Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Back from my Zimbabwe safari... Aug-Sept 2015

[Apparently I exceeded the bandwidth limit in my previous post. Here's the last bit with the photos included.]


And here's a photo showing the small tear in his hide where the other bull's horn hooked him. I would have thought there would be a huge slash in the hide, but no... only this little mark. I think it demonstrates extremely well how incredibly tough Cape buffalo bullhide is.



The knife I'm pointing at it with is a special one made for me for this hunt by a patient of mine here in San Angelo. It's Damascus steel, made by the knifemaker by hand, with a polymer-stabilized amber handle.

And here is a pic showing the two entry wounds: the one by my index finger was my original shot, and the one indicated by my pinky is the second "insurance". The killing shot went in through the left humerus, shattering the bone, then through the top of the heart, and ended up in the triceps muscle of the off shoulder.


Finally, a pic of the damage to the heart caused by the Swift A-Frame softpoint in transit across the bull's thorax. The skinner's knife gives some scale, but hadn't been used to open the heart wound yet... all the damage you see is entirely due to the bullet.




Also, a pic of the recovered bullet. I haven't weighed it yet, but it should come in at 280+ grains, I think.


Coming up: Part 4, Poachers; Part 5, Kudu; Part 6, African Rifles.