Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Ian Gibson - Rifle Jam

Jorge:

I think he's referring to the same Boddington article I mentioned. I quoted it earlier in this thread. Go back to the second page and you'll see it.

Oh, ok, thanks. I think the facts will come out eventually, there's just no valid reason not to let folks know. Pure conjecture on my part, but given the situation with having to shoot an elephant in self-defense and the ensuing paperwork nightmare for PH's, he probably waited too long, aimed for a non lethal head shot (above the brain) in an effort to turn the elephant (as they tend to do, unlike buffalo) and just did not give himself the room for a reload.

With the level of experience Ian Gibson had this was probably an unsalvagable situation for most anyone.

I don't have much experience elephant hunting, but based on the 2 I've been on, especially the one where I shot a bull, things tend to develop very quickly when you're in close and especially after you start shooting. I don't want to start any arguments based on this tragedy, but a good, reliable DR seems to me to be the best choice for backup work on elephant or the type of last-ditch close in work a PH is called upon to do. Just my 2 cents. Mr. Gibson is a grievous loss.

IIRC, at some point I believe I saw him carrying a 458 Sako in a synthetic stock on several episodes of TAA.

From Dave Fulson, who produces Tracks Across Africa, has close ties to Chifuti Safaris and was a personal and close friend of Ian. He went public, so now I can make public:

Originally posted by Dave Fulson:
I have been out of town, but read this post and decided NOT to respond,but have changed my mind. The story about Ian Gibson's rifle jamming on the elephant tragedy, or on a previous leopard are both inaccurate at best, and simply a lie
( told on purpose or out of ignorance I do not know) at worst. One of our Chifuti PH's, along with one of my cameramen who was not filming the hunt, but was with another client in the valley, were the first on the scene. Robert, Gibbo's tracker of over 20 years was the ONLY person there during the attack. Period. We talked to Robert, and he said Gibbo simply waited too long to shoot the charging bull, trying to scream it down to avoid shooting. A thing he has successfully done hundreds of times in his career. He had one shot at the brain as the bull lowered his head, a difficult shot as the brain is moving violently, forget the bush smashing down toward you. He did not make the brain shot, and it was then too late. There was NO rifle jam according to Robert. Boddington called our office, talked to my partner wanting details, and received a very shot, non detailed report. I am disappointed, but not surprised, to hear the inaccurate, and graphic account of our brothers last moments, but gory details sell magazines and editors like that kind of copy, feelings be damned. I have turned down countless interviews and requests for me to write paid articles, as folks thought, and correctly so, that our office would be the best source for details on Ian's death. I turned each down. The only thing I did was post my account of the news on AR, and write a tribute style piece for DSC Gametrails summer issue. It was about Gibbo's LIFE, not his death. I will not get into a more drawn out discussion. The people that wish to spread mis information and throw accusations at Ian Gibson can do as they please. I frankly do not give a good [bleep] about them, and could not care about their thoughts or reasons. Gibbo was no fool. In fact, he was unquestionable the most experienced PH left in his beloved Zambezi Vally. I wrote this to let those of you who's opinion matters to me know the truth.To hell with the rest...

So now the story is that C.Boddington is a liar and falsifying the details of his own friends death?

Anything is possible I guess, but I would be more inclined to believe CB would not bring himself to do
something like that.

Maybe its better to first ask CB what he was told over the phone from Africa about the incident.
Theres only two people that really know that, CB and the individual he spoke to.
Passed on third hand information from Dave Fulson is not something directly from the horses mouth.

"Friend" is a rather loose term used nowadays. All I can tell you is Dave and Ian were VERY close.

Obviously Fulsom and Boddington are not close friends these days! I realize that Fulsom has a close relationship with Chifuti and had one with Gibson, but that doesn't mean that Boddington doesn't also have close relationships with others in Chifuti and other PH's who may also be very reliable sources of information to him. I do have a hard time believing Boddington would write such a story that he knew could be false and would think he must have believed the information about Gibson's rifle jamming to be very reliable. He's been around Africa too much, including his own daughter's shooting incident in Africa, to not be very careful with publishing rumors or heresay. I'll give Boddington the benefit of the doubt on this one.

Deleted

Interesting accounts that muddy the waters more than clearing things up.
I wonder if anyone carefully removed the rounds from both the leopard and elephant charge to examine what story the brass tells. However two "jams" during two nerve rattling charges says something too.
Nevertheless, such a tragic result.

The guy is gone, rifle jam or not.

Makes for interesting discussion, but doesn't change the result.

If there was no jam, then hindsight says he made a mistake in not shooting sooner.

If there was a jam, then hindsight says he made a mistake in not getting another gun.

Easy to second guess him now, but we're all human.

Why belabor the dead? That's why they call it "dangerous" game hunting. In the excitement mistakes get made. I have seen PHs completely miss elephants under conditions less stressful than this one.

I agree with Ape. Not much use in second guessing. A mistake was made on Gibson's part in some manner. Unfortunately, a lot of very good, very experienced PH's end up buying the farm in a manner similar to this and have done so for over 100 years. It is a dangerous game, as we are all aware.

I do, however, find it odd that Boddington, who is very well connected in Africa has one story about the incident and others have another. There are some folks who obviously don't like Boddington but he does have a reputation for being honest and not making stuff up to sell copy.

I just finished watching the newest episode of "Hornady Dark and Dangerous". The last segment was a lion hunt in Zimbabwe, Ian Gibson narrated it and was the PH on the hunt. The episode closed with an "In Memory of Ian Gibson, Professional Hunter" tag.

"..... If one reads the AR hunting site, people are getting all emotional upset and abusive when they learn that
Boddington dare publish a graphic account and details of Gibsons death."

Hey Starman, what about it BITCH? If Craig Boddington wants to write an article regarding rifles that malfunction, that's his prerogative. However, he was totally wrong in providing a "graphic account and details of Gibson's death" especially since he is relying on hearsay. Oh, for your benefit, hearsay is defined as "the report of another person's words by a witness, usually disallowed as evidence in a court of law".

Jorge,

I got back from Zim a week ago. One of the days while I was there, we had 3 very experienced PHs around the fire and the conversation turned to Ian Gibson's untimely and tragic death. Their assessment coincides with Fulson's account. They specifically spoke of the hassles and paperwork, as well as the exposure to the PH's license of shooting before it's clear that a DG animal is in fact an immediate deadly threat.

There was also the discussion of the PH not wanting to shoot a trophy animal that the client wants. All add up to hesitation, sometimes delaying the decision to shoot in DLP. Fortunately most cases don't end this way, but they do often enough to keep it in everyone's awareness when hunting DG.

Thanks for posting the facts as they are known.

In all cases, whether related to death by dangerous game, or merely the events of everyday life, it would seem that it would be much better to have the facts clearly given out from the beginning than to leave things open to speculation and conjecture by not doing so.

Well guys, I just related what I know and from a good source, in this case Dave Fulton, whose gone public with what he told me in confidence, and that is when I posted it here. I do agree that as many facts need to be brought into the limelight, so all of us can learn. j