Waterbuck - South Africa

[Fryeguy]

I know we are trying to get you fired up about shooting a waterbuck, but I’m sure going to miss going this year to shoot one myself

 

[Frederik]

I know we are trying to get you fired up about shooting a waterbuck, but I’m sure going to miss going this year to shoot one myself

No worries as long as you don't crash my dates and property where I will be hunting.

 

[codofish]

I got this guy last July in the Free State. I stalked a monster on the deBeers diamond property for three straight days in 2023 but couldn't close the deal. We were the last group allowed to hunt there. They took down the fence that separated the plains game from the lions and wild dogs. The ph said the lions got him and they saved the horns.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

I can't find a pic of the one I took in my first trip to Africa, it was right at 30". But here are a couple of nice Defassa versions I took in Uganda and Mozambique. I would add that I also think the Waterbuck is a regal animal. And I also believe they're underrated in regards to how tough they are. All 3 I've killed had good shots. The first ran several hundred yards before falling. The first one below took 3 shots into the heart/lungs, the 3rd shot after running 100 yards or so, and even after that shot managed another 25 yards. The second pic is from Mozambique this summer. He was quartering too me and I hit him at the front of his left shoulder with a 300gr North Fork bonded core and then turned immediately into the thick stuff and still managed the better part of 100 yards.

 

[Red Leg]

This one came from the Caprivi. Very difficult hunt for a wary animal.

My son took this beast of a bull in the Zambezi Delta of Mozambique.

Crawshay Defassa Waterbuck from Takeri in Zambia with Mike @spike.t

 

[NIGHTHAWK]

 

[Pablo]

They are very wily and they were my nemesis for a few days last July. He was the only animal I shot where I got the shakes afterwards. The white circle on their rear ends is so unique

 

[BryceM]

Waterbuck are fascinating and frustrating animals to me. I pursued them three safaris in a row with just miserable luck. The first opportunity was in the central region of Namibia in a low-fence area about an hour from Windhoek. We were watching red hartebeest and I spotted a couple of nice bulls almost a mile away up on a mountain. I pointed them out to the PH and he made a "oh golly" noise.

It wasn't too long until dark so we drove around the mountain quickly to get in position. We got to around 200 or 250 yards from them and one was a rather nice bull. After carefully getting ready, it all went to crap. I shot the bull, and at first it looked pretty good. He tucked up a leg and went down very quickly. After only a few seconds he was back up. Flustered, and almost dark, I shot again and missed the whole dang animal. Maybe it was some issues I was having with a faulty scope. Maybe it was just me. I'll never know for sure. It remains, hopefully forever, the only animal in Africa that we never recovered. We looked for two days. The landowner's guys kept looking but never found it.

The next trip we were in a huge high-fence area with several bulls known to be on the property. There were plenty of other animals to hunt, but we got fixated on waterbuck, and we couldn't turn up any in two or three days of looking. We even went to the neighbors farm. Still, no luck. On the last day we finally said to heck with it, and just went for a drive to see what might happen. For no reason at all, a bull suddenly materialized in a place the owner had never seen one. It was a bull with a skew horn that nobody had seen before.

The .375 was true this time and he only made it a few yards. Maybe he's not for everyone, but I sort of like freaks.

The next trip I got an opportunity on another bull, again, that I spotted first. It's just awesome when that happens. We stalked in carefully and, again, I made one of the most horrible shots I've ever made. Clean miss. This time there was nothing to blame but me. We were very luck to catch back up to him and finish the deal. As far as I can recall, these two clean misses are the only ones I've had in Africa over 7 safaris, apart from a jackal or two and a baboon at extreme range.

Best of luck to the OP. Shoot better than I did!

One final story. In the Caprivi, we had a waterbuck on quota, but we were after DG. There was a nice herd of waterbuck cows hanging around a waterhole, but we never saw a bull with them. One evening, while driving through the area on our way to chase elephants, I turned around in time to see a monster bull hidden in the brush about 50 feet off the road. For a good 2 or 3 seconds it was tempting to say something, but I never did, and it ended up being a good thing.

 

[Frederik]

I can't find a pic of the one I took in my first trip to Africa, it was right at 30". But here are a couple of nice Defassa versions I took in Uganda and Mozambique. I would add that I also think the Waterbuck is a regal animal. And I also believe they're underrated in regards to how tough they are. All 3 I've killed had good shots. The first ran several hundred yards before falling. The first one below took 3 shots into the heart/lungs, the 3rd shot after running 100 yards or so, and even after that shot managed another 25 yards. The second pic is from Mozambique this summer. He was quartering too me and I hit him at the front of his left shoulder with a 300gr North Fork bonded core and then turned immediately into the thick stuff and still managed the better part of 100 yards.

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With their thick coats and long hair not like the other plainsgame it also takes time for blood to run freely for tracking also making it more difficult if they run off after the shot.

 

[wildwilderness]

I wasn’t planning on shooting one but seeing one up close I couldn’t pass. My daughter was with me on her first safari to South Africa

I had a chance at a Defassa waterbuck in Cameroon but passed because of the license limitations - in hindsight should have shot

 

[Hunter-Habib]

One of the only two waterbuck which I’ve ever hunted.

Great trophies, horrible eating. Their meat is absolutely atrocious. A waterbuck… particularly an old one, has a very oily substance that gets in the hairs of the skin. When skinning the animal, great care must be taken to avoid getting the hair or oil on the meat. An old trophy bull does taste a bit strong, but a young waterbuck tastes quite fine.

Nevertheless, they make for most exciting quarry.

 

[cpr0312]

South Africa and Uganda

 

[Flipper Dude]

South Africa and Uganda


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That is a toad right there!

 

[cpr0312]

That is a toad right there!

Yes sir, the sun shined on me that day in Uganda!

 

[Kiwifire111]

My wife, Sue, shot this Waterbuck October 2024 Limpopo, just across the river and in sight of Botswana. Using a Bergara BA 13 in 308 and 130gr Woodleigh SP, it was literally a bang/flop, collapsing in its own foot prints. A great shot at 195 yds. I was pleasantly surprised at the performance of the little bullet!

A nice photo from the previous evening that you don't often get to see.

 

[MontanaPat]

My one and only so far, taken in Limpopo on my first safari, did take several stalks before getting a shot on this one. About 27” if I recall correctly

 

[Lee M]

Namibia 2