When hunting my water buffalo last year, Matt Graham mentioned we would need to hit it hard so it didn't get into the open water. We also waited until it was facing land before shooting so if it ran it ran the right direction for the first few steps.
I also told him I wanted him to shoot it as well as soon as it looked like running into the open floodplains. It was far enough out and the water did get deeper furtherer out. Plus who knows if there were crocs out there.
He actually said "no I'll wait", but I said, "no, blast it". As it turned out it dropped like a brain shot doe when hit by the .450, but a little while later did try to get up again.
-------------------- John aka NitroX
...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"