Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa First Time Hunt To South Africa

Am new to this site. I would like to get people's opinion on the following:

I want to go on a buffalo hunt in RSA, however I've never been hunting.
Am physically fit and done all sorts of adventure trips. I've been shooting high
caliber rifles for close to 2 years and learning the anatomy of the buffalo.

Thanks.

TIA2014

That's a long way to go your first time with all the expense and preparation to squeeze the trigger one time!

For half as much money you can shoot a big game animal every day, and on good days two!

As an outfitter and PH for 20 years now, I would very strongly suggest you consider plains game to see Africa and learn a bit about hunting African game on your first trip. Get a lot of shooting tracking and experience under your belt.

You will get a huge ROI with a first trip on PG

I don't know if a buffalo should be your first kill.

I appreciate that you have been practicing, but you really need experience hunting AND killing before tackling buffalo.

JMHO.

Totally agree with JJ and AB on this. Go get your feet wet and your trigger finger broken in before taking on a buff.

Yup,

Good advice above. Regardless of how much you have practiced, it's a different and dynamic world when you're staring down a dangerous animal. While I haven't hunted buffalo, I did have a good friend with a good amount of hunting experience "freeze" when we were charged by a Kodiak brown bear. Not cool, but it happens.

It will be that much sweeter when it's your second or third trip and you've worked out whatever jitters might happen.

Good luck!

Welcome to the campfire TIA2014!
Enjoy your time here with us. I'm sure the members here will offer excellent advice, as always.

Take Care,
Marius Goosen

I say, if you want to hunt buffalo in South Africa then do it.

It hasn't been and wouldn't be my first choice for a first trip unless I had a lot of money to burn. You would get a lot more shooting and have a lot more fun, in my opinion, on a plains game hunt for less money than on a one animal buffalo hunt.

There are a couple of other things to consider. South Africa has good buffalo but they're on game farms, are more expensive and are probably a bit smaller than buffalo in some other parts of Africa. They are "disease free" but if you want one for your wall, that's not much of a selling point. It's also common practice to for the PH to "collaborate" with the hunter; i.e., you get to shoot but they also shoot your buffalo. Personally, I don't care to go all the way to South Africa, spend thousands of dollars and have someone else shoot my buffalo.

Do it. I took my first trip last Summer, also to RSA, and also for Buffalo. I had a great time. I'd take JJ's advice and hunt more than just Buffalo. I also took Zebra, Impala, and a Blue Wildebeest. I also recommend spending as much time there as you can afford, 9 days actually hunting worked for me.

I went with Spiral Horn Safaris and was quite satisfied.

My first trip to Africa was a PG/buff hunt in RSA. That was a very satisfactory intro to the Dark Continent.

The PH and I hunted lots of antelope first. Then we went after nyati.

Well, someone will sell you what you want. Be sure it is actually hunting, not a shopping trip. Listen to JJHack...

You are in the right place. Many experienced African hunters and at least 2 resident PH's.

Ask questions, tell us what you are considering, and we all might be able to throw you some good tips.

Welcome!

A troll set up if I ever saw one. You guys sure got sucked in easy...

I think you may be right. I hope not but we get a bunch of them.

TIA2014, mind if I ask you a question? How old are you? If you have never been hunting, why do you want to start with Cape buffalo?

TIA,

In 2012, I went on my first trip to Africa and hunted with KMG Safari's. Marius posted about 3-4 posts up. I have been hunting for over 40 years, all across the country and in Alaska. I went with the plains game hunt for my first time as did my hunting partner Bruce (AKA The Bushdoc). As several here have suggested, that may be the way for you to start your hunting life in Africa. Trust me, once you go, you will definitely want to go back

Seems TIA is MIA.

Thanks everyone for your advice; very much appreciated!
It seems PG is the way to go for my first African hunt.

Someone asked my age and why I wanted to hunt buff first.
Am 45 and my reasoning to hunt buff first is that the trip to Africa is
so far and involved why not try for one of the best trophies
on the dark continent! Yes, call me naive, but you only live
once!

Sorry for the delay in my response.

Thanks again .

TIA

Don't worry. You may only live once but you will go to Africa at least twice. You will be planning your second trip before you leave your first. Trust me on this.

No one is saying that you can't hunt a cape buffalo on your first trip, just get some experience under your belt. Whether that experience is on plains game on this trip, or if it is on deer at home or exotics in Texas, it is not the best to be shooting at a buffalo for your first buffalo. JMHO.