BLACK WILDEBEEST FLIGHT TO FIGHT

I have been a professional hunter now for a number of years and there are certain things you learn over time. Some of these are never take your clients word for it that they are a good shot, if an animal drops it does not mean it is dead, and another is that when an animal is wounded it may well stand its ground and wait for you.
The phrase flight or fight is often used. Flight being the animal runs away from the danger and fight being that the animal has no escape route therefore its only option is to face you.This is often written about dangerous game, such as Cape buffalo, who often wait in ambush for their pursuer resulting in an interesting situation, which does not always end well for the hunter.The thing is that it is not only the classified dangerous game that do it. Most game can be dangerous in its own way. Imagine a small steenbok (raphicerus campestris) sticking a five inch horn into you as you go to pick it up. There is also another animal which has often been known to cause problems and on a number of occasions kill people. This animal is the black wildebeest (connochaetes gnu)The black wildebeest weigh in at around 160kg with forward drooping horns. Both bulls and cows carry horns, but the bulls are normally thicker and with larger bosses (part of the horns that are hard on the skull). The black wildebeest looks a lot bigger than it actually is, as it carries most of its weight in the front half of its body.
The bulls have a have bristles over their noses and long hair running down between the forelegs. Darker normally in colour than the cows and larger in size. Both have a white tail, which is very handy if an animal is wounded because when the animal swishes its tail on its body the blood often colours the tail. Helping to identify it within the herd when bolt.I have hunted many of these animals, both for myself and for clients.
This particular occasion I was hunting with a German client. His first time in Africa and he had taken a management package (non-trophy animals) to start things off. This consisted of some springbuck, impala, blesbuck, blue wildebeest and of course a black wildebeest.As per normal the first thing to do was to go to the range and get the client to get comfortable with the rifle and then hit an eight inch gong and 200 meters. If they hit this gong you know that they should be able to put in a fatal shot on all the species on their list. All went well and the client hit the gong without any issues. He was using one of our rifles, which was a 270win that is more than adequate for his quarry.There were two clients both doing the same package so we loaded our gear up into the hunting vehicle and headed out together. My hunting partner and good friend Flippy would take the one client and I would take the other. The area we were going to be hunting in had good numbers of black wildebeest and blesbuck in so we knew there was a good chance the first day would be a prosperous one.We arrived in the area and straight away saw a herd of black wildebeest on the side of the mountain.
Myself and my client got out and got our things together. Loading the rifle magazine full and then putting another five rounds in my bullet pouch we started a stalk up a dry river bed towards the herd.
The wildebeest watched the vehicle move away, completely unaware of us moving through the river bed.
We made good distance and soon we were getting close. I slowly lifted myself up to look over the top of the river bank to locate where they were. About 150 meters away they stood in their herd milling around and swishing their white tails like only these clowns of the Karoo can do. We had to move a little further up so that we would be able to get behind some bushes and ready ourselves on the sticks. We managed to do it undetected and I prepared the client. We were looking for a young bull, which would make for great eating.
I watched the herd for a couple of minutes through my binoculars and identified a shootable target. Explaining to the client he repositioned himself and fired.
A definite hit, but to far back. The herd started to run around and I managed to keep an eye on the wounded one.
He gave another opportunity and the gun went off again. This time hitting it in the front leg. Then another shot, missed, and another, missed. The magazine was now empty.I gave another four rounds and told the client to calm down. We were going to get his animal. Steadying on the sticks once again he fired, again to far back. At this point I suggested that I maybe should take over, but he was adamant that he would sort out this problem.We had to move now as the wounded animal had gone behind some bushes. Then we saw him walking, easily identifiable by the red tail. We got the sticks up and another shot flew over the top of him.
I then pointed out that between us now we only had three rounds left. He fired another two shots and was not successful with either. We were down to our last bullet.I then saw the bull back himself into a bush. Not having the energy to run away he was now in fight mode. I pointed this out to the client who asked me to explain the meaning of this.
I explained the meaning of this and the consequences that could occur and he promptly handed the empty rifle over to me and said “you may carry on”.I took the last bullet and chambered it, turning the scope magnification down to its lowest I walked forward. Knowing the bush where he was I anticipated him coming out at any moment. Then when I was about fifteen meters away from it he came straight towards me. I raised the rifle and as I fired he turned slightly and the bullet struck him in the neck killing him instantly. I stood for a moment with my empty rifle and feeling incredibly grateful that the shot had hit its mark.The client then appeared and tapped me on the back and said: we make a good team ya”. I agreed with him not wanting to share my true feelings so early on in the hunt. The rest of the hunt went well and I put this incident down to first time nerves for the client.
He shot the rest of his package with one shot kills, which is what we all try for but that doesn’t always work out.