Jumbo hunt gone wrong

[BRICKBURN]

My client (Mr X) was from the big country on the other side of the world. ..............The previous year he hunted a Buffalo with another outfit. I presumed that he enjoyed it as he spoke about the hunt often. .................

An absolute favourite part of this post is your ability to imply very politely what you think.

Fritz, This is the type of thing that concerns me about hunting as a PH. You are supposed to "know" someone you have just met and protect them from their own inexperience, narcissism, ignorance and some times stupidity, all while maintaining a pleasant demeanour. I guess that is where the Professional part comes in to the title. It is a tough job.

Before hunting in Africa I hoped to be able to have enough information and knowledge to actually interact with my PH's when I hunted and I have gone to extensive efforts to ensure that. I do not get it perfect every time and neither did you. It happens you are not alone.

No one with an ethical bone in their body would fail to be upset in the circumstances.

What ever the outcome you followed through with integrity and did as promised. I appreciate your candour and honesty.

Thanks for the opportunity to learn from your experience.

 

[Norwegianwoods]

Thanks for another great, but sad story Fritz.

In my opinion, you did nothing wrong, but only you can be the judge about that as you were there and you have the experience.

I guess I never could be a PH as I would very clearly tell the client my opinions about him.

 

[Second Wind]

First, let me qualify all of the following statements and opinions by stating categorically that I am not a bow hunter, do not aspire to be but, have had some experience with bow hunters domestically.

My issue here is essentially this:

In a region where a firm line is often drawn between a 9.3 x 62mm and a .375 Holland (one legal for DG and the other not) would it not seem appropriate that some level of proficiency be assured of a hunter who wished to confront a large, dangerous animal with a bow?

I do agree that a proper bow in the hands of a competent operator is both lethal and a thing of beauty, however, in the hands of anything less, it is a train wreck waiting at the crossing.

My own experience with bow hunters has usually consisted of wounded game recovery. So often now that we no longer allow bow hunting at the ranch.

In other threads a lot is made of shot placement. Some of the bow hunters I have dealt with in the past considered shot placement to consist of "well, I hit him"

It just appears to me to be a difficult weapon to master to the level that might be required for a DG hunt.

I read the story twice and hind sight is ALWAYS 20-20, sometimes even a little better, however, I cannot find fault with Fritz on this one at any juncture. He did his job as best as he could given the parameters of the situation and I commend him for his forthright delivery, patience and commercial diplomacy.

I believe the fault here lays exclusively with the hunter. He voluntarily tasked himself to perform one (1) act, that being, when an acceptable shot was presented by the animal, deliver the goods. He did not.

His persona, attitude and deportment aside, he came to Africa to take an elephant with a bow and when presented the opportunity, did not deliver. The situation and results are of his own making.

If, as also suggested, Fritz had packed him in after round 1, I conceded that a couple of elephants would have benefited but, the ultimate penalty would have been paid by Fritz and the client would have gone home with an additional topic to rag on about.

All in all it sounds like a bad situation all around but I think Fritz is carrying way to much of this

 

[BryceM]

Fritz,

I really enjoyed reading this account and I'm glad you shared it. Hunting is a primal, instinctive passion that few people are lucky enough to understand. Every single decent person who hunts has done something they regret. With an elephant the stakes are pretty high as this is a majestic creature. I've talked to more than one person who was saddened when they finally shot one and realized what they had done. Killing three to accomplish very little is pretty hard to stomach.

High-stakes endeavors come with high-stakes emotions. Hunting Big 5 certainly qualifies. If it went perfectly according to plan every time there would be no reason to hunt these animals. I'm no PH, but I can certainly emphasize with trying to take care of a client who is unrealistic about his own abilities and dishonest about his actions. My profession involves making high-stakes decisions in the medical field. As much as you try, bad things sometimes happen. Sometimes these have involved errors on my part. It's hard to get over this. When things go poorly in my arena it's often hard to separate emotion from fact.

I've learned a few things. Number one, after you've been bucked off, you have to get back on the horse. Number two, take advantage of mistakes to learn something. It sounds like your hunter probably didn't. From your description, you did, and therefore the elephants did not die for nothing. Number three - and this is important - the unpredictable nature of hunting is what makes it so phenomenally rewarding. I would be happy to hunt with you any time.

 

[Fritz Rabe]

Thank you for everyone's input here.
A long time ago I tried to implement some sort of test to see if a prospective bow hunter could at least hit the bulls-eye before a hunt in order to ensure that wounding is less.

This does not work at all.
I have seen guys that can hit a side-plate EVERY time out to 70y in any condition but when it comes to shooting the animal, they can not hit a barn from the inside.

Many years ago I had a guy that was a competition shooter with a rifle also on an Elephant hunt. He wanted to hunt it and shoot a Frontal Brain shot. He really could shoot his 375H&H well at any distance.
He took the shot at 35y and shot the elephant through the ear. His second shot went somewhere into the body but I managed to put it down.

I do not think that it has to do with shooting well. It is all about shooting well when adrenalin is pumping and you have a potential dangerous animal in front of you.

No one on earth can practice for that and I believe that no person can predict how he/she will behave when faced with such a situation before they have been in one. It is easy to say that you will do this and that when an animal charges or when you are spitting distance from it but I have seen to many times that nerves, adrenalin and excitement does strange things to humans.

The best I can do is to make sure that the equipment that is used by the client is up to the task and then try and prepare them for what they can expect. After that we play the cards as they fall.

 

[Ole Bally]

Well Fritz you certainly have my admiration for putting this out! I hope that the Zim PH learnt the valuable lessons presented to him on this hunt. To this group in general, You know it's so easy for people to say...well I'd just send the client home or 'kak' him out properly! Clearly they are not people's people in a service industry! What you'd like to do inside and what you actually do are two different things. Nothing good ever comes of getting to the point where you voice your negative opinions to the client or getting into an argument with him! If I ever felt that way, I'd just go to my room or for a short walk for some 'attitude adjustment' and calm down. The scene is what it is and you just have to deal with it gracefully. Poor decisions and poor shots are made daily on this continent and a good PH will just deal with whatever comes up to the best of his ability. I made a mistake once and had to pay for it financially and that's the last time I ever shot a clients animal unless it posed a danger to the hunting party or was due to cross a hostile boundary and I could anchor it for him with his permission. The thing is that you don't take the shot yourself so it's the one factor somewhat out of your control! I even have a specially designed set of shooting sticks to try and eliminate that too!
I believe that (and practiced) that the successful hunt and the challenge for the PH was about getting your client a close in as possible and then setting him up perfectly (all things considered) to ensure proper shot placement. The terrain is what it is and 'hunting' for me is about outwitting the quarry. This made 99% of my safaris unremarkable in terms of 'war stories' about close scrapes, charges and the like! When I listen to other PH's in social groups telling stories and showing scars I can't but wonder if they consider that hunt to have been a success??!!! Did that make me a dull and boring PH? I always wondered!
Good luck Fritz ...you're a good man!
As a small PS here, On a DG hunt, I never let the DG animals be the first thing he shot on the safari...I'd always kick it off with a small animal like a warthog or Impala! Just to try and get the measure of the man! Warthog are usually as easy to approach as Elephant so it made for a good preview of things to come!!!

 

[Fritz Rabe]

I appreciate your comments a lot. I have hunted/guided the complete Big 6 numerous times with a bow and with a rifle and I did have a few scrapes in the last 22 years. I always see that as a hunt that did not go well. I see that as - I made a mistake - because I either did not get the client close enough, calm enough or I did not see to it that the situation was good enough for the client to put one shot where it can do the most good.

I believe that a good hunt is where you only ever need one shot/animal. If that makes me a boring PH then so be it. It saves a lot of unpleasantness afterwords.

You are 100% correct. I also listen to and read on other forums about all the war stories of Dangerous game hunting. It even scares me.

I personally do not believe that there is such a thing as a complete dangerous animal in the bush just waiting to stomp, scratch, eat and kill us humans. It is 100% of the time because we either did something wrong or was not tuned in to the situation/environment around us.

Good luck with your season.

 

[JohannS]

Everyone has something go wrong in their life. What matters is that you know in your heart that you did your best! Sounds like you did and I take my hat off for you. Just put your heart in Gods hands and keep doing what you love. Hope your leopard hunt went well!

 

[canbow]

Hey Fritz what a great story, I have read this a couple times and realized that I am the infamous MR X you have told a marvelous tale but should have started by headling it with jumbo hunt gone wrong a fairy tail yes we were bluff charged by a young bull zim ph walked bristly toward him waving his hat and shouting which turned the bull at 12 yards you were at the ready to brain him the south african ph who set up the hunt for me was directly behind you my son was behind me videoing the whole scene remember ?? I turn to the camera and said I think Fritzie just lost his tan. My though at the time was there goes the hunt as I was quite sure you were going to pop him.but no amimals were harmed in the that scene.
After a few days I belive day 8 I was aproached by you and Zim ph and asked what I though of trying to hunt at night remember I asked you how would that work and is it even legal, no problem we have all kinds of lights and yes quite legal as we do most of our PAC hunts at night. Three nights later sitting in our lawn chairs in a small clearing that the game scouts had chopped out the bush by the waterhole 12 yards from us the eles came in we guessed about 50 when the light was turned on the wind swirled and they quickly departed the scene.
About 20 mins. later a ele came don the path fron the right when hit with the lights it quickly departed then one from the left same thing,Ithen commented that the only way that this would work was that we would have to let it come into the clearing .Zim ph says I have a plan when we see the head against the sky I will pull on your shirt and we will walk towardit then I will tug on your shirt again you get ready I will hit the light but you must shoot quickly remember some time passes and it happens I got the shot from 6 yards ele lets out a roar lights out and it is gone. The Zim ph and game scouts want to follow in the dark to get a direction you said it was no use we will come back in the morning, as we drive out of the area we see piles of eles we guess at least 200 next morning guess what no spoor as that herd came back and wiped out the spoor Zim ph at one point said they found some blood on both sides of the track so the arrow had broken out the far side The morning started to get quite hot the south african ph and parks ranger went to get a permit to continue for an extra day as my hunt permit had expired as yesterday was the last day of the hunt you after a few hours disapared my wife and self wandered about with a game scout for a bit then we decided to go back to the waterhole when we ran into you minus your girlfriend which you told us went back to camp there was only one vehicle there wew could only that she must have walked back the 20 or more klicks, by noon the vultures started to circle and drop in a small valley about 3/4 to a mile away whrn we got there it was out of the concession the birds were going down aprox300 yards away so parks ranger and two scouts went to inspect came back in about an hour and said yup it a dead ele but some body else shot it we have to go you got into a heated argument with them saying that it was B.S the wife asked if we could go and take some pictures No it private land can"t go there
We looked around the rest of the day found nothing more After supper you took me aside and told me that this had been done only once before,shooting an elehant at night with a bow and that it was't quite legal so we don't want to talk about it right!! Remember Writing this it sounds like a fish story I will admitt BUT I have the video and a witness the south african ph who was there every day all day except the morning when he and the parks ranger went for the extention permit
P.S.So in ending I reading your fairy tale am now waiting with batted breath for the return of my tusks and broadhead If you don't have them maybe it would be a good idea to getto me in the mail or something I will be getting in touch with my guy from south africa and we can work this out eh.

 

[Second Wind]

Canbow,

You weave an interesting, though somewhat contradictory tale but, without even seeming to judge, allow me to work with you just a bit.

Tip No. 1 - proof reading, punctuation, spelling and syntax; correctly done it makes your narrative eminently more readable.

Tip No. 2 - Why don't we take a moment and give a bit more effort to that profile. Nope, don't need your name or other private information but, in this case, without even a little information your gravitas is sorely lacking

Tip No. 3 - You are new to this forum, others are not, and while the duration of attendance herein does not automatically convert personal narration to indisputable fact it does, by inference, bestow a sliver of bona fides in such a controversy

Tip No. 4 - As I have reiterated previously, this is a forum where gentlemen exchange experiences, opinions and information. It is not the place for accusation, snide remark or threat, regardless of how veiled they may be.

I found your narrative and the manner they were presented personally repugnant and felt they did a disservice to the members gathered. If your account of the facts differs from the assertions advanced by another member, I urge you to present your rendition factually and without personal remark. Then after questioning by interested members, allow each to determine the relative veracity of each through their own methodology

I will leave you with this. There are numerous, quick witted, articulate and experienced members in attendance from time to time in this forum making it an ill considered venue in which to launch personal attack or delve into unsupported character assassination. Facts aside, such deportment is a marvelous way to leave embarrassed.

All that being said and taking it in the spirit and context intended, I welcome your presence and encourage you to enjoy the many forums and individuals represented at this web site.

Graciously,

 

[Fritz Rabe]

Hi there Paul.
I hope that you are doing well. I can see why you might have thought that it was you that I wrote about. The date in the post states that it was in 2010 when in fact it was in 2009. For that I sincerely apologise with the deepest regret. By the time I realised that I typed the date wrong, it was too late for me to edit it. I left it at that as I did not think that it was worthwhile to contact Jerome just to change the date as it has no relevance to the story. I will take full responsibility for that error if I have harmed or insulted you in any way by that mistake.

That unfortunately is the one and only resemblance to your hunt. If still you feel that you are the one that I wrote about then there is not much that I can do or say that will change your opinion. I can understand that as you went home with nothing to show for the money that you paid.

I fully agree with you on everything that you pointed out in your recollection of your hunt except the part where I told you that it was against the law. I cannot afford to break the law in my line of work. And it will be stupid of me to even try and do something illegal with so many people around (game scouts, trackers, PH,s etc) that can report me any time they want and receive a reward for that.

I shall refrain from pointing fingers as I do not see the need for that on a public forum. If you still do not believe me then I shall email you the contact details of the Zim Ph that was on the hunt with me during the hunt mentioned in the story. You can contact him any time. If that is not enough then I shall send you copies of the CITES export permit where the tusks were sent to and you can contact the client yourself.

Your elephant was never found. Everyone in the whole of Matetsi was informed about this wounded elephant with an arrow. If it did die, it would have been found along with the arrow and you would have been notified as that is the way we do things.

*PS. There is no way that an arrow will penetrate completely through a trophy elephant bull,s body that was shot from 7-8 yards. The arrow has not stabilized yet and is still fishtailing and that will seriously dampen the penetrating ability of the arrow.

Also, if an elephant is hit in the lungs or heart with an arrow, the amount of blood that will gush out of the mouth and trunk will never be obliterated by any number of elephant walking in an area. The elephant will also die not further than 300 yards away.
Regards to you sir.

 

[spike.t]

second wind the the verbosity, and your most graceful use of the english language in your previous posting on this thread is a joy to peruse.

 

[James.Grage]

Canbow (Paul)

I do find it difficult that you would even post your comments about your un fortunate elephant mishap.

Most hunters will make a booo boo from time to time, however many will not want others to read about it. Especially in a public forum where other know who you are.

All i can say is, you are giving Bow hunters a bad name if you in fact made a poor shot at 7 to 8 yards.

While you may have the financial resources to bow hunt the world, if you are unable to make a 7 to 10 yards shot you probably need to purchase a rifle that you can shoot accurately. And then limit your hunting to the game that you are allowed to go after with that rifle cartridge.

 

[StickFlicker AZ]

Fritz,

Just out of curiosity, how far was the elephant found (the bones, tusk and broadhead) from the last spot you were looking for the elephant in the story? Incidently, I don't even see where you mentioned a year (whether it be 2009 or 2010, but perhaps I missed it or it is in a follow-up post?).

 

[Second Wind]

O M G

It wasn't even the same hunt?

He missed a broadside shot at an elephant from less than 10 yards? :doh2:

and admitted to it in this forum!

While I am not quite sure where we go next but I feel almost certain that we are done here raying:

Thank you for coming out

The exits are at the rear of the building

To those of you on the floor writhing in laughter, :laughing:

please move aside as to not block the aisles :goodbye:

 

[Wolverine67]

It wasn't even the same hunt?

He missed a broadside shot at an elephant from less than 10 yards? :doh2:

and admitted to it in this forum!

While I am not quite sure where we go next but I feel almost certain that we are done here raying:

Thank you for coming out

The exits are at the rear of the building

To those of you on the floor writhing in laughter, :laughing:

please move aside as to not block the aisles :goodbye:

:biggrin2:

Ok, he stepped into a dung, or rather a pile of shit, but I am willing to let him off, if it so that he thought that Fritz was referring to him. We have all made mistakes and bad shots and many of us will never admit it, so..
Well, anyway I will welcome you to the site Paul.

 

[spike.t]

It wasn't even the same hunt?

He missed a broadside shot at an elephant from less than 10 yards? :doh2:

and admitted to it in this forum!

While I am not quite sure where we go next but I feel almost certain that we are done here raying:

Thank you for coming out

The exits are at the rear of the building

To those of you on the floor writhing in laughter, :laughing:

please move aside as to not block the aisles :goodbye:

me thinks that is a very big oops.......:bonk: if you can get over it :wink: and hang around then welcome :biggrin2:

 

[canbow]

Well sure sorry about this fuss,didn"t want to start a war. When I was writing about Fritz"s story I was more than a little but pived. The reason I assumed that it was me was the area, the bow elite gt 500,the yellow fletch
had his family with him, the bluff charge,had hunted a buff the year before had just turned 60 etc,
For those of you that miss read the ele was hit well, the park ranger said it was hit well the Zim ph who was standing beside me though the arrrow was well placed. My main problem with the dead ele that was found ,we were not allowed to look at yes it was off the concession but less than a quarter mile we even had offered to only take cameras but no go, strange me thinks
I am not some rich guy just a farmer and have to save my pennys for this stuff,I have hunted Africa 4 times and taken some 20 plains game no losses this was the first animal that I lost over there and apparently Fritzs second big five animal that he had lost sorry for my scew up here and didn"t mean to hurt your feelings by talking some what badly about Mr. Rabe



i

 

[Fritz Rabe]

Fritz,

Just out of curiosity, how far was the elephant found (the bones, tusk and broadhead) from the last spot you were looking for the elephant in the story? Incidently, I don't even see where you mentioned a year (whether it be 2009 or 2010, but perhaps I missed it or it is in a follow-up post?).

The elephant that was found during December of 2009 was (as the crow flies) +- 60km from our camp on the other side of the main Vic-Falls - Bulawayo road.

 

[Fritz Rabe]

For those of you that miss read the ele was hit well, the park ranger said it was hit well the Zim ph who was standing beside me though the arrrow was well placed. My main problem with the dead ele that was found ,we were not allowed to look at yes it was off the concession but less than a quarter mile we even had offered to only take cameras but no go, strange me thinks

I understand your frustration Paul. If it was me that was the client, I would also feel cheated and presume that the dead elephant that was discovered in the Forestry area was the one. After the hunts were done I went to National Parks and complained bitterly about the fact that we were not allowed to even go and look to make sure.

I saw the head of Forestry for that area afterwards and we went there. I could not determine if it was yours or not by what I saw. We really did go over that carcass with a fine comb but could not find anything.

I did see the tusks of the elephant though because it has to be handed in at National Parks with a written report about what was found etc. The tusks were only in the high 20lb class and was surely not your bull. Even the bones and what was left indicated that it was a young bull so I am confident that it was not yours.

The system has changed now so if ever someone wounds an animal that crosses into another area, there are ways and protocol that can be followed so as to either follow it up or to retrieve what belongs to the client. It all depends on who the person is that grants the permission.

I am still convinced as I was after your shot that the arrow did not go near the heart, lungs or liver. If any of those organs were hit, there would be gallons of blood and not just a few drops and the animal would be found dead the next day not far from the scene.