TN200401 Target Behavior Study – Inasmuch as our shots are often long we have difficulty determining whether a shot was a hit or a miss. In 2014 we began using video to enable us to study the shot in slow motion. This was the beginning of our understanding of baboon behavior after impact. The video clips below, 1080 MP4 at 60 fps, are annotated and clipped to about one minute including a slow motion replay. Left click on a file name below will immediately open the clip in your browser. Full Screen shows more detail. Use largest available screen. Casting to a large TV works well. File names include the range in yards, slope in degrees and wind in mph. more than 65 edited clips from 2015 – 2022 are posted.
The clips were drawn from recordings of culling overgrown baboons troops which spill down from their natural habitat onto farms inflicting substantial damage to crops, buildings, equipment, livestock and working dogs as well as harassing workers, women, children and pets. We estimate a population of 1,000 to 2,000 baboons on ten farms on which we operate. We aren’t denting the population but the survivors do remember for a few months that farms are dangerous. Fresh observations in 2022 indicate the baboons rememberer our truck for three years.
Determining whether the shot was a hit or a miss is often difficult especially for long shots and nearly impossible without good video coverage. We have learned that our real-time judgement is often wrong, usually miscalling hits as misses because instant kills (Dead Right There) are as rare for us as for hunters of game animals. We have learned that a hit target invariably displays 1/4 to 1/2 second of Frenetic Motion, sometimes falling flat on the ground, before recovering and moving off. Missed targets display a completely different reaction characterized as purposeful and efficient action. The 2016 clip, 530 21 00 Miss, is a perfect demonstration of behavior after a miss. Compare this miss to a certain hit, 953 02 04 Strong FM, and notice the dramatic difference in the two responses. Notice also that normal speed the FM is hard to see unless you can “see fast”. The 1/4 speed slow motion clearly shows the difference.
All videos and commentary are the copyrighted property of ProjectileScience Inc, 2023.
2024 Video – Our 2024 visit was during the fruit harvest in the summer rather than in the early spring as always before. We were disappointed to discover there were many fewer bbns than we normally found, perhaps because of there was little natural food in the veld and the farmers were patrolling the orchards because the fruit was being harvested. So we spent some time ambushing one particular big bbn that was harassing the workers: killing pets, ripping down shingles and drain pipes, pulling down laundry, eating garden vegetables, chasing the women and children, etc. We hid the bakkie in the bushes before dawn and waited for his expected appearance based on worker intel – which turned out to be correct. At about 0800hr he appeared at 250 yd but wasn’t DRT so we don’t have pictures .
To improve viewing with slow internet connections, low definition versions have been added in red bold font. The original HD versions are 1080p while the new LD versions are 480p. The LD versions work better with slow internet and cell phones but there is little if any loss of visual resolution even on large monitors with fast internet.
993y Hiding in Plain Sight : 933y -4d 10 Bottom of Tank LD – The bbn at the base of the tank has hunkered down hiding from us. A second bbn is sitting on the tractor was a better target but looked very much like a worker. Strong frenetic motion and dust at possible PoI on upper back visible at 20% speed. The late afternoon marine air has moved in bringing low visibility, gusting winds and and a temperature drop of 20 F in ten minutes. Note the whipping trees.
1396y Tall Grass FM: 1396y 0d -1 Up and Down in Grass LD – Bbn is down, up and down in grass. The 20% speed shows dust at the PoI, a clear hit.
1515y Slow Departure : 1516y -6d 0 Slow Departure LD – Appears to go down; erratic departure suggests a hit but no other detail can be seen.
1516y Good FM : 1516y 14d 0 FM and Cape Inflation LD – A large bbn with a smaller one; frenetic motion, cape inflation and dust at PoI are clear on large screen. Using magnifying glass helps as there is lots of detail.
1516y 14d O FM Inflation Dust LD crop – This version, cropped and runs at 10% speed, clearly shows dust at the PoI
1516y Good FM MD – Medium definition version.
2022 Video Our 2022 visit was different from prior years in several ways: 1) A large forest fire in early 2020 had reduced the baboon population to about 20%, whether by death or migration we don’t know, but they had recovered to about 40%. 2) Covid prevented the 2020 and 2021 visits so the baboons had been untrained for three years. Nevertheless, they remembered us because they broke into a run as we appeared even from as far as 1,000 yards. We again confirmed that baboons have good memory and eyesight. 3) The baboons were more skittish this year, rarely sitting for more than a few seconds and they were definitely hiding from us, even at ranges out to 1500 yards. After reviewing the video it is now clear that we simply failed to see many baboons because they waited us out. Often the hillside would be alive with baboons after the first shot. 4) My reloading error caused reduced terminal ballistics effectiveness. Consequently the trip was less productive as prior years, but we saved a few for 2023. I use VLC to view the raw and edited clips and Microsoft’s Clipchamp video editor, both of which work well and are free. Movie Maker is much less friendly and given to unexpected behavior.
500y 15d 00mph Scratcher : 500y 15d 0 Scratcher LD – He took the hit, clinched, spun, went down, back up and pushed off but with little velocity.
603 20 10 Late Shot and Pickup : 602y 20d 10 Late Shot Infant Pickup LD – The shot was late as we struggled to coordinate several baboons, range, slope and wind. Just after the shot a second baboon scoops up an infant and flies away.
742 06 06 Boss Scoops Infant : 742y 6d 6 Boss Scoops Up Infant LD – The hit produces violent FM. Bbn moves to edge of rock and picks up an infant before leaving. Male bbns will pick up infants when they are loosing a fight.
766 yd, 0 d, 0 mph Probable Pass-Through – We initially called a miss. However reviewing on a faster computer showed clear skin ripple and some far side cape inflation; a hit.
778 00 -03 Mirage Bbn is almost lost in deep mirage. Appears to do a forward flip.
881y 15d 00mph Called Bank Shot This bbn sat on the skyline for a long time but we couldn’t shoot due to workers downrange. Finally, I decided to shoot below the skyline. The audio track – “I’m gonna shoot at his butt.”
1167y 13d 0mph JF The shooter was JF. Unclear whether this was a hit but we have seen a spine shot anchor a baboon as seen here. S12601
1167y 13d 10mph JF The clinch and FM indicate a hit. S12602
1262y 18d 00mph Hiding These baboons were actively hiding from us. We had just arrived quietly 1200 yards out but we saw no movement. Then after the shot, out of the field of view, they poured out of their hiding places. This and other clips like it convinced us by the end of the trip that we were missing many because they simply out waited us.
1346y 05d 00mph Inflated Cape Bbn takes hit, goes down hard, tail up, recovers and moves off. Extreme camp inflation. Video captures show hard down and cape inflation. Times of flight are clipped.
1394y 13d -9mph Wattle Trees Hard to see the behavior because of the trees but a large screen clearly shows a deep head-down clinch and fast drop. I’ve called it a hit.
1396 03 00 Hard to see the impact at normal speed but 1/4 and 1/8 speeds show clinch, cape puff and FM. Clearly a hit. S13102
1822y 14d -2mph Arm Brace Baboon spins and moves right indicating a hit on his left side. Braces on his right arm. Recovers and leaves. Probable hit. Watch on largest possible screen. A magnifying glass helps at extreme range.
1847 10 00 Left Brace At impact the baboon clinches, puffs up and falls left; braces on his left arm, recovers them moves off slowly.
2019 Video The numbers in the clip titles are; 1) range in yards, 2) slope in degrees and 3) wind in mph; minus is down slope and left wind. Audible range calls are in meters beginning in 2018. This year we used an improved version of David Tubb’s nose ringed bullets. The ring design, which was improved since the 2018 trip, uses a much deeper cut that, surprisingly, has less drag than the earlier rings with smaller cuts. The 2019 video clips indicate the deeper cuts have improved the terminal ballistics. Two clips in particular (411 -10 12 Inflated Cape and 602 05 00 Tree Feeder) show extreme cape billowing and flapping that we have never seen before. We named this mechanism “Cape Inflation”. Several other clips show less pronounced cape inflation. A review of prior year’s video clips revealed a few instances of cape inflation but none to the extent we saw this year.
348 00 00 Infant Pickup Target takes hit on right side. Recovers, then scoops up infant and runs. Watch at 1/8 speed. We though it was a miss but found the body next day. Baboon at right of screen also scoops up an infant.
411 -10 12 Inflated Cape David Tubb’s 115 gn 6xc DTAC bullet with an improved nose ring inflates the entire upper cape. The exit wound was approximately 1.5 inches diameter.
602 05 00 Tree Feeder The DTAC bullet with an improved nose ring has effective terminal ballistics.
609 00 00 Pole Sitter Target sitting on top of telephone pole takes hit in upper back
610 00 00 Spine Hit PoI in upper spine paralyzed the target below the shoulders
613 00 08 Feed Lot Bbn The DTAC bullet has effective terminal ballistics. Note the inflation at the point of impact
656 20 -02 Right Shoulder PoI at left shoulder, came off rock in 90d left roll, probably DRT
719 13 00 Fast Turn Cape inflation at upper rear of torso, target spins to attack, finds nothing, moves off
1050 05 03 Upper Torso Clinch, cape inflation above right shoulder. Adjacent bbns move off efficiently with no FM.
1380 08 00 Long Strong FM Poor image shows an unusually long 675msec and strong FM before moving off
1380 08 03 FM Right Leg Right leg shows strong FM.
1462 -02 -08a Down and Up Probable hit, target clinched, went down, recovered and ran. Dust appears to fly from right side.
1493 08 02 Frozen Target is frozen in place for ten seconds after a hit; unusual
1495 08 02 Ricochet Bullet impact two inches low ricochets up into the target
1641 08 00 Ricochet? A large screen is needed to see the head toss consistent with an upper torso but. But wait – there appears to be a bullet impact at about 4 oc followed after 160 msec by strong frenetic motion and possible cape inflation. So what happened? The target was either hit by the ricocheting bullet or sprayed by rock chips.
1748 07 00a FM Cape Inflation Strong head snap and possible cape inflation
1805 08 00 17 Bbns Target takes hit in the center of at least 17 bbns
1832 04 -01 Two Targets Target clinches, tosses head. Cape inflation shows behind neck.
1944 05 07 Cape Inflation Range is wrong; probably 944y. Clinch, cape inflation at upper back
2232 07 02 Long Range Zero Strong Fm with arms. This was a Long Range Zero (LRZ) shot; zero 1600yd, scope up 13.8mil, EHP 1544
2265 07 00 Inconclusive Inconclusive due to lack of clinch or FM but abrupt pitch down indicates a possible DRT
2018 Video
469 17 05 Wind Changes Path R2 Bullet crosses camera line of sight but wind turns it back into the target. Good images of bullet in flight.
474 22 10 BK R2 475 yd, 22 degree slope in 10 mph wind. DRT. At least five frames show the bullet in flight. A large screen helps. ToF for each is measured and ranges computed. The flashing white frames are our wind string waving in front of the camera.
857 18 00 Double Two targets sitting move together at the last second for a double. Two PoI’s may be visible.
930 07 02 Torso PoI Upper torso PoI
938 19 05 Upper Torso Clear impact to upper left torso, strong FM.
974 17 00 Salute 18 Target makes last salute, probably DRT. A similar salute is in the 2017 collection.
995 12 05 Symmetrical Target goes into symmetrical FM. Possible DRT.
1094 22 0 Long FM R1 Unusually long FM before departure
1136 13 03 Neck PoI Apparent Neck PoI
1477 07 04 Right Target Right target displays FM while the left one does not.
1563 00 00 Walking Lead Target is walking slowly through brush showing no sign of stopping so I estimated a walking lead based on walking speed and ToF. Hit was pure luck.
1641 07 01Main Target PoI The head of a second target at 4oc goes unnoticed until it disappears after the shot. We thought the bullet hit at that point until we looked at the video.
1722 06 00 Left Target The left target takes the hit and goes into FM 300 msec before the right target reacts; a clear demonstration of involuntary Frenetic Motion.
1729 10 01 PoI Long FM. Possible wound channel expansion on lower left side.
1841 08 01 Down Up Target goes down then gets back up faster we could see it in real-time. Again the video review reveals what really happened.
2038 08 01 Longest 18 Arm and leg FM. The 1/4 speed time of flight was clipped to shorten the run time. The time of flight was approx 3.57 sec. Caption incorrectly states 3.573 msec.
2017 Video
539 20 00 Dynamic Fall Target falls off perch after hit.
548 11 00 Through Shot appears to me low right but slomo shows target hit then rock hit.
611 28 00 Last Dump Target takes a dump just before the shot is released.
645 09 07 Clinch Target clinches down at impact.
700 08 08 Bullet Images Multiple bullet images before target clinches and moves right.
804 00 00 Twofer Very interesting clip of hits on two widely separated targets with a double ricochet between. This was a hard shot to set up.
887 15 02 Overhead Arm Hit is not obvious except for the unusual overhead arm FM.
941 00 05 Tree Bullet Bullet visibly crosses the camera line of sight left to right then is blown back to the left by a right wind for a possible hit.
1012 17 00 Salute Target makes last salute before DRT
1174 16 00 Right Elbow Target shows FM, possibly PoI at right arm/torso.
1193 15 00 Clinch Left Right Target clinches, goes left then right.
1287 15 03 Step Off Miss Target steps off the rock after release but before bullet arrives. Despite close miss target shows no FM. We have never seen targets display FM if missed. See the 2016 clip 530 21 00 Miss below and the comments above.
1378 04 03 Under Tree This clip shows how fast the targets react to a hit. Targets takes hit, does hard down, gets back up and departs in 903 msec.
1549 04 00 Magic Dust Two targets are walking through the brush, one stops, shot breaks in less than a second, target is DRT.
1749 17 00 Camera Bounce Interesting long range hit, target falls off a steep cliff face – but we miss the image because the camera bounced due to steep incline. Audio confirms hit.
2016 Video
530 21 00 Miss The target displayed no FM despite a close miss. As the bullet passes he hears the supersonic crack followed by the boom of the muzzle blast. He reacts purposefully and efficiently by crouching while deciding what action to take. You can almost hear him saying “Whazzat?” as he crouches and prepares to fight or flee. Then, from the crouch he moves off quickly and efficiently. This is decidedly different than Frenetic Motion where the action is involuntary, undirected and completely inefficient. We believe they nearly always display FM when hit, unless DRT, and do not when missed.
545 21 00 Neck PoI Probable neck PoI, DRT
545 21 01 Elbow PoI Clear skin ripple just above the elbow.
874 15 00 Head PoI A lucky head shot hit high; almost missed. Ricocheted off of the head and bounced around in the rocks behind.
938 22 00 Parade A Main Street parade passes while we wait for one to stop for a few seconds. Typical troop using their ridge-top trails to return to their roost late in the afternoon.
953 02 04 Strong FM Long and dynamic FM before leaving the rock.
1394 16 03 Hanging Tree A tree sitter is always an interesting target. This one appears to fall rather than jump because he does not extend arms or legs; appears to be in a post-impact clinch.
2015 Video
850 00 14 Wind Moves Bullet The bullet crosses the camera line-of-sight left to right then the 14 mph right wind blows the bullet back left into the target. Bullet is visible for several frames at 182 yards, 193 msec from the muzzle.
1718 00 02 Silverback Old silverback takes a hit. The bullet trace is briefly visible above and just left of the target.
1750 14 03 Upper Torso Long shot on target half-hidden behind a rock. We didn’t see the larger target in the rocks to the upper right until viewing the video.
TN180401 A Called Twofer With A Double Bank
This clip shows a called twofer with a double bank between the hits. G and I were warming up by the fire outside our hut after a cold day of hunting when G spotted baboons on the upper field. After a strenuous stalk of about 25 yards across the lawn we had a clear shot at 804 yards and 5 degrees up with a light wind from the left. I told G we needed something spectacular because the hunt was coming to the end.
180401 Twofer with double bank.docx