Your interpretation from WDM Bell's Article in The American Rifleman

[Hoss Delgado]

Other Bell books would include such as Karamojo Safari or Bell of Africa and would give you a more complete picture of Bell himself and the Africa he described so well. You can shop around the net for used copies and they don't need to be 1st editions or anything fancy. So they aren't that expensive.

I have a PDF of Karamojo Safari. If anybody wants , l can inbox them

 

[mark-hunter]

@ Hoss Delgado,

Thanks for this offer, this is great!
Pls send it to my inbox!

 

[C.W. Richter]

Yes the West African Buffalo are much smaller than the southern African or cape Buffalo. He should have at least used a 22 magnum! . If my memory serves me correctly he used a much larger 7 x 57 with a military FMJ bullet for cape buffalo and elephant. Fletcher Jameson preferred the 6.5 mm FMJ for same and I'm with him because they have a greater SD for better penetration.

 

[C.W. Richter]

Me too Hoss whenever you get a chance... Thanks in advance!

 

[Kawshik Rahman]

A herd invariably consists of predominantly female bovines and immature bovines. The same can be said of Indian Elephant though l have never shot any unfortunately ( although l have seen three rogue elephants shot ) .
A two two caliber bullet can kill a female Gaur . I have seen my former Shikar partner , Karim kill a female gaur in a herd in 1965 . The bullet was a .22 Long Rifle . When using such a diminutive size bullet for such a big beast , correct anatomical knowledge of your quarry is compulsory. Such a bullet needs to be placed in the soft part behind the bison’s shoulder and your aim must be correct . The hunter who wrote the article in Hoss Delgado’s original post , is accurate in his description. Bovines shot in the lungs will cough copious amounts of blood and blood enrages other bovines . This is why bull fighters in Spain use a red piece of cloth to provoke bovines . The female Gaur shot by my partner , was charged at , by other animals in her herd including immature animals and other females from all sides . They engaged her with their horns . After seven minutes , the other animals left we were able to collect the dead female gaur for butchering .
Whether or not this would work on a male Gaur , l cannot say . This could be a very effective , yet highly cruel method of killing a whole herd if a shooter does this to multiple animals in the same herd.
The two two described in the article has a heavier bullet than a .22 Long Rifle and so would be slightly more effective .

 

[fourfive8]

Unless mistaken, I think the "22" Bell was using was a 22 (Savage) High Power which is ballistically equivalent to a 222 Rem or 223 Rem and nothing like a 22 rimfire or even 22 rimfire Magnum.

 

[Hoss Delgado]

A herd invariably consists of predominantly female bovines and immature bovines. The same can be said of Indian Elephant though l have never shot any unfortunately ( although l have seen three rogue elephants shot ) .
A two two caliber bullet can kill a female Gaur . I have seen my former Shikar partner , Karim kill a female gaur in a herd in 1965 . The bullet was a .22 Long Rifle . When using such a diminutive size bullet for such a big beast , correct anatomical knowledge of your quarry is compulsory. Such a bullet needs to be placed in the soft part behind the bison’s shoulder and your aim must be correct . The hunter who wrote the article in Hoss Delgado’s original post , is accurate in his description. Bovines shot in the lungs will cough copious amounts of blood and blood enrages other bovines . This is why bull fighters in Spain use a red piece of cloth to provoke bovines . The female Gaur shot by my partner , was charged at , by other animals in her herd including immature animals and other females from all sides . They engaged her with their horns . After seven minutes , the other animals left we were able to collect the dead female gaur for butchering .
Whether or not this would work on a male Gaur , l cannot say . This could be a very effective , yet highly cruel method of killing a whole herd if a shooter does this to multiple animals in the same herd.
The two two described in the article has a heavier bullet than a .22 Long Rifle and so would be slightly more effective .

Wow , Mr. Rahman
Thank you for the bull fighting analogy . I never thought of that ! I wholeheartedly agree with you that this could be a very clever , but cruel way to take down a whole herd .
You're also right that the .22 mentioned in WDM Bell's article fires a heavier bullet than a .22 Long Rifle. The .22 LR fires a 40 grain bullet , while the .22 in WDM Bell's article is a .22 Savage Hi Power , which is a centre fire caliber and has a 70 grain bullet . Your Speculation is correct . A .22 Savage Hi Power would be fairly more effective on a Buffalo / Gaur than a .22 LR although still a tiny bullet for the critters .

 

[Hoss Delgado]

Unless mistaken, I think the "22" Bell was using was a 22 (Savage) High Power which is ballistically equivalent to a 222 Rem or 223 Rem and nothing like a 22 rimfire or even 22 rimfire Magnum.

That's right ! The .22 Savage Hi Power uses a 70 grain bullet while the .22 LR uses a 40 grain bullet . But it wasn't Bell using it , it was another hunter .

 

[mark-hunter]

I think that herd animals can sense, blood by smell. Just like predators. And herd animals, at least some species, will not like that one of their kind leaks blood, because it will atract predators. Also there is a present theory that some bovines, cows, deer etc are color blind. And thats why hunters often can wear high visibilty jackets without fear they will be noticed by game. Then, after the animal is shot, wounded, there is additonally a mixture with smell of whatever additional smell is caused by adrenallin, fear, stress, pain plus the body langaugae of wounded animal itself. The herd will recognise one of their kind in distress, just like predators will recognise the weakest animal in the group and choose that one to attack. 22 lr can be lethal, but will not make too much bleeding. So, my educated guess would go to other senses of herd alerting, not necesserily to visual recognition of blood. Some animals might try to assist other in distress, like possibly elephants living in family groups, some will kick wounded one out of a herd where family bonds are not present.

 

[Hoss Delgado]

I think that herd animals can sense, blood by smell. Just like predators. And herd animals, at least some species, will not like that one of their kind leaks blood, because it will atract predators. Also there is a present theory that some bovines, cows, deer etc are color blind. And thats why hunters often can wear high visibilty jackets without fear they will be noticed by game. Then, after the animal is shot, wounded, there is additonally a mixture with smell of whatever additional smell is caused by adrenallin, fear, stress, pain plus the body langaugae of wounded animal itself. The herd will recognise one of their kind in distress, just like predators will recognise the weakest animal in the group and choose that one to attack. 22 lr can be lethal, but will not make too much bleeding. So, my educated guess would go to other senses of herd alerting, not necesserily to visual recognition of blood. Some animals might try to assist other in distress, like possibly elephants living in family groups, some will kick wounded one out of a herd where family bonds are not present.

That's a very good analysis , man Is this phenomenon also present in deer ? It's certainly NOT present in feral hogs That l can Personally attest to .

 

[mark-hunter]

hard to say for group behavior of deer. But on color blindess many have been shot by hunters wearing hi vis jackets. Pigs run in all directions after the shot. And they learn quickly. Collect experience. If one is shot under the spotlight, other probably will remember and run, after the spot light is switched on next time. Old wild boar will be hard to get if he gets to old age. I have read somwhere that most intelligent animals in the world are pigs, chimpanzee and dolphins. Feral hogs would not become invasive species if they are dum. They are smart and extremely prolific. For color blindness of pigs i have no idea. In europe where they are hunted in driven hunts, they dont care of hunters hi vis jackets, because they run like hell driven by dogs. Getting them by stalking is difficult. Most are shot during night by nv optics or thermal on feeding positions, which is not my cup of tea. However annual qouta for boar must be completed and hunters most often has no choice but shoot at night from high stand under automatic feeding station.

 

[fourfive8]

Two different stories about shooting buffalo with a “22” (High Power)

One is about gathering meat for starving village where more than twenty were dead after all the action. Bell relayed that story about another shooter using a 22 High Power in the magazine article. I agree with IvW’s assessment that most of the outcome likely caused by bullet damage.

In the book “Wanderings”, Bell describes (his) shooting of a buffalo cow with a high velocity .22 (likely a High Power) and witnessing how others in herd began attacking the wounded animal- Bell described the behavior as not uncommon in his experience.

 

[Flint]

Was reading WDM Bell's Article in The American Rifleman , January 1950 titled " The neck shot " . Here is a portion of the article where he mentions seeing a fellow hunter use the .22 Hi Power to dispatch Cape buffalo. My question is simple :
According to your opinion , what killed those buffaloes ? Did they die due to the goring from the other buffaloes ? Or did they die from the .22 Hi Power soft nose bullets through their lungs ?
I personally used to own a .22 Hi Power Savage Model 99 and never used it on anything larger than a 225 pound deer ( and that too , with neck shots ). I can't imagine the bullets alone killing those buffalo if the others didn't gore them.

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