In memoriam - Professional Hunter Greg Michelson killed by Buffalo

[JP50]

A tragic set of events, and condolences to all concerned, as all will be blaming themselves and hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Would anyone know what percentage of buffalo shot need to be tracked and a follow up shot required?

 

[mark-hunter]

Many commenting haven’t had to stand tall, several of whom have limited to no African DG experience.

My last hunt was buffalo hunt in dangerous game country. (report to follow soon)

This was my most difficult shot to make ever. Not because it was actually difficult, but because of adrenaline and responsibility that comes behind the trigger.

If the first shot is poor, a hunter has possibility to loose the animal for ever, and get his money evaporated. (Financial concern)
He will come home and tell friends and family he failed, wounded animal lost, etc. (social concerns and strains, for some)
Or loose the animal in the bush, and face the charge later, which brings entire hunting team in danger. (safety and ethical concern)

Psychological stress is high on client/hunter, for the consequences of that first shot. At least it was for me, and it was not comparable to any plains game hunt I made earlier.

For many hunters, DG hunt is hunt of a life time, which they have been hoping for for years.
Preparing for years.
Planning for years.
And for some, maybe the one and only DG hunt in a lifetime.
One chance in a lifetime to get only, focused on that first shot.

All those years of planning and hoping come down to these ten days in the bush.

Then it gets to pressure of time.
Time is limited. 10 days, 9 days, 5 days, 4 days, 3 days, last day, the last sunset....

Many things come into calculation.
To fire the first shot, just before sun set? Have tracking in night, or postpone tracking till morning while animal is walking to another country? (decision by PH)

For the shot in the morning when all day is there for eventual tracking, is not the same as shot in the evening, when the stakes are much higher.

Then we have shot at DG on a first day of hunt.
Or shot at DG on a last day of hunt.

And then consider a high value shot, on a last day of hunt, maybe in the evening when client can easily make compromise on less then 100% certainty, just to get a chance for so hard wanted DG animal?

Years of planning, maybe years of savings, and next chance if no shot is taken to be maybe never again?
And last day of hunting closing so fast?
Many hunters will be tempted to take shot on last day of hunt, which they would not take on a first day.

Heavy recoil rifles, and clients with training, or maybe without training, add to this picture.

I think that in general, considering all above and high stakes at table, there is higher percentage of bad shots in DG hunting, then when compared to plains game hunt. Big DG animals are also tougher then PG and more resilient to the poor shot
I really dont know of percentage of good and bad shots in practice, but experienced PH could confirm or deny this.

That shot, therefore is clients commitment and responsibility, under the permanent pressure of possible failure.

PH, he has his own share of responsibility and stress..
And he has all kinds of clients, with all kinds of skills, and all types of character
Bring the client to position to shoot.
And when wounding happens with reliable client, or non reliable client, he has to go in the bush to sort out the things.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Unfortunately for the Professional Hunters, Trackers, Game Scouts. If hunting with a new client. They have no idea how the hunter will perform at zero hour.

Its too bad a Hunter does not go through the same level of vetting a PH does. To hunt DG. Of course this isn’t practical. But not impossible.

When I was climbing at extreme altitudes. Several outfits and or teams I climbed with required me to submit a resume’ of experience. And to get a physical and mental examination. Then submit the results before being excepted. Then after arriving we were all tested for skill level and proficiency.

But I’ve seen the opposite while climbing in Nepal. People that had no right to be on the mountain other than the means to pay their way.

I’ve thought many times that PH’s and guides unfortunately have to put their lives in peoples hands that they don’t know.

 

[HankBuck]

I tend to agree, however, we don’t know the circumstances. A PH I hunted with had one of Condoleza Rice’s security detail on a hunt in Zambia after she calmed things down in Kenya. The guy was having trouble keeping up on a buffalo. The PH looks back and the dude is stone dead. Heart attack in the bush! My point is that we don’t know what the hunter or observer were struggling with so we should probably show some grace until all the facts are known.

@WAB - you succinctly made a very good point - We should “show some grace”. I am surprised at how many are writing posts like-they-were-There and pontificating about how things should have been handled..like “The Real House Wives of Safari”

 

[Scanos]

A quote from the late great Col. Jeff Cooper related to hunting Buffalo comes to mind. "....I came to understand.... that if you always do everything right you will never have any trouble. This is true, but people--even excellent people--do not always do everything right. We do our best, or we should, but that is sometimes not enough.

Thus if a man never makes a mistake he will never have trouble with a buffalo, nor with anything else. Let him who has never made a mistake feel smug."

 

[Ontario Hunter]

The only thing that for sure went "wrong" in this entire episode was the first shot placement. Period. But bad shots happen to the best of us, even experienced PHs. I know because I've made a few myself and seen plenty of them on YouTube. After that things went "badly" for buffalo, client, PH, and rescue team. But "badly" is not "wrong." Except  maybe for that first shot, what else could have been or should have been done differently that would have produced a different outcome? From where I'm sitting ... nothing. The animal must be dispatched as soon as possible so the track is followed. Every bit of firepower was kept into play. The parade of six people was cut in half to three and I certainly see nothing "wrong" with that. Had I been the client, I would have insisted on it. Indeed, I have insisted on it. During my first safari a deal came up to cull a cow buffalo from a breeding operation. I was at first luke warm to the idea but finally persuaded. It turns out the lodge operator, his client, and tracker decided to tag along with my PH and our tracker. Then we pick up the farm hand (lodge operator's former tracker). I know absolutely nothing about buffalo hunting but I do know they are dangerous as hell. We walk about a mile and are heading into very heavy cover in the foothills at the base of a mountain range. I stopped my PH. "Listen, I am NOT AT ALL comfortable going into that thick bush looking for a herd of mean buffalo with this many people. Just unnecessary bodies to get in the way. How about just me, you, and the tracker?" There was a pow-wow in Afrikans. PH returned and said it would be me, him, the lodge operator, and farm hand who knew the land and animals. Okay, at least the lodge operator was well armed with 416 Rigby (I was shooting 375 rental and PH was backup with 458 Lott). Before the rest of the merry band departed for the trucks I removed the sling from my rifle and gave it to the tracker. About an hour later we suddenly found ourselves with buffalo on three sides at very close range in very thick stuff. They busted and fortunately no one was run over. I was glad our numbers had been thinned!

 

[WAB]

We don’t even know it was poor shot placement. I can show you some failed pre bonded Hornady DGX bullets recovered after a dust up in Mozambique that will scare the crap out of you. All we really know is that it went badly, a good man is gone, and a family is grieving.

 

[375Fox]

Very sad.

Doesn’t say anything about where the buffalo was hit or the distance of the shot but since the bull traveled a long ways and had a lot of steam left, it’s obvious he was poorly hit.

And I doubt Greg would have let the client shoot if the range or shot opportunity were unacceptable. And you can assume Greg was coaching the client as to aimpoint.

So obviously the client failed to do his part and didn’t deliver an accurate shot. And a good man lost his life as a result . And the client has to live with that knowledge.

It is also amazing how cunning the bull was circling to the side to watch his trail. You can’t underestimate their ability to pull a move like that!.

I often wonder how many people hunt DG and the step up to a .375 or above has them scared of or intimidated by the rifle.

In any event if you can’t shoot the gun accurately and/or remain calm when it’s time to fire you should stick to PG

And it goes without saying you need to practice with the big gun before going over there..
A lot!

Very sad story and I pray for all that knew and loved Greg. I never met the man but the people who did speak highly of him. Even though he was doing his job he deserved better from his client

There is something to be said for using the right bullets too. A bullet in the right spot that doesn’t hold together to reach vitals is just as bad as someone who can’t shoot accurately due to recoil. I think we owe it to our PHs to do everything we can even if that means spending an extra $1 per bullet. This incident is really sad to see. It bothers me seeing certain members here spread bad advice saying it makes minimal difference. It makes minimal difference until an incident like this occurs.

 

[Frederik]

Any DG hunting should be respected even if someone has over 100 buffalo on the wall!!!

 

[TERMINATOR]

There is something to be said for using the right bullets too. A bullet in the right spot that doesn’t hold together to reach vitals is just as bad as someone who can’t shoot accurately due to recoil. I think we owe it to our PHs to do everything we can even if that means spending an extra $1 per bullet. This incident is really sad to see. It bothers me seeing certain members here spread bad advice saying it makes minimal difference. It makes minimal difference until an incident like this occurs.

Yes. Swift AF or the now unavailable TBBCs are all I will use on Cape Buffalo

300 gr .375 TBBC … from my 1st Cape Buffalo … perfect mushroom…293.7 grains as recovered .. 97.9% weight retention. Found in far shoulder. I see no reason to switch until I am out of them

But as you said…picking a stout expanding bullet of your choice is crucial

 

[Huvius]

When I was climbing at extreme altitudes. Several outfits and or teams I climbed with required me to submit a resume’ of experience. And to get a physical and mental examination. Then submit the results before being excepted. Then after arriving we were all tested for skill level and proficiency.

But I’ve seen the opposite while climbing in Nepal. People that had no right to be on the mountain other than the means to pay their way.

This a very good analogy.
Peaks in Nepal - Everest in particular - are littered with bodies of climbers as well as Sherpa guides. Some clients that shouldn’t be there but also some of the most prepared and skilled climbers as well.
The correlation being that your PH is in a similar role as a Sherpa guide, taking on responsibilities and risks in conditions which can change in an instant.
It’s called Dangerous Game for a reason.
The Dangerous Game can be a buffalo, lion, etc. but can also be a mountain or a racecar or a snake - you just never know.

If one wants to avoid risk, I guess he could stay locked up in the house but even that carries some risk - like almost accidentally slitting your own throat with a chef’s knife. That happened to me in an almost unimaginable freak occurrence. I’ll get around to telling the story on the Humorous Jokes , Stories or Pictures forum.

All that said ,my sincere condolences and prayers go out to his family.

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

First of all in no way am I referring to this particular hunt so I am not qualified to speak about shot placement in this case.

In my professional experience a shot to the nervous system is going to put the animal on the ground. A perfect heart shot will kill the animal in 40 to 70 meters. If the animal receives a perfect heart shot at 30 meters and goes 60 meters away all fine all good, if it decides those 60 meters of life he has left is spent going your direction shot #2 is pretty damned important.

Lon

 

[grand veneur]

This is about the mourning of the loss of a loved hunter and not about what hunting tourists in Africa have to do with the rifles and cartridges that use, although strangely enough there are no recommendations for those who try to shot buffaloes by using bows and arrows or muzzle-loading rifles and lead bullets very far from the concept of a Swift A-Frame bullets. Strangely enough that in this cases all projectiles seem to be ideal for this purposes.

 

[375Fox]

This is about the mourning of the loss of a loved hunter and not about what hunting tourists in Africa have to do with the rifles and cartridges that use, although strangely enough there are no recommendations for those who try to shot buffaloes by using bows and arrows or muzzle-loading rifles and lead bullets very far from the concept of a Swift A-Frame bullets. Strangely enough that in this cases all projectiles seem to be ideal for this purposes.

Irresponsible behavior and decisions by clients can lead to people getting hurt. It’s not irrelevant to the topic especially if someone considers what they could do differently to avoid a bad situation like this.

 

[grand veneur]

Irresponsible behavior and decisions by clients can lead to people getting hurt. It’s not irrelevant to the topic especially if someone considers what they could do differently to avoid a bad situation like this.

Leave me alone with the word client and the risk for the PH. I prefer to hunt alone, like in my country at home and like I did it for years in West Africa. You can dislike as much as you want, but as long as there are people who shoot buffaloes with whatever, you don't need to explain to me what works or doesn't work. Make sure that hunting in Africa is no longer a playground for big children and then we want speak together about what has worked over almost a century and is still working.

 

[grand veneur]

Dislike is a lack of arguments.

 

[TERMINATOR]

Leave me alone with the word client and the risk for the PH. I prefer to hunt alone, like in my country at home and like I did it for years in West Africa. You can dislike as much as you want, but as long as there are people who shoot buffaloes with whatever, you don't need to explain to me what works or doesn't work. Make sure that hunting in Africa is no longer a playground for big children and then we want speak together about what has worked over almost a century and is still working.

Because we all know that most American's and European's fly to Africa and just "wing it" on their own....hardly anybody uses a PH....especially on Dangerous Game.

LOL

 

[375Fox]

Dislike is a lack of arguments.

It’s low class on your part to make this thread about you. There are other threads I’d be glad to argue with you on.

 

[NIGHTHAWK]

Very sad and tragic. Sorry to hear this and condolences to his family and friends.

 

[Neil Molendyk]

After reading all the comments, I see no mention of a backup shot by the PH after the client's initial shot. Maybe it wasn't available, maybe in a previous discussion between client and PH, the client chose not to have the PH take one. We don't know, we weren't there. It is a moot point now. Regardless, PH Greg Michelson has lost his life doing what I'm sure he loved as I am sure that the vast majority of PHs do. May you Rest in Eternal Peace Sir.