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A HAIRY HUNTING SEASON

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BY DAVID HULME

2006 was a hairy season for hunting, at Roger Whittall Safaris and elsewhere. Charge incidents were definitely higher than the norm, with RWS hunters being charged no less than eight times. Fortunately, serious injury was averted. One professional hunter in particular, Richard Tabor, had a tough time of it. Richard was charged four times in as many months, by two elephant cows and two buffalo bulls. Two of the four attacks were totally unprovoked. Fortunately for Richard and his clients, sharp senses and accurate shooting saved various days and nobody came to serious grief.
I wish to briefly recount the story of Rich’s first charge of the 2006 season, which was by a buffalo bull in Chewore South Safari Area. Although I have already written this story, the events that created it are so astounding that it is worth retelling. I should imagine that this story will be told many times in the years to come. I know four men who shall most certainly be telling their grandchildren. Those men are PH Rich Tabor, Ed Peters from Michigan, USA, Zambezi the Parks game scout and Oriah the tracker.
The aforementioned men were walking down the bed of the Mkanga River in June last year, when totally out of the blue they became the focus of an injured buffalo bull’s rage. It was later deduced that the bull had a ripped and festering scrotal wound, which, as we’ll all agree, would be good reason for rage. In any case, Rich was leading the way, with Ed second in line, when they rounded some rocks at a bend in the river and came face to face with the dagga boy. It was hidden behind a massive boulder and it came at the men from the left, from five yards. Back-peddling at speed and trying to ready his rifle at the same time, Ed pitched over backwards into the sand. The bull bore down on Ed, massive bosses lowered for the toss. At the very last second, disaster was averted by a shot from Rich, which turned the brute. The buffalo blundered off across the riverbed and disappeared into heavy jesse beyond, collecting a couple of rounds from game scout Zambezi’s AK47 as it went.
Naturally, the men were totally shell-shocked by the attack, but they knew they had to finish what had been started. After a prolonged smoke break, they began to track the bull into the jesse. Oriah hung back, sticking with the blood trail, whilst the others stalked warily out front, Rich at the helm. A low whistle from Oriah, a finger pointing off into the jesse….. And then all hell broke loose as the bull came smashing through the bush, directly at Rich. The buffalo probably began its charge from about ten yards, but was only visible at four, when it received the first barrel from Rich’s .470 Krieghoff. It took the second barrel at precisely zero yards and stumbled heavily, as Rich spun from harm’s way and set about reloading. Staggering on but going down, the bull ploughed over Ed and into Zambezi, bowling the scout over! Ed managed to get off one shot before he went to ground. Though he leapt aside at the last instant, pounding hoofs still struck his legs mercilessly. It is quite unbelievable that neither of Ed’s legs was broken, but extensive bruising would later tell the tale. Extensive bruising from groin to ankle.
A couple of hours after the encounter, Richard Tabor would describe to me the sight that met his eyes when he turned with his double reloaded.
‘Everything and everyone was down and scrabbling about. Ed was closest to me, the buffalo was in the middle, and Zambezi had been knocked over there, to the edge of the clearing. The buffalo was on its side, flailing hooves seeking purchase and ever hooking its horns, desperate to connect and kill someone. It is an absolute miracle that it didn’t. At that moment, Ed, understandably disorientated, stood up, as did the buffalo. Ed was between me and the buff and I couldn’t take a shot, and then the bull ran Ed over again. Although Ed did jump aside and hit the deck each time, he had now been run over twice by this buffalo. It was all quite unbelievable, and if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t have believed it. But now both men were down, the buff was up, and I was reloaded. I let him have it with both barrels and that ended the affair.’
After Rich put the bull down, he rushed in to drag Ed and Zambezi clear. Though he was sure the bull was now dead, one never knows in this game. Rich was astounded to find that both men were able to help themselves clear – he felt certain someone must be badly injured. When he had ascertained that everyone was okay, Rich walked back to that buffalo bull, reloaded with rifle at the ready. Then, though he knew it was already stone dead, Rich brained that nasty old buff at point blank range with a .500 grain solid.
As long as I live, I will always remember that radio call from Oriah. I was riding Pete Wood’s rig that day, and we were hunting with our friend Tim Hauck, from Michigan. Tim and Ed are long time hunting buddies and they had journeyed to Chewore together, to hunt lion, leopard and buffalo with Roger Whittall Safaris. We were heading to a lion blind when Pete heard the call. Listening for less than a minute to the distorted and clearly panicked voice of Oriah, Pete rammed the Cruiser into reverse, shouting out to us in the rear as he did so. A buffalo bull had run over Ed and Zambezi – Ed’s leg was apparently broken and Zambezi had been gored in the chest. Panic stations personified. Usually it would take two hours or more to reach the Mkanga from where we were, but Pete Wood made it in less than one. Quite a brilliant display of off-road driving it was. Imagine our relief when we discovered that Oriah, in shock and having just scaled a cliff to get radio signal, had exaggerated his report – injuries were minimal with the worst being Zambezi’s cracked ribs. How can one have minimal injuries after being trampled by a buffalo? It just doesn’t happen. But it did happen to Ed Peters and Zambezi the game scout. As I said, an absolute miracle.

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PH RICHARD TABOR, TRACKER ORIAH, ED PETERS, GAMESCOUT ZAMBEZI, AND THE BULL THAT ALMOST KILLED MORE THAN ONE OF THEM

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INCOMING: BUFFALO COW CHARGING PH'S PETE WOOD AND MAGARA DIIRAPENGA, TIM HAUCK AND I

A few days after the Tim Hauck/Ed Peters hunt, I began a dream safari with PH Thierry Labat and the Hutchison family of Atlanta, Georgia. Sometime during the course of the Hutchison hunt, Rich Tabor was again charged, by an elephant cow this time, in Chewore once more. Dropped at five paces was the word heard. Hunting for a tuskless cow, Rich and his client had tracked a small elephant herd all morning, eventually coming up on them in broken country flanking the Chingondo River. As they approached the herd, a crusty cow (tusked) mock charged them twice, and was twice shouted down by Rich. But, third time unlucky and the cow came for real – head lowered, trunk curled and ears spread. Rich had no option but to put her down. And then there was more word – Pete Wood and his client had been charged by a buffalo bull, also in Chewore. Pete, Tim Hauck, veteran PH Magara Diirapenga and I had been charged by a buffalo cow a few days before the unbelievable happenings with Rich, Ed and the dagga boy on the Mkanga River, and it appeared that the season’s incidents were mounting up. Mounting up at pace. Unbelievably, it was not yet over for Pete and Rich, and they were each on the receiving end of one more buffalo charge, before it was the turn of others. Those others came in the form of PH Thierry Labat and our very own Mr Roger Whittall himself.
I took some time off after the Hutchison hunt, to write up the Tim Hauck/Hutchison family hunting journals and a few articles. Yes, it does take me some time to write a few articles – some considerable time! The incident with Roger, Thierry and the leopard took place two days before I returned to work. Thierry related the story when I arrived in camp. This is what happened that day, down on the Turgwe River.
A big tom leopard had been wounded the previous evening, and Roger, Thierry and PH Brent Leesmay were called in to help. Dense does not even begin to describe the bush where the trail of the leopard led into. This is Turgwe riverine – denser than dense and dominated by the infamous lantana bush with its cruel, clinging thorn. Roger brought in his two dogs – Bang and India – and soon they were hot on the trail. The hunters were not too hot on the trail though, with the lantana, reduced visibility and the prospect of facing an enraged leopard at any second being the major progress hindrances. Thierry and Roger were out front, with Brent a few metres behind – always good to have a tail gunner they say. The men had just entered a smallish clearing, when Bang the pointer ran across their front, nose to the ground and obviously on scent. Bang entered compact bush to the right, and then, after a couple of barks, came hurtling out with a yelp. The men knew that the dog had seen the wounded cat. Poised for action, Roger and Thierry scanned the bush-line ten yards off. A fallen tree trunk at eye level hampered efforts to see, and Thierry leant down to try and look underneath said trunk. And then the leopard charged. When I asked Thierry from how far it came, he said: ‘God knows – there was just bush and then there was leopard, mere metres from us, grunting and streaking along the ground at a speed I’ve never seen in an animal before.’ When I asked him how long, he said: ‘Two seconds is a long time….’
Standing side by side, Roger and Thierry fired simultaneously – instinctively, without aiming, for there was obviously no time. Roger was carrying his trusty Holland and Holland .465/500 double, and Thierry had his .458 Lott. Incredibly, both shots hit the leopard hard, which is just as well because the cat’s momentum crashed it into the legs of Roger Whittall, knocking him to the ground. The leopard lay threshing about and dying not one metre from Roger, and he leant over and discharged the second barrel into it at point blank range, ending the affair.
‘I’m just thankful that I carry my rifle and not a shotgun on leopard follow-ups,’ says Roger Whittall. ‘Both Thierry and I hit that leopard solidly and, I believe, killed it. By the time it careered into me, it was probably stone dead. A shotgun wouldn’t have stopped that cat – it was coming through the grass like an express train, and the wound it sustained the previous evening seemed not to be hampering it at all.’
Interesting reflections by one of this country’s most highly experienced big game hunters.

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PH THIERRY LABAT AND THE BRUTE OF A LEOPARD THAT NEARLY HAD HIM AND/OR ROGER WHITTALL

Believe it or not, there was more to come. Though PH Richard Tabor was out of the spotlight for a few weeks, he was soon firmly back in it – fully beamed up, so to speak. The charger was once again an elephant cow, and the chargees were Richard, elephant hunter John Kirlin from the USA, tracker Oriah and I. It was originally my intention to include a few paragraphs of that terrifying charge in this story, but my Editor has finally figured out how to activate word count and I know I’m fast approaching the limit. In any case, that elephant charge is a story that needs to stand alone.
Yes, 2006 certainly was a hairy hunting season. Let’s hope things tone down a little in 2007. Good hunting friends, and keep your eyes on the trail.

Edited by David_Hulme (05/04/07 02:02 AM)