I'll give you two different sorts of examples - though leopard follow-ups - but both of equal potential consequences.Most buffalo get a 2nd or 3rd shot put in them. A suppressor helps with that 100%
Has any hunter here ever had a scope fail during a dangerous game hunt and switch to open sights? Curious to know.
The first was a leopard a number of years ago in Namibia during my first hunt in Africa. It was dark when I shot the cat, and we heard him "chuffing" as he took of with the shot. As the truck drove up, we eased down to it, and under the spot light, a blood trail led off down a dry wash perhaps six feet wide and four feet deep overhung with acacias. It was like entering a black hole. I was using a .338 scoped in fixed mounts. Nick, with his .470 K-gun, and I moved side by side about six inches at a time as his chief tracker swung a flashlight between our shoulders from behind. After about two feet, I realized the scoped rifle had far more utility as a club than a firearm to deal with an inbound anything. Fortunately, we found the cat, dead in midstride, around the first bend. I made a vow (which I have kept) to never return to Africa without dismountable optics and useful open sights.
Four years later, I was back in Namibia with my wife and again hunting with Nick Nolte. This was a plains game hunt, but a neighbor called with news of a client wounded leopard. Nick and his Jack Russells are experts at follow-up. He asked if I wanted to come along to help. How do you say no? This time, however, I carried a rifle with Tally mounts and very visible open sights. We spent a mildly terrifying three or four hours in some of the thickest thorn bush I have ever encountered never quite closing with the cat - probably fortunately. In the late morning heat, the dogs could no longer follow the scent. I would have been nearly helpless with a scope and suppressor.
Under those two conditions not only would a suppressor have contributed exactly zilch, but in the second instance a millimeter of extra length would have been an absolute danger. So no, I have no use for one on a dangerous game hunt.
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