Traveling to many places in the world, in pursuit of big game exposes us to all types of potential harm. However nothing catches our attention more then the risk of being injured by the very game we are pursuing. Nowhere does this occur more often then on the continent of Africa. Classic hunting literature is entitled Death in the Tall Grass and never Death over the Corn Pile. There are many people with vast more experience facing African dangerous game than us, nonetheless, we are going to take a look at the medical consequences of a hunt for dangerous game gone wrong.
We very highly recommend that anyone going to the Dark Continent should always carry a first rate medical evacuation insurance policy. Your medical insurance at home will not cover you there. Besides if you are hurt, do you want to have your medical needs met locally or back home? Medjet Assist is who we use and trust our lives to and so should you.
What follows may sound repetitive and at times er...awkward, but that is the reality of it. In the African bush, regardless of what you are hunting, if you draw the attention of elephant, buffalo, rhino or hippo you may elicit a charge. Unless they stop on their own, you or your PH will have to stop them with lethal force that is directed at their central nervous system. Nothing short of that will do. In this circumstance a perfectly placed heart shot will ensure that creatures death but not before it does permanent damage to you. Each of the above animals has their own unique way of inflicting injury.
An elephants may elect to gore you with tusks, beat you up against trees, or stomp and pummeled you into unrecognizable blood spots. Rhinos gore folks with their head on charges. Hippos bite with such ferocity that they can literally severe someone into two pieces. Buffalo's tend to hook folks with such force, anger and determination that they drive their horns right through their victims as they fling them into high into the air just to repeat the process or drive them into the ground with brutal strength.
That having been said, there are very limited medical responses to such a disaster. First off, determine whether the person is still alive. If the victim survives the onslaught then rapidly apply pressure to the points of the most significant blood loss and bandages are in order. The next and only thing to do is to immediately contact Medjet Assist and rapidly transport that person to the first place where they can land to pick them up. We all have heard about the horrific injuries and deaths that fellow hunters have sustained over there. Any of the survivors have one thing in common and that is they were immediately evacuated.
It's not much better when you get to the great cats. Novels have been written about these felines and arguments rage constantly over which is the most dangerous. It really makes no difference to the unfortunate hunter if it is a Lion or a Leopard. Each can inflict massive damage and death unbelievably quick. Being attacked by an unprovoked Leopard is highly unusual but about guaranteed if you are tracking a wounded one. A wounded Leopard seems to draw the most precautions by everyone involved then any other animal.
