hunting Report this morning. "And what I understand happened is, they were hunting lesser kudu in a fairly thick area when a buffalo charged from the side. He just came from nowhere. I'm told Paddy Curtis turned and fired at the buffalo and hit it. By that time, however, it had reached Fontana and gored him. It was too late."
Samaras said he did not have any evidence that the buffalo had been wounded previously. "Certainly, neither Fontana nor Curtis had shot it, or shot at it," Samaras said. Fontana was a partner with the Lancaster family in the operation of Nahanni Butte Outfitters. We confirmed that this morning with Stan Lancaster, who urged hunters booked with Nahanni Butte not to panic. "No one needs to worry about his hunt," Lancaster said. "Everything will go smooth despite this tragedy."
Lancaster described Fontana as much more than a business associate. "He was a friend of 20 years," Lancaster said. "I'm just glad he was doing what he loved when this happened."
We will have more about the accident and about Fontana in the August issue of The Hunting Report. In the meantime, our condolences to the family and friends of Bob Fontana. - Don Causey, Editor/Publisher.
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NitroX
.700 member
Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 40637
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...
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It is a sad incident.
It will be interesting to hear more details when they come about, especially the condition of the buffalo - healthy, wounded, lion bitten etc.
Most buffalo hunting is pretty uneventful but eventually someone does get smashed. That's why I guess it is called hunting dangerous game.
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John aka NitroX
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Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"
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Ingwe
.275 member
Reged: 08/07/04
Posts: 70
Loc: Texas
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Yes it is a shame. It also illustrates once again that one does not have to be hunting dangerous game in order to be hammered by dangerous game. I have often wondered what percentage of hunters are killed by dangerous game when they were hunting something less dangerous, as compared to the hunters who are killed by dangerous game while they were actually hunting dangerous game. If such a statistic were available I would not be surprised at all to see that a high percentage were killed by dangerous game while they were hunting something else. It just goes to show that hunting francolin can be just as dangerous as hunting lion, because how do you know that you won't have a close encounter with a lion while hunting francolin? Heck, I consider ducks to be one of the most dangerous animals to hunt in North America because of ridiculously high numbers of alligators you have to share the pond with, and that is most assuredly not a joke. Kind of blurs the definition of "hunting dangerous game," I think.
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Learn from other people's mistakes - you can't live long enough to make them all yourself.
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