Here is my story. I’ve always wanted to do a cape buffalo hunt but there’s always reality. I had a plan that my first trip to Africa that I would do a wildebeest hunt (the poor man’s buffalo) to get some experience and then save up for the next trip for a buffalo hunt. Well the plans changed for the second trip, instead of a buffalo hunt I decided to take my whole family, all six of us, instead and do a more modest plains game hunt. (I’ll do another report on the family hunt)
It was a less than a week before we were scheduled to leave on our trip to Africa and I got a message from my outfitter. He had a “once in a lifetime” deal on an injured buffalo in a game reserve. There was a buffalo that was gored in the stomach with a wound that would ultimately prove fatal. If the buffalo was still alive when I arrived I could hunt it for a price that was incredible. I couldn’t believe my luck! All I needed was a deposit and luckily I had already wired my final payment with some extra so I was all set. In hindsight, I should have declined the offer and stuck with the original plan. But it did end up being a great experience that I will never forget.
We arrived on a Sunday morning and found out that the buffalo was still alive. So the plan was I would go on the hunt and my family would do the touristy things and then the family hunts after that. We spent the afternoon practicing with the rifles. A mistake I made was to rent the rifles from the outfitter. That’s something I will never do again (more on that in another thread). My rifle for the buffalo hunt was to be a CZ-550 in 375 H&H. I have a M70 in 375 H&H but I felt very comfortable with the CZ. I was also getting to know our PH, Neil, a retired dentist. He was a fun guy but when it came to the hunt, he was very serious. I was really beginning to like him.
That night at dinner I was asked if I would like to have the hunt filmed at no cost to me. I was hesitant at first but I agreed because as it was explained to me, the guy doing the filming was working on his dangerous game PH license and needed to do this as part of his certification. Again, I couldn’t believe my luck! I haven't seen any of the video yet but the PH apprentice felt he had some interesting shots. After dinner, Neil was all business again going over shot placement and such. I knew I would be in good hands.
The day of the hunt started well before dawn since we had a 3 hour drive and had to pick up the backup PH along with the cameraman. When we arrived I learned that this wasn’t a normal hunting concession. It was a huge place that was for the photo safari type people along the Indian Ocean. The views were absolutely amazing. On this place there were 2 rhinos, 3 buffalo bulls, a small herd of buffalo cows with calfs, and a plethora of plains game. I couldn’t believe I had the opportunity to do such a hunt! I was also starting to feel like maybe this was going to be too easy. After all the animals were not used to being hunted right? Wow, how wrong I was.
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We met with the property manager, the local guide, and I did some dry fire practice on the sticks and we were off. We took the Landcruiser to the last place the injured buffalo was spotted. I was starting to realize just how big this place was. We stopped in a wooded area to start a stalk. I can’t even begin to describe the level of excitement as I loaded up the mag of the CZ. We walked down the road out into a field. There were several giraffe just hanging around but the tracker was keyed on to a clump of bushes in a ravine. The excitement was building as we circled this clump of bushes. At one point Neil told me to put my finger on safety and be ready to go. But it turned out there was nothing there. Neil even threw a clump of dirt into the bush and nothing. Getting close enough to brush you could smell buffalo. He couldn’t be far.
We continued along the ravine just a bit and that’s when things really got interesting. We approached another clump of bushes. When we were about 50 yards away a bull popped out of the bushes and he didn’t look too happy to be woken up. It was a fantastic trophy but not the buffalo we were after. He looked at us for a few seconds and ran off huffing like a steam locomotive. That’s an image that will be ingrained in my brain for the rest of my life. This scene repeated itself again a few minutes later further down the ravine with yet another bull, that wasn't our target. How could these massive creatures hide so well?! By now I was operating on pure adrenaline.
This scene played out one last time and it was our target bull! But there was just one problem. He flushed before we were even 100 yards away, too far for a shot on a buff, but he also never stopped to look back like the others. There just wasn't a shot. I am guessing his injury made him more cautious. That was the last time I would see him but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. The buff ran over the hill and we then began to track him down. This is where things got rough. Just a little bit ago I was in snow and here I was, just hours into my Africa hunt, I was carrying a heavy CZ with no sling in some really rough terrain in the African Sun. We expected a short stalk so there was no water to be had. After a couple of hours we lost the track and it was time to recover and regroup. I am amazed I was able to do this. I have had some medical issues and I simply would not have been able to do anything like this not long ago. So even though I was thoroughly parched and exhausted but I was just so thrilled that I made it without slowing down. It was really an emotional moment for me.
By this time it was getting pretty hot and we knew the buffalo would be bedded down so the PH asked if I would like to hunt the second animal on my list, a zebra. I thought sure, we saw a ton of them this will be easy. (Wrong again!) There was just one catch, it had to be a stallion. Little did I know how difficult that would be identify one. We had lunch on the beach in one of the most picturesque beaches I have seen (I am ex-Navy so I have seen many of them) and then it was zebra time
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That afternoon we did several stalks on zebra herds but never had a shot at a stallion. I lost track of how many times we did that. At one point I was laying part way in warthog hole as a herd went by but not a single stallion. We went back to the lodge to get more water (we were out by now). We met the land owner and this where things really got interesting. He told us he would take out his airplane later on to help spot the buffalo. Air support? All I could think of is that we got air support now, this just got real. With that kind of advantage this buff didn't have a chance. I even thought that maybe it wasn't even fair!
A buff was spotted from the air pretty close to where we stopped the stalk. The buff hunt was back on! It had to be him. We ended up getting close enough to the buffalo that was spotted from the air. We ended up crawling within 50 yards but just one problem. It was the wrong one! It was the first one we saw in the day and he still was annoyed. So we slowly backed away and it was back to square one.
We continued to drive/walk until the end of the day but no luck. The buffalo were nowhere to be found. So the next time someone gets sanctimonious about hunting in fenced areas they can kiss my butt because even with an airplane it wasn’t easy finding 1000+ lb buffalo.
We decided just to stay in the area rather than do a 6 hour round trip back to our lodge. We had until 1 pm the next day as our deadline since the backup PH had to leave and some eco-tourists were coming to the property. I guess they wouldn’t be too happy with a hunter traipsing around. That night we went into town to get supplies and dinner. We got to sleep in the eco-tourist lodge. It was nice, real nice. No change of clothes but at least I got a shower to clean out the hundreds of scraps on my legs.
The next day I was well rested and ready to go. It wasn’t long we were upon a buffalo. But it was the first one from the day before. Three times I was in range to this particular guy. It was frustrating to be so close and having to let him go (or in the one case slowly back away!). I learned how hard it was to hunt a particular animal. We also inadvertently got pretty close to one of the resident rhinos once. It was a white rhino but we stayed clear just in case. Hunting buffalo while dodging rhinos? I figure not many people will ever get an opportunity like that!
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By midday when we had to call it quits I was actually relieved even though I had failed. That afternoon I felt redemption when I had success with a fantastic shot on a zebra at another concession but that will be a different thread.
That night at the campfire I was told the buff hunt was back on for the next day. The outfitter worked out a deal to keep the photo-safari people clear of us. I had mixed emotions. But this is where I had to make a very difficult decision. This was planned as a family trip and I felt bad for spending even more time away from the family. It came down to this, I figured there would be other buffalo, even if they would cost more to hunt, but I would never have a chance to go with my kids on their first hunt in Africa.
For years now I have been an “arm chair” buffalo hunter. I’ve watched countless hunts on TV, read tons of hunts reports, and read several books. But on this day and a half I learned more than all of that combined. If it is even possible I have more of a fire in me to hunt the black death and I now know what to do to prepare fully. For now I will work hard to save money, practice my shooting, and keep an eye out for in deals sections for the next buffalo hunt. God willing, I’ll be back!!!!
