Page 30 - Safari Trails Dec 2020

The African buffalo is a mean, intelligent, and vindictive animal and very dangerous when wounded.
They have been known to lie in wait in the tall grass and ambush the hunter. The broadside heart
shot is the same location anatomically for all animals. A buffalo charges with his head up giving a
clear frontal shot to the heart. A shot placed to the nose may reach the brain for an instant kill.
A Nile buffalo charging out of the tall grass hit the dirt only three feet from me thanks to my.416
Rem Mag with 400 gr solids. I load a 400 gr. Swift A-Frame soft point for the first shot, the next two
are 400 gr solids. If the only possible shot is from straight behind the animal, place the bullet just
under where the tail is attached; affectionately called “The Texas Heart Shot.” If the bullet hits the
spine the animal will collapse; if not, it may pass through the stomach to the lungs and the animal will
‘hump-up’ giving you time to make a broardside heart shot. I have killed two this way.
Always approach a downed animal with your finger on the trigger and place a final shot to the
brain….some animals have been known to recover and kill the hunter. While hunting in Turkey
for a Mid-Eastern Brown Bear in the Kackar Mountains by the light of a full moon, the bear I shot 20
minutes earlier and thought to be dead jumped from a ledge at 8 feet as I approached. All I could see
was his wide-open mouth….I fired from the hip with my 416…..he landed with his nose on my foot.

The African leopard is hunted most often after dark and usually from blinds baited with an Impala
or hindquarter of a larger animal. The cat will jump into the tree just after the sun goes down. When
the spot light goes on you have just a few seconds to decide on the best angle to hit the heart. The
7mm Mag or .30-caliber rifle is adequate. If the cat is wounded and the blood trail shows lung blood,
he will not go far into thick cover. Let him die and find him in the morning. Trailing a wounded Leopard
in the dark through thick cover is treacherous and not advised…..how do I know?

Hunting North American Game

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