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Home My WebLink AboutZurich Herald, 1955-10-06, Page 7Never Trust An African Buffalo The man in the bus13 hat was strolling across a dusty track to take a closer look at a small herd of elephant grazing a few hundred yards off. Being on a photograph• expe- dition, he carried no rifle, Yet when he heard something move behind him he was not alarmed. Small deer, fast ' but harmless, were common in the area. Nev- ertheless, he looked round just to check.' There, twenty yards away and surveying him with a fiery eye, stood a buffalo. Buffalo are classed among the Big Pour of Africa -elephant, lion, rhino and , buffalo -as the wild creatures offering most danger to the hunter. Would this fellow live up to his reputation? Twenty yards is no distance when there are no trees to climb. A buffalo can charge at 35 m.p.h. The situation was fraught with obvious peril. As a delaying action, the man snorted, waved his arms. The buff snorted back -and moved closer. Then it tossed its head -and moved closer still. The, man took the only chance he could. To run would have been fatal. Roaring loudly and waving his arms more vigor- ously, he advanced. The buffalo stopped, turned -was that a sneer on his face? -and trotted off. According to big; game hun- ters, that man was a very lucky one. The buffalo is often rated as the most dangerous of the Big Four. "Never trust a buffalo" are words that have been writ- ten more than once. Especially true is this when the buff is in heavily -wooded or jungle areas. And these days, this is where he is most likely to be found. The buffalo has learned to distrust the plains. This is where the armed hunter has the advantage and the wild creatures are sitting targets. In close country, the tale is different, and any hunter will quail at the thought of pursuing a wounded buffalo into thick vegetation. It is here that the four -legged fighter's vindictive cunning comes into his own and where he will stand up and fight until the last drop of blood has drained from his body. He likes to catch his pursuer on a narrow trail whence escape Is impossible. His triangle trap has brought disaster to many a hunter, experienced and other- wise. This triangle trap appears to be a trick used only by buffalo. A wounded lion will lie in a patch of bush facing the pur- suer. When the opportunity arises, he will spring. If the rifle shot is accurate, however, only one is needed to effect a kill. The buffalo ignores both these "rules:" He will lead off into OCTOBER SAFETY -This draw- ing won first prize as the Octo- • ber safety poster in the Ameri- can Automobile Association's nationwide contest for 1955.56 school safety posters. It was drawn by Robert Wong, of the Galileo High School. the bush, leaving a clear blood trail behind him. Some way in he will turn and double back on a trail parallel to the first, The hunter moves up the first trail until suddenly the buff will appear behind him. There is nothing reckless about a buff's courage. He comes in at an even controlled pace, swing- ing hie, great, horned head from side fel side, ready to brush aside any opposition. Unlike the lion, he is rarely downed by one shot. There 'is a case on record in which it took ten hits -all in vulnerable places -before the buffalo went down. Like the animals used in the Spanish bull -rings, the African buffalo never gives up. One hunter, caught from be- hind, was flung by a buff's horns. Most creatures would have been content with this. But not the malevolent buffalo. Walking up to the wounded man, he tossed him again, and then stood by in case a flicker of life should show that he hadn't finished his work. Fortunately the hunter was unconscious and didn't move. The buffalo was badly wounded, and, after licking his victim's face with his tongue, keeled over. He preferred to die on his feet than move away! Another hunter trailing a wounded buff, was caught on a narrow path. The creature came at him from the rear, hav- ing played the triangle trap. The buff's horns caught the man be- hind the thighs. He was thrown some yards and lost his rifle. The buff moved over and re- peated the performance, and only a miracle saved the hunter -he was tossed back to where his rifle lay. Before he was gored, he just had time to grab the weapon and fire. Oscar Koenig, one of Central Africa's best-known personali- ties, tells a story that fully illus- trates the fury and power of a wounded buffalo. Out hunting, he took two shots at one on the run. He failed to bring it down, and the animal disappeared into thick vegeta- tion. Koenig, another European, and two African gun -bearers, went in to find the wounded creature and put it out of its misery. The vegetation had closed in behind. the buffalo, and they had to follow the blood spoor through narrow tunnels on their hands and knees. This blood spoor showed that both shots had pen- etrated the animal's lungs. In single file, Koenig leading, the four took thirty minutes to crawl about a hundred yards. It was very dark, the sun's rays being unable to penetrate the thick vegetation. The terrible silence almost persuaded Koenig that the buf- falo had died, when the -African behind him whispered: "There he is. Look out, he's coming!" From nine yards -the distance was measured exactly later - the buffalo rose out of the un- dergrowth and charged. Koenig fired instantly and hit the ani- mal in the chest. The four -legged fighter staggered for a brief in- stant and then bore on. Koenig wrote later: "I could see the black wrinkles on the forehead. The whole massive body towered over me, seemed already on top of me. I pulled the trigger again, then hurled everything away and ran -ran for my life in utter terror, tear- ing through the bushes, breath- less, and almost senseless" But the huge animal was dead. The second shot had caught him between the eyes and reached the brain -from a range of eight feet! Little wonder that, as Koenig says: "Hardened hunters will take off their hats" when a buf- falo dies. "Of all big game to be found in Africa, the buffalo is perhaps the proudest." c` OSSWORD PUZZLE ACT.OSS 1. Was carred 5. Stitch 8, St, all valley 12. Above 13. dander 14. Cry of tim haeolts n a l 16.ISxeept 16. liretric measure 17 t'ounder of the t eyfitone Stnte 19, Cut thin 10. /kilts bie'h 22One of the oceans 24. r'ht eat' 26. Dose for a mature 27. Pent 21, Royal stable., beeper 33. Make certain Wnllt In water 35. Within reomb form) 87. Product of nntItral distx1101ton. 39. fires o 47. Tien191n6'r 4 3, Tropelled 48. rtl'sic^1 i'111,11nl"nt 48, n"nnrnnikhed 81 "t' c''r(lS 1111o11 337 , 6' 65. 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