Sharpshooter

Appearances can be deceptive with animals — some of the largest can be the most docile and you often have to watch out for the small ones

Recently, a 57-year-old man and his 19-year-old son were killed, and his daughter injured, by a water buffalo in Wales.

The animal in question was reported to be of the Mediterranean breed of water buffalo — a strain developed in Italy, where its milk is used to make buffalo mozzarella cheese and ice cream. In the Welsh case, the animal had been hand-reared and was part of a herd, the milk from which is used to make eco-friendly soap.

The photo originally accompanying the story on the BBC News website (and other news sites) showed a Cape buffalo — an entirely different species, one of the famous Big Five. Auntie Beeb’s a dear, isn’t she?

We tend to refer to any large African animal as ‘big game’. But in Africa, the locals make a distinction between ordinary game and what they call ‘dangerous game’, of which the Cape buffalo is a prime example. But, even then, there is the risk of Bbc-type imprecision, because some big species are relatively docile, whereas a few of the smaller ones are very dangerous when wounded.

In short, mere size is not necessarily a guide to the potential danger posed by an animal. As the saying goes, it’s not about the dog in the fight, but about the fight in the dog. An eland bull, for example, can weigh as much as a tonne but is seldom dangerous. Despite their size, these mighty antelope make famously good eating and bagging one is always popular with the safari camp cook.

I recall the first one I ever hunted, in South Africa. We tracked the beast for miles and eventually caught up with it in thick cover. It dropped to my shot. I unloaded and started congratulating the trackers. Then the bull suddenly stood up. Most people promptly scattered, but my 13-year-old son was rooted to the spot, gawping. The next few seconds were rather undignified. Suffice to say that I reloaded and a second shot finished the job.

My son agreed that we would never, ever tell his mother. In truth, the main danger was probably the prospect of the stricken beast falling on him. But I learned a lesson about the necessity of checking a downed animal’s eye reflex before unloading. As African hunters say: “It’s the dead ones that kill you.”

Notoriously dangerous

At the opposite end of the scale to the mighty eland, and not greatly larger than our own roebuck, is the African bushbuck. These dainty little antelope are a delight to observe as they pick their way through the bush.

Yet, unlike eland, bushbuck are notoriously dangerous when wounded or cornered. They won’t hesitate to charge in such circumstances, using their small, sharp horns to stab like daggers. They can easily kill dogs. They have even caused fatal injuries to people. Given the small stature of the bushbuck, their horns tend to hit humans at about groin height, with a real risk of cutting a femoral artery.

Though I have hunted Cape buffalo several times, I have only been injured by an animal when I was given a nasty shove by my own tame red deer stag. I made the mistake of turning my back on him when carrying a feed bucket.

Despite the fact that I was wearing thick winter clothing, his tines drew blood and gave me a badly bruised back. It was my own fault. It is easy to make a mistake with an animal you have given a name.

“As the saying goes, it’s not about the dog in the fight, but about the fight in the dog”