The American crossbow hunter Jamie Gibson, who wounded the buffalo on the farm on Wednesday afternoon released the following statement regarding the incident on Thursday morning in which Henko Schoeman was injured when the buffalo mauled him:
Hello everyone.
I’m Jamie Gibson from the US and the hunter that shot the Cape Buffalo that is currently making news on social media worldwide.
I see there are all kinds of statements and accusations and I just want to set the record straight and give my true version of what happened. I shot the Buffalo with my crossbow the previous late afternoon and upon examining the video footage we saw that the shot was too far back. So we wisely decided to leave the Buffalo overnight and track it the next morning.
Danie (van Jaarsveld), the PH & Outfitter, took his 375 as a back-up that has a big game Leopold scope. Plus we also took a 30-06 with a Burris X T 2 scope because we thought that if the Buffalo was still alive he might run out of the thick brush into an open area and therefore might have to take a 300-400 yard shot which this scope is ideal for. The 30-06 was never intended as a stopping rifle, and it was not a .243.
We slowly took the track of the Buffalo and 30 minutes later found it in really thick brush laying down. We then observed him for at least 5 minutes to see if he was moving at all. Upon seeing no movement, Danie & Henko (Schoeman) then moved around to see if they can see his head and look for any sign of life. At that time little Jack Russel, still in training, started to bark at the Buffalo and the Buffalo stood up facing them.
Danie and Henko then both fired 2 shots in the chest of the Buffalo, where the Buffalo then immediately charged and all hell broke loose. Henko shot again in the chest and Danie tried to shoot the brain but hit the horn. At this stage, the Buffalo was charging them full speed.
The Buffalo got hold of Henko and threw him into a bush where he attacked him further. Danie ran around the bush and shot the Buffalo in the spine which dropped the Buffalo and saved Henko’s life.
It was a terrifying experience – just to show how quickly things can go wrong. But I take my hat of to Danie and Henko. They were brave and it was handled very professionally.
We are very thankful that no one got hurt and that Henco is fine. We had an amazing trip with amazing trophies and we are already planning our next trip back.
