Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa First Cape Buffalo Hunt

Outfitter / PH: Pieter Kriel

Dates: July 1 – July 14, 2016

Hunter: Charles

Airline: American Airlines DFW to Madrid, British Airways Madrid to London and London to Johannesburg

Rifle: CZ .375 H&H w/ Kahles 1.1 – 4 x 24 Helia C Scope
Ammunition: Handloads with Barnes 300 gr TSX

Toys: Contour Camera, GoPro Camera, Maverick GPS Navigation App

Animals on my list are: Cape Buffalo and Bushpig.

The flights are booked and the dates are confirmed with Pieter. Now I just have to wait 11 months or rather I have 11 months to prepare. It was a presentation by Craig Bottington on hunting Cape Buffalo at the February 2005 DSC monthly meeting that sparked my interest in hunting in Africa. Eleven years and three safaris later I am finally making that dream a reality.

In preparation for my hunt I progressively walked more each day until in the months leading up to my trip I was averaging over 7 miles per day with my high being 11 miles on the day that I did a 5K race. The Saturday before my departure I awoke to a stiff and slightly swollen knee. It was the same knee that I had operated on a few years back. On Monday I contacted the orthopedic surgeon that worked on it before and fortunately he had an afternoon cancellation. I explained the situation and asked him to drain the fluid and give me a cortisone injection. He did but warned me that it would probably only give me a couple weeks of reprieve. He also told me that he always takes two aspirins before long flights. I normally experience knee swelling after long flights. That is one of the reasons that I normally schedule a couple park days. Between the cortisone shot and the aspirin I did not encounter any swelling this time.

We spent a couple days in Kruger Park to let me acclimate even though my knee was okay. Of particular note is the number of skeletons we saw, how little water there is in the rivers and pools, and how little grass there is left. South Africa is in a severe drought. I enjoyed the time there and saw all of the big five expect Leopard.

I particularly enjoyed doing a morning bush walk. The walk started off pretty routine. There were four guests (a youngish Spanish couple, Pieter, and myself), and two guides. One guide went through the checklist of questions and collected our bush walk questionnaires. All guests confirmed that we signed up for the bush walk and that we are fit enough for the walk. We drove down one of the roads with the do not enter signs, passing a Kruger Park bush drive vehicle that is going very slow and shining spot lights. We listen to lions roaring and wait until there is enough light to see the ground. The guides loaded their rifles when it was time to start walking. At this point the Spanish couple got very excited and claimed that they had signed up for the bush drive and not the walk. I’m not sure if it was the lions roaring or the rifles that got them so excited. The guides quickly made contact with the bush drive vehicle that we had passed and transferred them. The rest of us had a good laugh after they departed and started our walk. One of the guides asked if we had any questions and I had two. The first was what caliber are the rifles and second was if he is a good shot. The answer to the first was .458 and for the second was that he didn’t know. That was pretty much as I expected. During the walk we saw lots of animals including elephant, hippo, and a couple groups of lions. It is interesting to be on the ground and hear lions roaring in front of you and behind you. Then I see a lioness lying under brush looking at us with a male lion sitting behind her looking at us. I sure hope they have been feeding well.



When we spotted buffalo in the park I took the opportunity to continue my discussion with Pieter about what I was looking for. We review shot placement with the aid of Kevin Robertson’s “The Perfect Shot – Pocket Edition”. We also discussed under what circumstances that he will start shooting and that I am not to stop shooting (assuming I have a clear shot) until the buffalo is down or the rifle is empty. Pieter made it clear that I need to have spare rounds and to be prepared to quickly reload.



Finally it was time for the hunt. We were up early and headed for the range to “check the rifle”. Off the sticks at 45 yards I was shooting dead center on the X axis and about 1.5” high so off we go looking for buffalo.

The property is hilly, very rocky, has thick brush, and Mica deposits. I have never hunted dangerous game so I am surprised with the size of our group. It is Pieter, Ian, DeWalt, Peter (Pieter’s skinner), two trackers, and me. I was also not accustomed to trying to get within 50 yards of herd animals so Pieter and Ian explained that our communications will be limited mostly to hand signals. I let Pieter and Ian know that I had an ear plug in my right ear, but left the left one out. So if they wanted to talk to me they needed to be on my left. Ian joked that if they wanted to talk about me they needed to be to my right. Of course they could just speak Afrikaans.

We spotted groups of buffalo or fresh sign and did some stalking. Pieter clearly communicated to Ian what I was looking for so we passed on bulls that didn’t meet my criteria. I did get to see some nice bulls though. A couple of the young bulls were so wide that we could judge their spread with them walking away from us. Those will be great someday.

Late in the afternoon we found a group with my perfect bull. We followed them and I was on the sticks several times, but never had a clear shot. The temperature was dropping and at times my stance was awkward due to the uneven ground. So when I was on the sticks for long periods the leg that was partially bent started cramping. Finally we lost our light and quietly backed out so as not to spook them. I was enjoying my first experience of Cape Buffalo hunting and was secretly glad that I never had a shot. I also wasn’t real keen on tracking a wounded buffalo at dusk either.

Early the next morning we checked out the area where we last saw my bull. Not seeing any fresh sign we started very slowly driving around until we cut tracks and fresh dung. We drove past where the tracks cross the road and walked back. Since it is thick brush we decided to leave the entourage behind. Pieter, Ian, and I set out. I had Pieter’s CZ .375 (five rounds in the rifle and six on my belt), Pieter had his .458, and Ian had a Blaser R8 in .505 Jefferies. I started the Contour Camera and the Maverick GPS App. Peter was going to wear the GoPro, but he was left behind.

We followed the tracks up and down hills for about two hours. Periodically Ian looked back and gave me a thumbs up when he wanted to know if I was doing okay. We catch up to the group and I am getting very excited. We were looking for a good bull in the group when I saw Ian just drop his head as I felt the breeze coming from the wrong direction. Almost instantly I heard thunder and saw a cloud of dust as the buffalo hastily departed.

It got quiet and we thought that maybe they didn’t go too far. Ian gave me a thumbs up and I nodded affirmative. I was actually doing very well considering most of my walking preparing for this trip had been on very flat ground, but it would not have mattered. As long as I was able to walk I would have signaled that I was okay.

We started uphill again and are almost to the top when we saw the buffalo again. There was a bull with the group that I wanted. We slowly worked to get closer and moved sideways to try and find a shooting lane. We got to a point where we had a narrow lane. The buffalo was facing me when Ian whispered into my left ear “That is a good bull. Shoot whenever you feel comfortable with the shot”. The buffalo was slowly coming towards us. I was contemplating shooting the next time his head was up but then he turned slightly. This put him slightly quartering and the next time he stepped forward his vitals would be partially obstructed by brush. I slowly exhaled, settled the scope crosshairs (actually a post in this scope) on a point about the center of where I thought the heart would be, and squeezed the trigger. The rifle boomed, the buffalo dropped like a sack of potatoes, and the rest of the buffalo evaporated. I quickly rechambered while thinking hurry up but don’t short stroke the bolt. I am happy that everything goes smoothly and I am almost instantly back on target. It seems that with the upward angle I not only got the heart but also a bit of the spine.

After what seemed like several minutes we moved forward and to the left to get closer and broadside. There were three rifles pointing at the same spot and not wavering. The buffalo was still breathing but hadn’t made any attempt to get up. At about 20 yards I put another round into his chest. We moved forward again. At about 10 yards I knelt down and put a round right between his front legs. The buffalo had stopped breathing. After we confirmed that the buffalo was actually dead there were sighs of relief and three huge smiles.

Once I can safely take my attention off of the buffalo I notice that about 10 yards past the buffalo is a road. If the wind had not switched on us I may have shot him down in the ravine. In that case our only option would have been to cut him up and pack him uphill to the closest point that we could get the bakkie.

Pieter radioed DeWalt and we waited for the rest of the crew. When I told the skinner and trackers where we first encountered the buffalo they seemed very happy that I didn’t shoot him down there.

I don’t care what my watch says, it is sundowner time and a Castle almost magically appears. It is now picture time. Later I learn that Pieter set his video camera on a pack and started it. It is interesting to watch the whole photo process on video taken from a stationary point. I also noticed on the video how frequently the breeze switched directions.





[img]http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc211/CharlesL_album/Africa%202016/tsx.jpg[/img]

Tomorrow we head out for where I will be hunting Bushpig, but for now it is time to break out the Dalmore 18 year old.