Seizing him by his shirt, the elephant flung him high. James Sutherland fell at the animal’s feet. Prudence overcame the pain, and he forced himself to lie still. But the beast found him and hurled him against a tree. Bloodied and bruised, with a dislocated thumb, he regained his senses. The elephant stood nearby. By great good luck, so did Sutherland’s stalwart and faithful tracker, Simba – with the .318. His .577 lost in the melee, the hunter managed to reach the light rifle and steady it on Simba’s shoulder. He fired quickly as the elephant turned and came. The shot had no visible effect. “Telling Simba to hold my rifle barrel,” he wrote, “I drove another cartridge into the breech and waited…” This bullet would have to land precisely. It would be his end or his salvation. He sent it at 14 steps.
How an animal as big as an elephant can surprise anyone so close as to preclude an aimed shot puzzles people who’ve not shared thick bush with elephants. I’ve been startled by them very near – black rhinos too. Their very size conceals these beasts. At short range, your eye doesn’t intuitively capture the entire form, even when on the rare occasion it’s all visible! Segments of outline are shards of a shapeless whole. The hide, mottled by mud or dust, is the color of brush. Its creases and folds appear as
