I am one of those guys who can't afford to hunt cape buffalo at "shelf" prices and I love hunting cape buffalo, so I have had to find buffalo that fits my budget. I have done that and so can you if you work on it.
Here are some of my experience and unconventional opinions that I hope are helpful. I have killed 13 buffalo. 3 bulls and 10 cows.
I hunted my third and last Cape buffalo bull about 9 years ago on a 5,000 hector property in the beautiful Waterberg Mts. of Limpopo Province, South Africa.
I was 69 at the time. I paid $10,000 plus the day rate for a one week hunt.
We walked about 13 KM. that day, stalking and bumping a small herd of bulls and cows. I never saw a fence during that time. The bushveld was varied and beautiful. The two PH's and trackers were first class. when I finally held my 375HH on the sticks at a handsome bull 40 yds away I waited for a big old cow to move out of the way. The bull was facing me and I hit him perfectly, low in the centre of his chest with a quality bullet and he bucked and ran for about 40 yds. before he went down. The bullet went though the top of his heart. It was an exciting and suspenseful DG hunt, and I was learning some useful info about buffalo hunting.
It was the last bull I ever hunted. I knew then that I either had to find more money or cheaper buffalo hunts because I was really hooked on the experience. ( pun intended ) and that I would want to hunt buffalo the rest of my active life.
My eight unconventional, and sometimes unpopular opinions.
1. That old barren buffalo cow, (You know the one, she stands there in the way when you are trying to shoot a bull, chuckle.) makes great hunting. She is fast, tricky and smart. Seasoned dangerous game PH's will tell you they have had more trouble with the cows than the bulls. Old cows are considered a good/ethical animal to take out of a herd. ( When a cull is required for herd management, old cow are usually the first to go.)
2. You can hunt cows for a fraction of the cost of bulls. ( I am booked for 6 buffalo cows in 2025 on a vast and beautiful property. I can't tell how little I'm paying I am sworn to secrecy.)
3. I am not really a card carrying Trophy Hunter. I just look for the oldest cow in the herd. I have two Cape buffalo bull head mounts on the walls and I feel that I should have used the taxidermy money on cow hunting instead.
4. There is always an outfitter/PH somewhere in South Africa that is happy to do business with me on cows at a price that can afford. I am not afraid to tell them that I am good for a one shot DRT kill with my big bore out to 60 yds. ( Less trouble for them.)
5. There are lots of vast and beautiful properties to hunt buffalo on in RSA. You just have to ask the right questions when you are shopping for a buffalo hunt.
6. Farm hunts for buffalo in RSA are not necessarily tamer or for sissies. Savvy PH's will tell you that generally South African farm buffalo are more challenging to sneak up on than a wild, free ranging buffalo that has seldom seen a human.
7. I also realized that the good old 375HH and cape buffalo are a risky mix, and that it works well when everything goes well, but eventually I would have a long and time consuming follow up on a wounded buff and I might get a close range, fast and furious charge out of it as well. Since then I have always used a low dollar single shot break open .577 NE or a .500. with high dollar bullets. All one shot DRT kills. The 375 has a great and glorious history for Africa hunting, partly because it was always affordable and easy to shoot, but my unconventional opinion is that it that Cape buffalo hunting rifles start at .416 calliber.
8. Never use cheap bullets on cape buffalo! Never.
My apologies for the long post. Sometimes I kinda have a runaway when I talk cape buffalo hunting!
Brian
