I have never been to Africa, but I would be working on this premise. EVERY safari is different and with their own challenges...it might just be the buffalo cow that kills you!!
If I may ask? How many buffalo did you hunt in your life time?
I have hunted dagga boys / lone bulls as explain by you in Zimbabwe, Namibia, RSA and Mozambique just laying there in the water / riverside...not much to it...EVERY safari is different and with their own challenges...it might just be the buffalo cow that kills you!!
all in good hunting
I did not really count, but I've been doing so for a living for quite some years... And I love that.
Of course a cow can kill you, but that may be the one you didn't see hiding in a bush with her new born calf. It's still not the same as tracking a bull's spoor across the bush, and ending up on all four or your belly till you shred your trousers, getting closer and closer... I don't hunt because it's a job, I hunt because I love hunting, the game, not the killing.
I have to say that I rarely find people who take to hunting like that, many pay to shoot something and want to shoot something, period. If they could do it from the back of the pickup, they'd gladly do it and then go for a beer... I like playing outside. Guess I'm still a kid, somewhere.
Kano I like your hunting philosophy. Our officialdom here allows us to be deer managers not 'hunters' as society deems that too tasteless! Many of us would love to hunt a great dagga boy in a free roaming area, but the price is above and beyond what most can afford.
My own buff was a cow in a fenced area (which was still several square miles), the cow did not drop to the shot as I was asked to use 510 Win soft points provided by the PH and not my solids for the first shot. This did however result in a near 4 hour track/stalk in a black rhino area, and a most exiting charge ending in me performing a coup-de-grace in the neck at 3 steps. I had the feeling I got my moneys worth.
Kano I like your hunting philosophy. Our officialdom here allows us to be deer managers not 'hunters' as society deems that too tasteless! Many of us would love to hunt a great dagga boy in a free roaming area, but the price is above and beyond what most can afford.
My own buff was a cow in a fenced area (which was still several square miles), the cow did not drop to the shot as I was asked to use 510 Win soft points provided by the PH and not my solids for the first shot. This did however result in a near 4 hour track/stalk in a black rhino area, and a most exiting charge ending in me performing a coup-de-grace in the neck at 3 steps. I had the feeling I got my moneys worth.
I beg to disagree.
Yes, cows are cranky and can charge... But they are herd animals. You find them in heaps, with so many tracks leading to them that you could almost follow them with a white cane. You do have to hide yourself to approach, because they are always peeping and minding someone else's business, but that's about it.
If you want to hunt buffalo, as opposed to shoot buffalo, then the only thing that will do is the dagga boy, the old male that stays on his own or with a few like-minded grumpy gentlemen.
Here you'll have to track, sometimes for hours, and read the ground and the weather and the time and the moon, here you'll have to know the area, and the grass, and the water, and the quirks of the local buffs. Here you'll have to outwit an old bugger who is still alive because he's been through countless fights, with other buffs, with lions, with poachers. He's smart, not really worried but very quick to react if he picks your wind, and he's spent years peddling his testosterone to whoever came in the way, guarding his herd, cows and calves, when it was his time to be the boss.
An old bull has character. He'll challenge you, and make you day interesting...
Save some more money, wait a year or two, and look for a buffalo hunt in a wild area. The taste won't be the same.
I am new to the .375 but have to say it is a lovely calibre. Not brutal but still substantial enough to know it’s gone off!!I have to say that this is what appeals to me, hunting an old, past breeding age, clearly with some savvy or he would not have got old, and potentially dangerous, bull.
There is an unused Parker Hale .375 H&H at Holts and I have to say I am tempted to go for it for just this reason. Also, I understand that bullet development has increased to perhaps take the old .375 into the 40 calibre range.
I bet it got your heart racing !! That is pretty cool shooting to shoot and kill a pumped up inbound stag at 15 yards with a revolver! Did a single .357 stop it or did you fire more than one? I have heard about such situations and have regarded the restriction of revolvers to only 2 shots to be a potentially dangerous move where low powered cartridges are the last line of defence.As has been said, much depends on the animal, the circumstances and your luck. Having shot Cape Buffalo bull along with 2 other friends at the time in Zimbabwe, each was a completely different experience from the other.
Mine took 4 shots to put it down, although the fourth was to make sure. More dead Buffalo have killed people, than live ones. My other friend killed his lone bull with one shot through the spine, as that was all he had to shoot at. This bull had been a problem locally. The other bull was taken about 3 days later and was wounded but finally dispatched.
None really charged or caused a real issue. None the less a cow Cape Buffalo will no doubt cause you a problem, just the same as a bull.
I always believe animals are like humans in some respects, each have their own personality and if you get the wrong one on the wrong day you had better be ready. Although many never believe me, I have personally been charged twice whilst hunting Sika Stag in Scotland during the rut. In both instances they were wounded, the first one gut shot by the American client. The first one was about 7 years back, and tracking it in commercial forestry of about 12 years of age on a hill is no fun. If it hadnt been for my dog it could have turned into a bit of a bun fight. I shot the stag charging with a 357mag revolver at about 15yds.
That got my attention more than my shooting a Cape Buffalo to be honest. So like I said at the beginning it depends on the individual animal, the circumstances and your luck.
My BMH was baying it, in one of those tunnels they plant commercial trees on in Scotland. The stag was trying to jag the dog as he was baying it, and thinking I didnt want my dog hurt, although Todd was a very intelligent, brave and loyal dog I called for him to move away, as he came running back the stag followed. Todd jumped to one side into the adjacent tunnel, if you get my meaning, and the stag seeing me came straight at me.I bet it got your heart racing !! That is pretty cool shooting to shoot and kill a pumped up inbound stag at 15 yards with a revolver! Did a single .357 stop it or did you fire more than one? I have heard about such situations and have regarded the restriction of revolvers to only 2 shots to be a potentially dangerous move where low powered cartridges are the last line of defence.
I am new to the .375 but have to say it is a lovely calibre. Not brutal but still substantial enough to know it’s gone off!!
IMHO .375 great calibre inc DG, but there are hunting calibres and stopping calibres, dependant on your style and how much you wanna rely on your PH.
The PHs we have at our place have not once come limping back in to camp saying "I wish the client had had a bigger rifle." However, they do often come back saying "I wish the client knew how to shoot his rifle."
I have a .500NE double and a .375 bolt-action. The .500 barely gets a look-in.