Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Bushbuck Success

We had hunted hard in 2004 for a bushbuck, 15 km northwest of Alldays in the Limpopo province. The riverine brush was perfect for bushbuck and we saw much spoor of the elusive beasts, but we did not spot even the slightest hair of a bushbuck.

This year I was back hunting with Lochi Lochner in RSA, but this time our quest for bushbuck took us to the Crocidile river half way between Thabazembi and Brits. Here we hunted with Johan Hermann who has a bow hunting only game ranch, but also many hectares of agricultural crops. It was on the edge of these irragated wheat fields that we hunted.

You could see where the warthogs, bushbuck and bushpigs had done significant damage to the edges of the wheat fields. At first light we were out walking and stalking between the fileds and the river. We spotted 3 bushbuck ewes, but no rams.

That evening about 90 minutes before dark we took up a position on the edge and sat, waiting for the bushbuck to come into the fields to feed at dusk. At the far edge of the field a ram came out, but he was over 400 yards away, maybe more and I thought we had positioned ourselves in the wrong spot. Then as the light began to fade a ram came out at 175 yards. I rested my rifle across Johans shoulder, but was having a little trouble finding the ram in the field as he was very dark in color against the dark tree background. Finally I fired and Johan said "you hit him, he is staggering, shoot again". he didn't know in my haste to see the bushbuck through the scope, I got it a bit close to my forehead and now blood was streaming into my eye and I was somewhat blinded by the muzzle flash. And the ram made it into the long reeds. I cursed a little.

Since bushbuck can be aggressive when wounded or cornered, we went back to the camp, had a stiff drink, a smoke and a little dinner. Then we gathered up the lights, a shotgun loaded with slugs and a smallish Jack Russell terrier to follow the blood spoor.

After only maybe 5 minutes and 15 yards into the reeds the Jackie found the bushbuck very dead. The shot had taken him too far back and only caught the offside lung then exited.



He is not big by any standards, but I am very pleased with the hunt and finally getting a bushbuck. Someday, maybe I'll go back and look for his papa.

BigBullet

Bushbuck rock! without a doubt they are among my favorite trophies in the world, along with a Nyala the pair is fantastic hunting and make about the best mounts on earth.

Furthermore people just don't realize that these two charge way more people then buffalo do. I have seen plenty of uninjured Bushbuck drop thier heads and charge, and I shot a Nyala 30 yards from my tracker going straight at him that would have skewered him had I not hit it. It had already been shot twice and one bullet went clean through the heart. I held the heart of the bull in my hands in complete disbelief that it lived that long and had the urge to drop his head and charge on sight.

Never EVER underestimate a wounded Nyala or bushbuck, in my opinion they are far more likely to charge then a Buffalo. Easier to stop....Yes, but much harder to hit too. They are very fast and aggressive

Great story and don't let anybody disparage that great trophy! I had a similar poor shot placement issue, but like you, I ahd the right caliber and bullet for the task so the shot placement parameters were in my favor. I think when I go back for leopard, I just might have to shoot another one. jorge

Hey BigBullet,

Thanks for sharing your hunt and wonderful success. For my money, bushbuck rams are fabulous to hunt and any mature ram is an excellent trophy. Congratulations!!!!

Here is a bushbuck that I killed on a large farm near Messina, RSA. I'm the grinning guy on the right.

The PH is Kjeld Kruger, the great-great grandson Oom Paul Kruger.

As you know, bushbuck are fairly similar to our blacktail deer, except that the little buggers can (and will) kill you. Our black had more respect for them than they did the buffalo and rhino.

When I hunted bushbuck, Kjeld knew of a pretty nice one, a twelve-incher or so, and we went after him. In the course of the hunt, I was alone and saw this one, which was a MONSTER and a Hell of a lot better than the one Kjeld knew about. Anyway, I just couldn't get the shot (through all the stinking thornbush).

Later, we had the twelve-incher dead to rights (rare with bushbuck) and I turned him down. Kjeld thought I was an idiot, but visions of the ram I'd seen kept popping into my head.

It took three more trips into his territory to harvest him. Finally, I got a fairish shot into him, a high shoulder, and we had to track him for a hundred yards or so. When we approached, he was ready to take us on. I settled his problems with a 180 Hornady Interlocked (.30-'06) hard to the near shoulder.

Bushbuck are the essence of Africa. I have killed some pretty nice trophies in my days, but when Karen and I have to totally scale back and are in the Old Folks Home, my bushbuck will be hanging on the wall. They are THAT special.

Steve

Here is another bushbuck photo.

Steve

BigBullet,

I also hunted Limpopo bushbuck in the same area in '99 on the van Graan farm with Danie van Graan of Engonyameni Safaris. Their property borders the Crocodile (Kruger Park on the other side), and Swaziland to the south.

The buck I shot is a good one, running 16", but the hunt was the real trophy.

jim

Here is the best bushbuck I have ever personally taken. It's 16 X 16-1/4" Shot right at dark as is so typical. The flash on my camera was also near dead so we had to improvise with the truck headlights. This particular ram was also the heaviest bases I have ever seen on a bush buck



Here is the shoulder mount of the Bushbuck with the first Nyala bull I shot. That Nyala is near 28"



I shot this massive Nyala this year and it should be mounted by Thanksgiving with a little luck at the tannery

Hey guys, some really beautiful bushbuck and JJ great nyala! They may be the only animals more beautiful then impala and kudu. JJ, can you comment on the color variations of these bushbuck? The ones posted here are redder or chestnut compared to the chocolate color of the one I took. The ewes we spotted were more chestnut in color though.

I had read and heard the warnings of the aggressive nature of bushbuck when wounded, but one point (pun intended) I hadn't heard and realized afterwards is that their headgear is truely capable of opening you up. The dagger tips of the horns will penetrate skin with only the slightest pressure.

As it turned out, I thought we would be hunting bushbuck in the reed edges surrounding the wheat fields and not over the fields themselve. I may have brought along a flatter shooting rifle. I would think that anything from a 7x57 on up would be adequate for the bushbuck. But in the long run i was happy to have had the 35 Whelen along.



This a picture of my old workhorse of a rifle. I built it back in 1988 or 89. It was a year before Remington had brought their commercial 35 Whelen rifle to market. Its built on a 1903 Springfield action (I was actually looking for a suitable Mauser '98 action when this one came along) with a Shilen barrel. This was its third trip to Africa and it is showing it's battle scars some. But is still fits, feeds and shoots very well. Maybe someday I'll have the stock checkered and finished properly.

BigBullet

I killed my bushbuck with a 375HH but both Nyala with a 30/06. Kinda backward but I was not hunting Nyala when I saw the big one. I was looking for a monster warthog. However when the opportunity (typical in Africa) comes up you gotta take the shot. I use the 375HH when hunting for myself in Africa because it will kill anything I see with little struggle. Some years I have to bring the 30/06 because I have hunting clients that do not wish to bring a gun so they want to use my 30/06. In those years when I hunt I use the 30/06 because it's what I have with me.

One of you guys who know,

How do I post the photo to display in the thread?

thanks...jim

Hunter Jim,

1) copy photos onto computer hard drive and edit them if required

2) go to photobucket, http://photobucket.com/ , and set up an acount for yourself. Then copy photos from hard drive into photobucket

3) when you want to put photos into a reply, click on the "IMG" under the picture, this will highlight the location of the photo, then paste it into the reply.

It really sounds more complicated then it is. Try it and if you have further questions, let me know and I can help you.

BigBullet

Tremendous Trophies One and all <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

HBB

Is the first bushbuck (in the original post) the Limpopo variety? And what is the second variety shown (red, with white spots)?

Sorry for my ignorance! Also, BEAUTIFUL animals!

TT: If you are refering to mine, it's a Limpopo. 16 1/4 / 15 7/8" horns. jorge

jorgeI, thanks...any idea what the Bushbuck in BigBullet's post is? It certainly looks like a different variety.

The bushbuck rams you get in the Eastern province and Southern Cape have a darker, almost black coating, similar to the one shown in the first picture. They allmost look as if they have just come out of water and in my opinion make for a handsome trophy.The ewes have the same colouration as their Northern counterparts.
The bushbuck found in Mpumalanga province and surroundings are lighter coloured .

The bushbuck rams in the area I hunted were dark colored (I saw only two), yet the ewes were chestnut/orange colored, much like Jorge's ram. I am not sure weather we were hunting a different subspecies of bushbuck, I had just assumed they were of the Limpopo variety.

Boddington had written an article about bushbuck in the Jan'04 Sports Afield where he shows the ranges of the Cape and Limpopo bushbuck. The Cape variety almost totally in the Eastern Cape and KZN province. The Limpopo variety in a thin band along the Limpopo River and into Kruger NP. Since the area I hunted is not covered by either of the range overlays, I am still not sure the varitey taken. Though I was closer to the Limpopo then the Eastern Cape.

BigBullet

I too enjoy hunting bushbuck and have been fairly lucky in that my clients have had the opportunity to take some nice trophies. The method that I have found to bring much success is to stake out spots along river sides ie in thick riverine forest during late afternoon and watch for the territorial rams to show themselves, before starting a very slow and carefull stalk.

The gentleman in the picture accessible via this link took this particularly nice Chobe Bushbuck with me in the Zambezi Delta in Mozambique. We have taken several good trophies in this area.

http://www.africanhuntersguild.com/posts/bushbuck.htm

Any guesses as to what this ram measured?

Me Lochi. Me also hunt. Me hunt Bigbullet.
(Registering from the Dark Continent take a while longer.) <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Sure this thread is about bushbuck, but I need to tell the members something about this Bigbullet guy��
Something seemingly insignificant about Bigbullet is his passion for impala. I can associate with this, because I have argued many times in the past that the impala ram is the most beautiful mammal on the planet. It is the only antelope that is as beautiful even when you take its horns away. See this evidence:

http://www.affordableafricanhunting.co.z...ying_impala.htm

This Bigbullet man hunts impala like us locals � he cannot get enough of them. Never mind the trophy size, he simply cannot pass them up. Real hunting passion for a magnificent creature.
Lochi.

Lochi,

Yes I do enjoy hunting impala, its hard for me to pass on a good ram. On my next trip to Africa, I think I should like a week of buffalo, don't know where yet, then a week back in RSA and either Eastern Cape or Limpopo and look for more impala! So start scouting for the big ones will you!

Anyone considering going to hunt RSA should give Lochi consideration; very rarely is there a dull moment as your day is filled with hunting, predator calling in the evening, and Lochi's dry sense of humor continuously.

BigBullet