Water Buffalo hunt Australia 2006

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Staff on Qantas and Australian customs were very helpful with importing firearms,which saved a heap of stress.

It took 4 planes to get to Muckadilla hunting Safaris buffalo camp in East Arnemland,i boarded the 3rd plane in Darwin for the 1 hour flight to Groote island,where we boarded the 4th plane for the 20 minute flight back to the mainland settlement of Numblwar,where we met our outfitter Glenn Griffin.

Photos from the charter flight to Numblwar.
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We unpacked,fired a few rounds to check scopes and get a feel for the rifles,we were to use for our trip,one was my Sako 375 and the other Glenn's CZ 375.
Later that afternoon we went out to check if the local pigs had taken an interest in two buffalo shot earlier in the week,no joy on the pigs,but the Dingo's had been getting stuck in.
We saw our first buffalo on the way back to camp that night.

DAY 2

We were driving to the floodplains,when i saw a big black thing running away,about 200 yards out,"there's a buffalo stop" no its a "****in big pig" i jumped out of the truck chambered a round,then remembered i had one soft point and three solids in the mag,so i replaced one solid with a soft point and headed after the pig,running zig zag between between trees,as the pig walked straight away from me.

I got within 30 odd yards of the pig,but with no chance of a broadside shot i stopped,using a tree as a rest,i flicked off the safety catch and just followed the pig with scope,then he turned left which gave me a great broadside shot,i let rip with the 375,pig dropped i reloaded to see the pig tring to get to his feet,so i hit him again and he went down for keeps.
I looked back to see if somone had got the shot on video,to my surprise the guys were 400 odd yards back,i had covered alot of ground stalking this pig.
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Three of us tried to pull the pig into the air with a rope for photos but we could only get his back legs off the the ground,so Glenn brought the truck over.
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300gr woodleigh did not exit
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I took the lower jaw from the boar,tusks are nothing flash.

We head to the floodplains,where Richard spotted a bull buffalo,we stalked into abot 40 yards,where Glenn looked at the bulls horns and he decided the bull was a mangement bull.
Richard fired hitting the bull in the shoulder half way up,the bull just turned and started walking in a small circle,Richard just kept shooting solids into the bull then a shot hit the bull in the spine and he went down.
In hind sight solids were not idea for this animal,as all follow up shots were broadside,most animals run off when hit with the first shot,so solids are needed to reach vitals with Texas hearts/rangling shots.

One shot hit this tree
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Richard with his bull
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The soft point was recovered under the skin on the far side,all solids exited.
We did stalk some cows that afternoon and saw other bulls.

DAY3
We saw a bull just on the edge of the floodplains,i did not plan to shoot a bull,as i was interested in shooting 3-5 cows to get more idea of how how the rilfe/bullet/me combo would work.
I decided to have a go at this bull,i lead the stalk into where the bull had been,we met up with him about half there,i could only see his head and ass,not good.His shoulder was hidden behind a small tree,he was not to stay standing there for long at 20 yards,so i aimed where i thought the spine was and fired,i was wrong as the bull didn't drop,i reloaded and started running him,i stopped fired just has he ran into the thick ****,he didn't drop,so i kept running and then got one more quick shot into his back end which i hoped would break hip or spine no joy,i ran into a clearing to find him down and facing me about 15 yards,he saw me and tried to get to his feet which was not going to happen if i had my way,i fired my last shot into his neck, he went down,i grabbed one round from my pocket and chambered it and fired it into his neck,he was dead,i started refilling the mag,as Glenn arrived,followed by Richard and Maraget with video camera.
My Bull
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One of my follow shots connected with its target
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This shot missed the hip,but traveled all the way to the chest.
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Richard's wife Margaret shot a cow buffalo
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We were tracking a mob of buffalo cows to a water hole,the wind changed they took off,but one big stayed,Glenn said it was a trophy bull and after some arm twisting Richard decided to shoot the bull,he put one shot in the chest.
The bull took off,we walked around the water hole,rifles at the ready,when a big black boar ran past about 15 yards away,i waited for Richard to fire,he didn't the boar was almost in the scrub,so i fired,i hit him too far back,but he went down,the wounded buffalo was still there somewhere so i put 2 more rounds into the pig,reloaded and carried on.
We found the bull 50 yards away,down and facing us Richard put in a finishing shot.
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We stopped in at a cattle station on the way home to Darwin,they had a pet crocodile,just a little.A 14 footer has been seen in the river behind their house

Few more photos.
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Video from the trip.

Me following up my wounded Buff

http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=fkxK_MTbMtk

Culling Donkey's.

http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=ffloH-XOeSw
 
well TP
looks like australia is the africa :lol:
good account of your hunt ,i hav read it a few times, not to sure on the donkeys tho, but management is management no matter what country or specieces
thank you for taking the time to post it
i hav heard those buff are a little different :lol:
 
Mack about £150 per day,trophy fees pig £100,Cull Buffalo Bulls £300,Cows £100,Trophy Bulls £800

Feral Donkeys/Hores are free

There are Outffiters doing cull hunts £2000 for 5 days hunting and you can shoot 10 Buffalo

It is no problem to take firearms to Australia,if you have the right paperwork,which your Outfitter will help you with.
 
Looks like you had a great hunt- congratulations.

I've always fancied a hunt in Oz, but never seem to be able to find the time........really must kick my arse into gear and get over there........
 
I reckon it'd be a bit of a culture shock for me as I'm so used to having lots of staff around to do all the jobs such as skinning etc - but I'd like to try such a different hunting experience.

The silly thing is that my uncle used to have a big ranch up there and he used to regularly tell me I was welcome to go hunting up there...... at the time I was just gettng into African hunting and never found the time to take him up on his offer. Ah well, he croaked a long time ago, so it's too late now! :(
 
Re: oz

mack said:
Hey T-P
What kinda price is a hunt like that?
Mack
mack you beat me to it
TP
would you hav any sort of link for the outfitters for us to look at, please
 
an excellent out fitter is max davidson at davidsons arnhemland safaris.
he has a beautiful camp at mt borradaille ,on the cooper river, its stunning country and packed with boar and buffs.
i went there a lot in the 90s to install solar hot water heaters to his camp.
never got to shoot a buff but loads of pigs. most of the mobs {as they are called there} of pigs have never seen a human and are stupidly tame and it takes away the excitement of the stalk a bit..
its well worth having a look at the galleries on his website .
 
mmmmmmmm

Maybe I am the only one, but I am bitterly disappointed that you write in an open forum for antis to read that cos you weren't patient enough, you try to shoot something in the spine. Then follow up by trying to shoot it up the a**e. Sell your rifles and do hunting a favour.
 
I guess it's largely a matter of hunting culture. I appreciate the Texas heart shot and to a lesser extent, the spine shot are not really considered sporting in the UK but they are considered perfectly acceptable pretty much everywhere else in the world. - From my experience they're also very effective.

surely if we were to worry about offending the antis, not only would we have to stop posting on public forums, we'd also have to stop hunting completely. Hunting is perfectly legal, morally defensible and is one of the most effective conservation tools in the world for every country in the world and those countries that don't permit hunting are the countries that has the least successful game populations.

If the antis don't like reading hunters comments perhaps they should go find a knitting or gardening forum instead........ :)
 
jingzy

I know the thought of spine and texas heart shots are alien to us in the uk , we are not hunting large game like bufalo where the one shot one kill theory is not always available especialy in thick bush . It is vital that you know what you are doing and have a sound knowledge of anatomy and can put in secondary shots asap and remember this beast can easily kill you.
 
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