SOUTH AFRICA: The Death Bellow - A Limpopo Cape Buffalo Hunt With Duke Safaris

[matt2H]

“I don’t know what there is about buffalo that frightens me so. Lions and leopards and rhinos excite me but don’t frighten me. But that buff is so big and mean and ugly and hard to stop, and vindictive and cruel and surly and ornery. He looks like he hates you personally. He looks like you owe him money. He looks like he is hunting you. He makes me sick in the stomach, and he makes my hands sweat, and he dries out my throat and lips.”​

Robert Ruark “Use Enough Gun”
​

My First DG Rifle
​

I got into hunting late in life, in my early 30s. I had always been a conscious eater, wanting to eat as close to natural as possible, and frequently asked my hunting buddies to “grab me something” when they went hunting. All this changed when I received my first refusal – “Come and shoot it yourself” was the response. I should add that this was while I still lived in South Africa – where tags are not required and hunting involves paying the landowner for animals shot, so essentially your target or quota was equal to your budget.

So, I did – I became a hunter. I purchased my first rifle – nothing fancy, a Weatherby Vanguard sporter in .308. I started joining my mates as they hunted and was fortunately exposed to many different types of hunting – from sitting in blinds, walking and stalking and even cull hunts from the back of a truck. Each to their own – but I have a real fondness for being out and about, walking and smelling the various smells, picking up sticks and stones, climbing vantage points – and just seeing what I can find. That is a long way of saying that my preference is walk and stalk.

As it always does, discussions around a campfire always lead to what caliber rifle should be the next one in your safe. I am indeed blessed that taking part in these conversations were some of the best minds in the business – published authors, contributors, professional DG hunters and those in the know – I am grateful that I get to call these lads friends, most especially as I didn’t (and probably still don’t know) much. Copies of their books and contributions are some of my most prized possessions.

Fortune sometimes dictates the next move, and as it happened a .375 H&H was sitting in one of the fireplace conversationalist’s family homes – just looking for its next owner. She was to become mine. This .375 had an interesting history, that I will try to explain here.

It, and its sister rifle, 2 BRNO ZKK602’s in .375 H&H, were purchased in 1994 by two of the campfire participants, just as the one was beginning his career in nature conservation. His was to be his DG rifle, while the other (the one to become mine) had to be purchased as well. Over time, the nature conservationist had several improvements or adjustments completed on his rifle to make it more suitable as a carrying “stopper” – including smoothing the action, shortening the barrel and customizing the sights. Both rifles were carried on many hunts as these schoolboy friends traveled the country. As the nature conservationist’s career progressed so did his caliber choice (he currently carries a beautiful Heym double in 450 NE) and the 375 H&H became available for purchase to friends. With its upgrades, the purchaser of the other rifle scooped up this one and offered his own to his brother. Unfortunately, or fortunately in my case – this rifle was not much used and when the time was right, he offered to sell it. I purchased it will all the speed available in the South African firearm legal system and she became mine.

She had sat in a safe for a while and needed love and care. Armed with the my friend’s advice, and the expertise of Morkel and Crouse gunsmithing inside Safari and Outdoor in Johannesburg, South Africa – she was lovingly restored. The list of amendments was carefully compiled with the input of experts, those whose opinions I trusted and who had to rely on their dangerous game rifles at all times. In short, the action was smoothed and bedded, the stock lengthened to suit my LOP and with a new recoil pad added. The stock itself was reconditioned, rechecked and had new cross bolts and an ebony tip installed, the barrel shortened and a barrel band added, and she had become mine. There have certainly been prettier and more amazing rifles shared on this site- but I love her.

I must add an addendum at the end here, as I immigrated to the USA in 2020, in the middle of COVID-19 – but when the time was right – I imported the two rifles mentioned here. They sit proudly in my safe beside some more expensive custom rifles. The memories attached to them though are priceless – to me at least. I plan on at least two additional modifications, I would like to fill in the hollow in the bolt knob and have the grip cap engraved with “my” buffalo.

Image 1: The BRNO ZKK 602 375 H&H as received

Image 2: The BRNO ZKK 602 375 H&H Post restoration, wearing a lightweight Leupold VX3i 3.5-10
​

Image 3: The BRNO ZKK 602 ready for this hunt, wearing a lightweight Leupold VX3i 1.5-5, sling and sight hood removed
​

 

[Andrew62]

What a great story, and what a beautiful rifle!!

 

[BRICKBURN]

Now that you have exposed your talent as a writer we will require more chapters to this book you just began.

Thanks for sharing your first chapter.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

What a great story, and what a beautiful rifle!!

The rifle is even prettier in person. Keep it coming @matt2H!

 

[Green Chile]

I enjoyed reading that. Rifles have a story and yours is continuing. I look forward to the next chapter.

 

[matt2H]

Thank you for the kind words all - the next chapter is currently being written!

 

[Nyati]

 

[Zinz]

I think anyone of us would love to call that rifle our own! Great story... I am also anxious to see what is on the end of that blood spoor...

Ed Z

 

[LWood]

Following!

 

[matt2H]

“But it was time to hunt buffalo. The African buffalo is distant kin to the American plains bison, but there the resemblance ends. The African animal is one of the great reasons why so many visitors never get into the wilds at all. He regards it as his duty to keep them out.”

Harry Syner, Synders Book of Big Game Hunting​

The Outfitter

I would encourage all who are considering a hunting safari in South Africa to do their research and investigate their outfitter thoroughly, as your entire experience quite literally rests on their shoulders. I knew exactly who I wanted to hunt with as I had previously hunted successfully with them before, chasing plains game in South Africa – Duke Safaris.

Duke Safaris, owned by Jonty Luyt and Roelof Niemann – who were both “born and raised” in the African bush. They cut their teeth managing photo safaris before managing large game reserves as wardens. Today, they are passionate about passing on their expertise in the hunting and conservation field, especially on dangerous game, hunting those very areas they previously managed in South Africa (although they operate in Mozambique as well). Their policies and ethos are all about sustainable utilization echoing my own thoughts and beliefs on the matter.

Our buffalo, discussed over many, many phone calls HAD to be:

• Old as the hills and clearly hard bossed;
• Grey in the face and preferably balding all over;
• Pronounced roman nose and tatty ears;
• Worn down horn tips, in fact – there was no minimum, the more worn the better; and
• He must have lived his life in a vast expanse, constantly navigating the full spectrum of predators, a testament to his resilience!

I hunted with Roelof who kept me in the loop on all planning activities and was always available to answer many questions. Ultimately, when you know you know, but underlining that you have made the perfect choice in outfitter is when, after 40 minutes of watching a possible bull and he finally reveals himself in all his glory to you, your PH whispers in your ear:

“He is perfect; he ticks all the boxes. He’s bigger than we wanted but he’s an amazing bull, but we can sneak out now though if you would like to find some more”.

He did confide in me later though that if we had snuck out - he was sure we would be back for him.

Image 4: Roelof (left – with Buffalo) and Jonty (Right – with Elephant) of Duke Safaris
​

Here is the link to Duke Safaris 2023 newsletter: 2023 Magazine

 

[matt2H]

I envy those of you who can write quickly and effectively. I have had to enhance my accountant’s role to include editor and proof reader as well! (Joke shamelessly stolen from @Pablo 's trip report)

On to the next chapter – ammunition.

 

[matt2H]

“The buffalo is in my opinion one of the most formidable and dangerous animals to be reckoned with in Africa today. Here you have an antagonist imbued with all the cunning and ferocity which it is possible to imagine, his sense of hearing, smell and indomitable courage being unsurpassed. Having hunted these daring animals in five different countries in Africa, I can honest say I hold him in great respect, and know of no more determined animal, especially when wounded and in cover to his liking.”​

JA Hunter “White Hunter”
​

The Ammunition

Please note before starting reading this section, that I do not prescribe the method I followed, nor do I suggest that you do so. Never assume or trust someone else has taken every precaution when loading for you. This situation is unique and applicable to me. ​

I consider myself an accomplished reloader of long-distance match grade ammunition, spitting out repeatable velocities and extremely low SDs. Should my desired components have been available, I would have been comfortable performing load development and finalizing rounds for my 375 H&H. I did in fact do so, with the creation of practice ammunition using the readily available Barnes TSX 300-grain bullets.

However, when you have access to someone who has to hand load dangerous game ammunition to carry as part of his daily job, who has as part of his job function a requirement to trust his loads to put dangerous game down, who is a published author in books on dangerous game and dangerous game rifle builds – as I do, only then I would suggest that you can deviate from this sections intro.

I mentioned my desired components – I wanted to use 380-grain Rhino solid shanks as my softs and 350-grain Dzombo solids. The following extracts from Kevin Robertson’s book titled “Africa’s Most Dangerous” suggest why:​

“However, my more recent experiences with 350 and 380-grain bullets have convinced me that super heavyweight bullets in .375 caliber are a lot more effective on buffalo than any 270 or 300 grainers”

“A 380-grain Rhino for the first shot from all of the “permissible” angles and a similar weight solid for any follow up would automatically be my first choice of bullets for the various .375s when buffalo are on the menu”

(Robertson, Africa's Most Dangerous, 2007)

The above-mentioned friend volunteered to perform this loading for me and secured the ammunition from Rhino and Dzombo to develop a load. I was able to secure and send available .375 cases (Hornady is what was available) and he was able to procure the rest in South Africa. The final load post-development was 67.5 grains of H4350 in the Hornady case and a CCI250 Large Rifle Magnum Primer pushing the fired round at 2200 fps for the Rhino and 69.5 grains of H4350 in the Hornady case and a CCI250 Large Rifle Magnum Primer pushing the fired round at 2350 fps for the Dzombo. These two rounds fired from his 375 printed a half inch apart. In test firing my rifle at the range before the hunt – we confirmed the same for mine – the Rhino’s grouped at about an inch and the ever-accurate Dzombo’s all touching each other at 50 yards.

The 380-grain Rhinos were thereafter tested in the field with admirable results – the "test" buffalo ran about 30 yards before expiring. As will be shared in a later update – mine did the same.

Image 5: Rhino Solid Shank available sizes, the loaded ammunition ready for my hunt and a size comparison L-R: 500gr 458 A-Frame; 500 NF SS; 375 / 380gr Rhino

​

Image 6: A “Solid” (Shank) Choice – my recovered 380gr Rhino​

 

[matt2H]

"We fully appreciate that the buffalo deserves his reputation as one of the most dangerous of big-game animals. His eyesight is good, he has keen scent and is vifilant and vindicative....the buffalo when once on the trail of man will not only persist in his efforts to find him but when he has once come up with him, will not leave while there is a vestige of life remaining in the victim. In some cases he will not leave while there is a fragment of the man remaining large enough to form a target for a buffalo's stamping hoofs." ​

Carl Akeley
​

Practice and Preparation

​

Let’s be honest – it’s reltively easy to hit a bullseye. Knowing your rifle and your load should have you hitting bullseyes or at least decent groups with regularity at the shooting range. I do this most weekends – at ranges varying from 250 – 1,250 odd yards as practice, in fact – if you shoot in Arizona, there is a fair chance you have seen me lugging my equipment around at Ben Avery or Cow Town. This shooting is all done in a beautifully controlled environment – a far cry from the crazy situation you may find yourself in when your quarry presents a shot in the African bush.

You aren’t a hunter if you haven’t messed up and wounded an animal unfortunately (I know I have) – and our practice in “match scenarios” should be designed to minimize this likelihood and of course maximize the chance of success. As discussed elsewhere on this forum, shooting sticks are one of these chance maximizers. There are many options, and one of my discussions with Roelof revolved around his preference.

The one I chose is merely my preference for a steady shot. They are by no means perfect – and rather ungainly to move (which I had to do) – but they are incredibly steady and I would use them again. I purchased my 4 Stable Sticks from 4stablesticksusa.com (the bush essential base model) and got to practice. I would add that if you decide to travel with your sticks then one of the models that breaks down further would more easily fit in your luggage.

To start with I practiced at home, requesting my wife or daughter to set up the sticks and me pushing my rifle into place without lifting it and acquiring a target before taking the rifle off safe and dry firing. This evolved into practice at the range with a simple bullseye target and a 1-inch sticker. I practiced this until I could hit the bullseye with the first shot and follow up with a handheld shot that wasn’t off by much.

As my hunt got closer I wanted to fully simulate the match situation and purchased a life-sized target from Africa Sporting Creations (Link: HERE). I revisited my high school woodworking skills and pulled together the three-piece buffalo target that became a fixture in the bed of my truck. Again, I practiced weekly with this buffalo and he definitely resulted in some fun conversations at Cow Town Shooting Range. The immediate feedback the target provides is fantastic – simply flipping the target shows you the organs and what you have managed to hit. I am convinced that this practice resulted in what Kevin Robertson means by the perfect shot on my buffalo.

Image 7: Practicing off sticks – I did this once a week at least in the months leading up to my hunt​

​

Image 8: The life size buffalo target – this target replaced the bullseye target

Image 9: He’s certainly spotty now & the ability to gain immediate feedback

I am also quite a reader and have a decent library of African Hunting books, those that I do not have in hard copy – I download to Kindle. It’s far from an exhaustive list, but I found these ones especially helpful:​

• Africa’s Most Dangerous by Kevin Robertson​
• Hunting the African Buffalo by Peter Flack​
• Buffalo! by Craig Boddington​
• Horned Death by John F Burger​
• Buffalo by Ron Thomson​

Of course for pure nostalgia and dreaming of Africa, Ruark’s Horn of the Hunter and Use Enough Gun are always recommended.

​

Image 10: Some Recommended Reading

​

Lastly – although I am certainly not the biggest fan of podcasts as I generally find them like lectures – I did gain benefit from these:

Cape Buffalo hunting with Kevin Robertson

Cape Buffalo Hunting 101 with Kevin Robertson

Regarding the rest of my preparation, I read every relevant trip report on this site for hints and tips – but kept it extremely simple. I took Courtney Safari boots, a few pairs of thick hiking socks (Columbia), a couple of pairs of comfortable pants that had “stretch” (Orvis), some shirts that provided sun protection (Kuiu Gila Pro), as well as a hat that provided protection for my ears and face (Kuiu Boonie). Lastly, I packed some warm items for cooler nights around the fire and early mornings and left it at that.

Out of interest – would anyone like the life-size target? I don’t want any payment for it – but anyone who would find it useful for hunt preparation is welcome to collect it in North Phoenix.​

​

 

[matt2H]

Can anyone tell me why I see &8203; on my mobile after posting from a PC? I write in MS Word and copy across- but I don’t see that before clicking post or on my PC?

Pls let me know if I am doing something incorrectly

 

[matt2H]

I also notice that I dont see the last paragraph on my mobile, so reposting it here in case anyone is interested:

Out of interest – would anyone like the life-size buffalo target? I don’t want any payment for it – but anyone who would find it useful for hunt preparation is welcome to collect it in North Phoenix.

 

[matt2H]

“The unusual aspect of the buff (Cape Buffalo) is that, of the three really big dangerous species, he has no weak spots in his natural defenses. He has the eyesight of a cheetah, the hearing of a hypersensitive elephant, and the smelling ability of a bird dog on a damp morning. In the bush, he can do anything that you can, including running four times your speed through cover so dense that it would make a mole claustrophobic” ​

Peter Capstick “Death in the Dark Continent”
​

The Hunting Experience - 12,13 and 14 July 2024

Armed with my temporary export permit, quickly and stress-free provided by CBP in Phoenix I was collected by my airport transfer to take me to Phoenix Sky Harbor. As usual for an expat returning home – I had multiple bags filled with goodies for South African friends and family. My rifle was secured within a Pelican Vault double rifle case with the original CBP form inside – I had copies of all essential documents in my luggage.

Check in was seamless with British Airways, although checking in the rifle did take a while. I recommend arriving at least an hour earlier to accommodate this. British Airways does come in for some stick on this site, but I found them easy to deal with – provided you adhere to their requirements of phoning them beforehand to advise traveling with a rifle and dealing with a lengthy layover in Heathrow. I flew premium economy and had selected aisle seats for all flights so that I could get up and stretch my legs as often as I wanted. All of my bags had airtags so it was reassuring to see them at Phoenix and again at Heathrow.

Image 11: I found British Airways easy to deal with​

I was able to intercept my rifle case on its way to SAPS at ORT in Johannesburg, and thankfully the SAPS office was pretty empty. I was in and out with 20 minutes – and collected by a friend of mine, gratefully bearing a hot cappuccino and we were on our way.

The rest of today was spent with family, some of whom I had not seen in years, celebrating my sister’s 40th birthday.

On Sunday myself and a group of friends, joining me as observers, headed out to Limpopo. We hit a large traffic jam because of an accident just outside of Pretoria, but otherwise we had a fantastic and beautiful drive stopping to admire the views and sample some of the locally produced fare through the Magoebaskloof Pass.

We arrived at our accommodation, Roelof’s own farm beautifully setup to receive hunters, to find the fires already lit.

Image 12: The accommodation – beautifully laid out and of course decorated to a Hunters Specifications​

Out of interest one of my trophies from a previous hunt with Duke Safaris was a kudu bull. At the time, Jonty told me that my Kudu’s twin was on the wall on this property. Jonty’s one (without the shield), measures 56, mine 55 7/8s. The similarities are quite striking.

Image 13: Twin Kudus?​

 

[matt2H]

"The buffalo is one of the most difficult of all animals to put down, and is notorious for his ability to soak up bullets."
​

John "Pondoro" Taylor, "African Rifles and Cartridges"
​

15 July 2024

We woke up early to do the previously mentioned validation of the loaded Rhinos and Dzombos. Once confirmed, we set off to our hunting location.

Day one had us looking for tracks, and we found quite a few likely leads, either crossing the road or by water. However, the bush was so thick that after a couple of hours of tracking, we lost the trail. Encouraging morning, but we weren’t able to observe any buffalo. We did come across a beautiful old wildebeest with half a scrum cap. Had I been after wildebeest, I’m not sure I could have resisted him. We broke for lunch at a stunning shady location filled with sycamore figs along one of the rivers.​

Image 14: Half a scrum cap blue wildebeest

Image 15: Seeing where the tracks led off to

Image 16: Stunning lunchtime views
​

The afternoon had us in a different area away from the water, but a group of dagga boys had recently been seen there. We didn’t cut any tracks at any of the water holes or crossing the road. We instead went on a walk along a well-used game trail heading towards one of the larger dams in this section of the reserve. We walked into loads of plains game and then bumped into hippo at 20 yards. We stood still for an eternity while they gave us a good hard look before deciding to head to the dam rather than us!

Image 17: Pods of hippos – The photograph was taken after bumping into three hippos feeding while we were making our way to the dam.

​

 

[matt2H]

"There is a sound peculiar to a solid hit on a buffalo that no hunter ever forgets. It's an indescribable, crackling thud that somehow transmits the message 'I’ve been hit, but it will take more than that to stop me.’”​

Peter Capstick “Death in the Long Grass"
​

16 July 2024
Day 2 had us back in the first area along one of the rivers. We almost immediately found four beautiful bulls, all very big and mature, but none of which were old enough to be a real dagga boy. The one had a truly massive set of horns on him.

Not far from returning to the vehicle we came across a “rock” that warranted a second look. This rock had horns and a tail – another buffalo, just his ass sticking out at us in another super thick area. We couldn’t make out too much but made a stalk to get closer and examine him better.

We got again to about 50 yards away without him knowing. I got the rifle on the sticks and we waited. He looked promising - but we would have to wait to make sure...

Image 18: We watched this buffalo’s backside for over half an hour

Image 19: Still waiting

Image 20: Still waiting.. Looking through the scope to make out details
​

We watched him for nearly 40 minutes before he finally moved just enough for us to see some blunt tips, and I started getting excited! He seemed to be super slowly moving to his left and out of the thick stuff so we moved left as well, and finally, we could make him out- grey face, tattered ears, blunt tips, Roman nose and a dewlap- everything I wanted! Roelof was whispering in my ear- this is totally your call, he’s above the size you wanted, but he has everything. We can back out if you’d like, but you may just want to try to search for this bull again.

I responded by saying that the bush was too thick where he was and there wasn’t a way that I could shoot him. Also it was still a quartering-away shot - which I would prefer not to attempt. At that point, bear in mind we had been watching this bull at 40 yards for close to an hour, I think one of the group about 50 yards behind us, stood on a twig or something and he whirled around- and stood pretty much broadside. Through the tiniest of gaps in the bush I had a clear shot, whispered to Roelof I was going to shoot, slipped off the safety, and let fly.

Image 21: Image taken just before I shot. The buffalo is now aware of us. I was standing to the right of where this photo was taken and managed to shoot through the tiniest of gaps​

He hunched big time and ran off through the thick stuff with extremely stiff legs. He made about 40 yards before collapsing, giving five thundering death bellows, and died. The 380-grain Rhino had been through both lungs and destroyed the top of the heart. Signs of his predicament in terms of blood loss on the ground were minimal - the drop on the rock was about all that was found. Thankfully, tracking wasn’t necessary! He was everything I was after, and more so with a horn spread of 40 inches to boot. On viewing his teeth – he was aged at approximately 11 and a half years old.

I have footage with audio of the death bellows that I am having cleaned up and hope to share soon.

Image 22: It’s the dead ones that kill you​

Image 23: As he fell

Image 24: Entry wound for the 380-grain Rhino bullet next to an unfired round​

Image 25: Some poses

Image 26: Some more poses​

Image 27: More than I had hoped for

Image 28: Yet more poses

Image 29: Old, worn tips, large bosses, roman nose, tatty ears, grey in the face on this fellow

Image 30: Always interesting to see the skinning and processing​

Its always interesting to spend time int he skinning shed afterwards. Image 30 above shows the catastrophic internal damage cause by the 380-grain Rhino bullet, the unbelievable size of the rumen and lastly - the top of the heart is completely missing. ​

 

[AZDAVE]

Nice proper old bull. Congratulations.

 

[LWood]

Great buff! Congrats!