SOUTH AFRICA: Last Minute Cape Buffalo Hunt With Africa Maximum Safaris

[TERMINATOR]

So last summer (July 2022), I took my first Cape Buffalo hunting with Marius of @KMG Hunting Safaris. We took a ancient bull with just minutes of shooting light left after a couple exciting stalks on him. One shot kill through the lungs with my .375 H&H but he ran about 100 yards down into the thick brush and we had a adrenaline filled follow up. Happily the bull was dead on arrival, but I put an insurance shot into him just to make sure.

After that hunt I knew two things.
1) I was officially addicted to hunting Cape Buffalo and my life would never be the same. No Plains Game, Deer or Elk hunting would ever compare to hunting Black Death. The only thing that could compare in North America would be if I ever get to hunt Brown Bear in Alaska.
2) I wanted a proper Cape Buffalo gun. When we were following up the Cape Buffalo in the waning daylight, Marius had his .500 NE Double rifle, his assistant Nick was carrying a .416 Rem Mag...and I was feeling under-gunned with my .375 as we trailed the Buffalo into the thick bush.

So after returning home I discussed my experience with a gentleman that had hunted many Cape Buffalo, including using a .375HH and he suggested I get a .416 Rem Mag as that was his favorite. He said compared to the .375 the .416 just kills things faster. So I picked up a like new Win 70 Safari Express in .416, had it pillar bedded and dropped a Timney Tigger in it. I already had a return trip with @KMG Hunting Safaris with a group of family and friends for Plains Game next summer in 2024, so I figured it would be 2025 or later before I could try out my new-to-me "Buffalo Thumper".

So I found myself happily surprised when I came across the opportunity to grab a Cancellation Hunt on very short notice to hunt a Cape Buffalo in July of this year. Somebody else's misfortune was my gain. It was a 6 Day Package Daily Fees and Trophy fee included for a Hard Bossed Bull but with a spread UP TO 38"s. The idea was to take of a old bull to thin the herd, but I would not be going after their best bulls. I literally had less than an hour to to quickly look at the Africa Maximum Safaris website and search some reviews of them to decide on "Go/No Go". I decided it was the cheapest chance I would ever get to hunt a Cape Buffalo and would give me a chance to try out my .416 on it's intended game.

I really didn't care about the size of the bull, as long as he was hard bossed. I figured I might even end up shooting a broken horn bull or something. I have a shoulder mount on the way for my bull last summer and figured whatever I shot I would just end up as a skull mount to remember the trip. But honestly I just wanted to try out my new toy.

So less than a month later I found myself once again on that long ass Delta Flight 200 to JNB to ATL but once again, excited at the thought of being in RSA to hunt.

As always, when I land in JNB I just want to get through customs and get my Rifle Permit as fast as possible, so I contracted with Henry at https://riflepermits.com/ to provide VIP Meet and Greet and for pre-approved rifle permits. As expected, my wife and I were met with met by their representative shortly after we got off the plane. We breezed through customs, collected our luggage and in quick order popped out into the now familiar circular arrival hall with the SAPS office off to the right. There I met the person from Henry's team that had my pre-approved rifle permits and all we had to do was go to SAPS, open my rifle case, quick check to verify the serial numbers on the rifles matched the permits and....bam...done with SAPS in like 5 minutes. Could I do my own rifle permits on arrival? After 4 trips to RSA...yes. But to me it is totally worth the cost to breeze through security and breeze through SAPS and be off to the City Lodge in quick order.

The arrivals hall is also where I met my PH for the hunt, Arrie Claase. Arrie is a big guy who extrudes confidence, while at the same time putting you at ease. I could tell right from the start that Arrie and I would get along great.

We spent the night in the City Lodge and grabbed dinner in their restaurant. The next day we ate breakfast and then loaded our gear into Arrie's hunting truck. It was a slightly over a 2 hour drive west and a little south of Johannesburg the the hunting farm near the town of Klerksdorp.

We arrived just in time to have lunch, then it was over to the rifle range to check zero on my .416 Rem and on the custom Brown Precision .30-06 built on a 1952 Model 70 action. Both guns were printing right where I left them before I left home so Arrie suggested we take off and have a look see for the last few hours of the day. My wife, who is a photographer, went along to take pics.

The farm I was hunting was a little over 10,000 acres and it was not lacking for game of all kinds. That first evening we saw Kudu, Eland, Nyala, Giraffe, Springbuck in the standard pattern and Copper, Impala and Black Impala, Hartebeest, Steenbuck, Lechwe and more. But what really stood out was the population of Wildebeest. The place was teaming with Blue, Black, Golden and something I had never seen or heard of...the Kings Wildebeest with the light colored blaze down it's sides. You could whack 4 different type of Wildebeest without leaving that farm.

After a couple hours of seeing all the other game, we finally picked out a group of Cape Buffalo. It was very windy (like 20-30 mph winds kind of windy) and they seemed to want to stay in the thick cover out of the wind. But we were able to pick out a herd and look over most of them with patience. We found two different herds but they were comprised of cows and young (soft) bulls and a couple really nice bulls that exceeded what my package allowed me to shoot. I knew what the deal was when I signed up for the hunt (under 38") so I was not disappointed to leave the great bulls alone. I was happy with whatever chance I would get on whatever bull was deemed "needing killing" so we moved on until dark. On the way back to the lodge we saw the 3 Rhino that the farm held which posed for pictures for my wife. It was a nice end to our first afternoon on the farm and I was looking forward to getting back out there in the morning.

 

[Doubleplay]

Following..

 

[Mekaniks]

This is a great. I love hearing about last minute adventures!

 

[TERMINATOR]

Day 2

So mother nature was in a bad mood when we were in RSA. The temp the next morning at daybreak was right at 40 Degrees and the wind was still blowing hard...20+ MPH. We climbed on the hunting vehicle and headed back to some high ground to glass for Cape Buffalo. At dawn there was not a lot of movement as it seemed most of the animals were holding in the thicker bush to stay out of the wind.

We got to the top of a hill to glass for Buffalo and it didn't take long for Arrie and the trackers to pick out some buffalo in the valley below us. They could see that it was a small group of 5 that looked to be a bachelor group but with them down in the thickets it was tough to judge them. So we circled around the top of the hill to get the wind in our favor and stalked closer to try and get a better look at the bulls and see if one would fit what we were looking for. We closed the distance and inched down the hill toward them very slowly. Every few yards we would stop and scan the brush. Slowly we started picking up the buffalo through the bush, about 70-80 yards out. The wind was still in our favor so we patiently watched to try and get a look at all of the bulls. There were 3 young ones but the other two were hard to get a good look at. Slowly we moved a little to the side to get another angle. At one point, a couple of the buffalo picked up our movement. They were nervous but didn't bolt....they just started slowly moving away down the valley then up over a ridge. We followed them, trying to strike that balance between keeping up with them and yet not spooking them badly. We shadowed them for about 90 minutes moving through thick cover and finally felt confident there were no shooters in the group, so we left them be and went back to the truck.

We then moved to another hilltop and saw a herd of about 20 buffalo at a water hole about a mile away. We glassed them and there was one monster bull and one really good one but most were cows and young bulls. At this point I was wondering if we would find a suitable bull but Arrie, who had hunted the ranch recently, assured me there were a couple that fit the blll…we just had to find them.

So we moved again, heading towards another vantage overlooking a part of the ranch we had not looked at yet. As we traveled slowly down a road with a steep hillside on the right, the trackers whistled to get Arrie’s attention. Up on the hill were a group of 5 bedded buffalo bulls. They were not the same group we trailed at first light as this was totally different part of the farm. From the hillside, they had a perfect view of the valley/road below them. We could only see the heads of two of the Buffalo, so we continued down the road and out of their sight, then doubled back onto a road that went up the back side of the ridge they were laying on. We parked well back from the area where the bulls were bedded and hiked to the crest of the ridge. The wind had been blowing down the ridge so we had made sure to approach the crest downwind of them and peered over the edge. The bulls were below us about 50 yards away and slightly to one side since we had made sure to come up downwind of them. Arrie glassed them all and once again, luck was against me as all of the bulls were soft boss except for one who was well over 40" so he was off limits. It was an exciting and well executed stalk as we could have killed any of the bulls... but once again no trigger time for me.

We decided to head back to the lodge and get lunch, relax a bit then go back out for the evening.

The afternoon we went out on "Buffalo Patrol" again. A couple hours later found us back to where we found Buffalo the evening before and glassing a long valley from which we could see for quite a ways. There were two different water holes in sight. There was a group of 3 buffalo bulls drinking at one waterhole about a mile away far below us.. After studying them for a few minutes Arrie uttered the words I had been dying to hear..."That one looks like you need to kill it" he said with a smile. "But we need to get a closer look to be sure."

Arrie said he had a good idea of where they would go after drinking, so we hustled back to the hunting vehicle, rode down the back side of the large hill (small mountain) we were glassing from and made a circular route to put us closer to but in front of the direction Arrie's experience on that property told him they would probably go. We got in position to cut off the buffalo when they left the water and starting slowly stalking toward the water hole, making sure to keep the wind in our favor. After a while the trackers indicated that there were buffalo coming towards us so we dropped to our knees and crawled to a large downed tree in front of us. Arrie peered over the trunk of the downed tree and studied the approaching buffalo. They were about 100 yards out and skirting the edge of a small pond coming towards us. Arrie whispered for me to get into shooting position over the log and expect a shot of about 60 yards with the buffalo walking straight at us. I got into position and confirmed that the lead bull was "the one". Arrie whispered to shoot him right between the front shoulders square in the chest whenever I had a clean shot. I was ready but waiting for the right shot as I had the scope on his chest, but his head would drop down in front of his chest as he walked or a small tree would be in the way. I tracked the buffalo in my scope as they got closer and closer, with the target bull still in front. Suddenly he changed direction ever so slightly to his right and Arrie whispered "Shoot him right under the near side ear". I held steady where his neck met his chest right below the near side ear and squeezed the trigger....the .416 roared and the recoil took me out of the scope..and the 400 grain Trophy Bonded Bearclaw pounded him square in the chest!. The shot sent the bull right to the ground where he had been standing! I quickly racked another round into the chamber and per Arrie's instruction sent another round into his spine to make sure he never got up.

At this point the buffalo was anchored, I racked another round into the chamber and we waited and watched to see if the Buffalo was done for. After a couple minutes the bull let out his death bellow and the trackers whooped and there where handshakes all around. Arrie slowly approached the buffalo from behind and confirmed he was done for...then there where more handshakes all around.

In the end, waiting for the clean shot meant I killed this guy at 36 yards….

It turned out that the bull went 39" but since I was given the instruction to take him by the PH all was good. I was very happy. The bull exceeded my expectations. I had flown to Africa thinking I would be culling a old but substandard trophy and instead got a very nice trophy to christen my “Buffalo Thumper with!

 

[Mekaniks]

Thats Awesome. Great bull

 

[Osama Mahdi]

Very nice! Congratulations
I would take that Stenbok also.

 

[shootist~]

Congratulations on a heck of a bull and properly breaking in your new rifle.

 

[RR 314]

Awesome kill. Great trip.

 

[shotgungibbs]

Great story of your hunt, and a great bull as well! I'm very happy for you!

 

[Fatback]

Bravo!! Sounds like a very exciting hunt that ended with a proper buffalo. Thanks for taking us along for the ride. Looking forward to reading about the rest of your hunt.

 

[cpr0312]

Awesome, congrats! Also some nice pics of other game!

 

[ACM]

This is great, 36yds on the buff! Doesn’t get better! Thanks for sharing.

 

[AZDAVE]

Very good you were able to travel on short notice, and get a nice buffalo with your new 416.

 

[IronRanger]

Great read, thanks for sharing

 

[TKessel]

Well done, nice bull!

 

[cls]

Congratulations, well done.

 

[TERMINATOR]

Thank you everyone! It was exciting. Honestly, looking through the scope the buff just keep getting bigger and bigger in the scope and I didn't realize how close he had gotten

That Steenbuck....yea...he was a nice one. We didn't try for him since I had not shot my Buffalo yet and I already have a Steenbuck on the wall...but not as nice as that one. Had we seen him after I took my buff I would have tried for him. As it was he posed just long enough for my wife to snap that photo before he took off in the grass. And we never saw him or any other Steenbuck again. Steenbuck and Duiker are just those animals that you have to be "right place, right time".

I will write about the remaining 4 days this evening.

Thanks again for the well wishes.

 

[Qc_BearHunter]

Congrats!!! I bet this rifle is now a keeper?

 

[TERMINATOR]

Congrats!!! I bet this rifle is now a keeper?

Oh yea....will be my son's someday

 

[TERMINATOR]

More pics of the bull