Hunting Cape Buffalo at Night

BnC 04 said:

Seems extremely fishy that they have choose not to provide information as to where you hit the buff.

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+1, I agree!

BnC 04 said:

Seems extremely fishy that they have choose not to provide information as to where you hit the buff.

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The landowner was finally able to confirm to me that they found the mark on the back leg. Because I believed there was no way I could have missed on my first shot, my concern was to get that animal down in any way I could. I also learned that "Buffalo are micro chipped when blood samples are taken to clear them from any diseases before they are moved into a new area". So if you should wound an animal you are hunting in SA, and the animal is later taken down by the outfitter after you have left the area, "DNA samples can be requested from the State Vet". Something to know if you are concerned you are not getting the animal you wounded. This, of course, only applies if the animal you hunted was relocated.

ive wondered if you had any updates about this fiasco WP2.
im glad your getting your horns and cape .
but the photo of the buff in the picture you posted , doesn't look unwell , or to have lost any condition ,mate .
it has ended well , im glad , but it does seem a tad sus.
congratulation it will make a fine trophy

I appreciate your honesty about this hunt. I hope your next trip goes better

I look on the bright side. If anything.....this incidence has made me more determined than ever to return to Africa and hunt buff the right way. I will not be robbed of that experience. And I am very blessed to have the right friends, who have hunted Africa for decades, to ensure that happens. They have seen the good, the bad and the ugly that hunting Africa can offer. They really should write a book. I had an amazing first safari hunt through them in 2012. I'm excited to hear what they are already organizing. The wonderful thing about hunting through Dennis and Henry, is that their only and chief concern.....is that their clients have an incredible experience. No other agenda. Time to move on from this one. Anything else that needs to be done, is up to the authorities in SA. It is up to those in the hunting industry of South Africa to decide what they will and won't allow. I just hope they keep in mind, "that a house divided, soon falls".

Good luck on the next safari.

I have to say that I don't really understand what exactly happened but between the occasional pissing matches, there are some good take-home points.

1) unless hunting a nocturnal animal, or culling, etc. it is best to shoot in the daytime. I will add that I've shot more animals at dusk than any other time of day, but there is a risk with that: if it isn't down quickly, it can be a bad situation. Tracking at night isn't fun, and scavengers can easily get your animal before the sun rises. Light doesn't just turn off, either, it fades. What one person considers too dark may be perfectly acceptable to the next person and depends on a lot of things, including eyesight, skill, equipment, and the situation. Deciding when to call it a day takes knowledge of your own abilities with your weapon, and your PH needs to know that as well. Which leads to point 2.
2) a good long-standing relationship with your PH is extremely valuable. I've hunted with the same PH three times now- all plains game. That is nearly 6 weeks of hunting together. Is he the greatest PH in the world? How would I know? We get along, he knows what I can do, I know his strengths and weaknesses. When I go after dangerous game, I'll hunt with him because of that relationship. I trust him completely, he fully knows my capabilities with a rifle. We can work together. He would suggest I take shots that he wouldn't suggest my son take. Likewise, he would suggest shots my son take that I wouldn't have thought my son should take because I am perhaps overly cautious and he could see my son's growing abilities better than I could. My son would never progress in his abilities if he only shot before noon from a stand at animals that were 40 yards away. To develop as a hunter, one must accept increasing levels of responsibility. Which leads to point 3.
3) mistakes will be made. Treated properly, they lead to experience, which leads to fewer mistakes. In my opinion, it makes a lot of sense to develop a relationship with a PH on non-dangerous game before pursuing dangerous game. Not all relationships are going to work out. Much like dating (generally, and most responsibly) works through a progression of intimacy, a relationship with a PH builds over time. Unless you are dying of cancer or something, why rush it? Start with plentiful, inexpensive game where there is less at risk and then move on to dangerous game or sables or whatever your heart desires.
4) lost game happens, but it is never a happy situation. Excellent ideas have been shared about finding lost animals. I've seen a gyro be very useful in recovering animals. Asking about availability of a gyro, or dogs, etc before the beginning of the hunt will help you understand what resources are available and help your PH understand your level of commitment to recovering game.

WALKINGPREY2 said:

Anything else that needs to be done, is up to the authorities in SA. It is up to those in the hunting industry of South Africa to decide what they will and won't allow. I just hope they keep in mind, "that a house divided, soon falls".

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I have read this thread with a lot of interest. The hunt was legal, do I think the hunt was ethical.....NO! I have tried to get more details from reading the posts....but there truly are no clear details of hunt. When was it decided to hunt at night with a light? Was it a spur of the moment decision? What was the distance? What rifle was used? Was it the clients rifle? The only time indication was dusk, was it light or dark? Just too little details.

But my main reason for committing, is because of Walkingprey's last comment..."that a house divided,soon falls"..SA has strict hunting rules and various different hunting groups from PHASA, all the different Provinces professional hunting ass and many other. There might be matter of different opinions, but all stand for the good of hunting. Don't point fingers at the South African authorities. I bet if your shot had be true, we would have seen wonderful posts of your buffalo, you pulled the trigger, stop blaming the PH AND NOW EVEN THE SA AUTHORITIES AND HUNTING INDUSTRY.

I apologize that I cannot disclose the full details of those involved in this hunt, because I choose to protect those who approached me and told me that what was occurring was wrong while I was still in SA. As so many others did. I would have had no knowledge otherwise. I so appreciate their help in what occurred. You will have to trust that all the proper authorities and those who need to know do have full knowledge. Including an admin of this site who I fully trust. That is enough for me. I too have pointed out, TMS, that the landowner did nothing wrong and all was legal in this buff hunt. He has the proper certifications and licenses. He and I have worked out any details concerning this buff hunt and all is resolved with him. I think the world of him and of his outfit. Very professional in every way. My point in my statement you have highlighted is that I cannot own for the right or wrong on the part of the outfitter I hunted through. That is better left to the authorities of South Africa. I can only own my own mistakes: 1) rushing into a hunt without having personally done all the research on how best to hunt that animal; 2) making the decision to pull the trigger when I was not totally comfortable with how the hunt was handled; and 3) not understanding and determining whether the outfitter I was using had all the proper licenses. I did not even know a PH had to have a separate license to hunt big game. I had no clue to even ask. Live and learn. My only grievance against the outfitter I agreed to hunt through, and as I have repeatedly pointed out in this post, is that the PH assigned to me (and SA partner to the outfit) did not do all he could to take me back out to find the buff I wounded in the days I still had left to hunt. It has now been reported to me by those in SA, that it was due to the fact that this PH did not have the appropriate big game hunting license. (The landowner, however, does.) I was set up three times to take a shot on another buff under this PH. As Wayne has pointed out earlier, it all now makes sense. I have my answer as to the "why". What is to be done then is best left for the authorities of SA to determine. It does not affect me. I will go on to hunt African buffalo in new areas and new African countries. I am fortunately blessed to be able to hunt the continent for many years to come. I have done all I can to explain what occurred. Any other questions you all have concerning this hunt, are best answered by your own authorities. And I encourage you to do so. My only hope is that others who choose to hunt Africa will learn from my mistakes and experience. Wayne and AH.com are EXCELLENT resources and a wealth of information on determining what you need to know before you hunt Africa. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

enysse said:

I appreciate your honesty about this hunt. I hope your next trip goes better

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+1

So if I understand correctly, the PH wasn't legally qualified to hunt buffalo? Which definitely isn't fault.

Which definitely isn't your fault...apologize for the grammar in previous post.

TMS said:

I have read this thread with a lot of interest. The hunt was legal, do I think the hunt was ethical.....NO! I have tried to get more details from reading the posts....but there truly are no clear details of hunt. When was it decided to hunt at night with a light? Was it a spur of the moment decision? What was the distance? What rifle was used? Was it the clients rifle? The only time indication was dusk, was it light or dark? Just too little details.

But my main reason for committing, is because of Walkingprey's last comment..."that a house divided,soon falls"..SA has strict hunting rules and various different hunting groups from PHASA, all the different Provinces professional hunting ass and many other. There might be matter of different opinions, but all stand for the good of hunting. Don't point fingers at the South African authorities. I bet if your shot had be true, we would have seen wonderful posts of your buffalo, you pulled the trigger, stop blaming the PH AND NOW EVEN THE SA AUTHORITIES AND HUNTING INDUSTRY.

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Hi TMS,

In reading all of Walkingprey2's posts in this matter, I don't get the impression she is trying to blame the SA Authorities or the Hunting Industry at all.
What I get from her words is that, she accepts full responsibility for not placing that bullet exactly where it belonged (all hunters with any miles on their boots have been guilty of that one, I know I surely have been guilty of firing a bad shot now and again over the years).
And, I also gather that she has notified the SA Authorities, because she suspects there was a bit of "razzle-dazzle" performed by a PH in that country.
I think that is a good thing for her to do under the circumstances.

Likewise, it sounds to me like she did not grow up hunting like many of us did.
In other words, she was at that stage, very new to hunting and therefore not knowing how things are normally conducted during a buffalo hunt, she accepted the PH's recommendation that she shoot a buffalo by means of a spotlight/battery torch.
Once, while in a hunting camp, I was offered to hunt bush pig at night, by means of a spotlight.
I figured, "when in Rome" and so I agreed to it.

And although that was totally lawful and very culturally acceptable where I was, the experience was unsettling for me personally.
So, I will not agree to that style of hunting again.
Seems to me that Walkingprey2's first buffalo experience was similar to my first bushpig experience - except that I never saw my quarry (but I've never claimed to be smarter than a pig anyway).
I'd bet my double that Walkingprey2 will not agree to that style of hunting again either.

It seems to me she was too new to this hunting thing to realize she was being led down a path (hunting DG at night with a spotlight) that she would not feel good about later.
It's something like learning how to drive a car.
When your instructor tells you to "turn here or drive through there, etc, etc", you don't argue much about it, you just trust their instructions, even though you might be a bit suspicious of it all.
Then if you scrape a fence pole, you blame yourself for not arguing against the instruction and for scraping the fence pole, as well as blaming the instructor for telling you to make the maneuver you thought perhaps not quite right.
To add more discomfort to your retrospect, you later discover that your Instructor was only licensed to teach bicycle riding and not automobile driving after all.

She freely admits the stray bullet, as we all should do when we own it like she does in this case.
Again, who has not made a bum shot in their lifetime, especially when we were new to hunting? I know I have lost a wounded animal (first deer I ever shot and I did not even have someone I trusted urging me to shoot it).

So, for everyone who keep saying: "She turned me into a newt !" I do not see that Walkingprey2 is up to anything that's out of line here.

Regards,
Velo Dog.

Velo Dog, thanks for the great response, but lets put aside that " maybe PH wasn't big 5 qualified", I asked a few other basic questions about the hunt. 1) When was it decided to hunt the buffalo with spotlight? 2) Did the client have a rifle big enough for big 5 game?(own rifle) 3) Time of the shot? Dusk is very vague. 4) Distance?

I am just trying to put two and two together about this fiasco......

I was asked to write blogs about my hunting experiences in SA regarding this past hunt by different sites before I left. Then I was asked to write a detailed report by the authorities after I left. I struggled with how to write it up after everything that happened. I will blog it on my Tumbler site for those interested. Lets all move on to better experiences.

Christina wish you all the best for your future safaris and hope you have more pleasurable memories. I think we can all learn a lesson, DON'T PULL THE TRIGGER UNLESS YOU SURE OF YOUR SHOT.......

I have followed this thread from the beginning with great interest since our next trip the great continent will hopefully be for Cape Buffalo

As a first time hunter in Africa, I certainly empathize with the need to be following what your PH tells you. You're in a new place with new regulations. A reasonable person is perhaps unsure of themselves. However, you want to perform to your best ability, not to show off, but to simply demonstrate your competence to hunt these magnificent animals.

The PH emphasizes that you do what you're told. And you do it just as he/she tells you for safety and many other reasons.

I'll certainly remember what I learned in this thread, in a good way, when and if we make the trip.

I still would like to know why someone who had five days left on their hunt would agree to hunt buff at night. Sorry I believe their responsibility on both parties. I would not be comfortable or want to hunt buffalo at night not only for the cost, safety, but really the experience of hunting dangerous game.

I just would like to better understand and I apologize if I am missing something, but I would be interested in what that conversation sounded like when being told we were going after buff at night. At the end of the day glad WALKING PREY got her buff.

Lessons Learned,

dt

DT.....I'm on the road headed out of town. I'll message you a URL with the full story first chance. I'm just waiting for a couple of reviews before I post to a site I was asked to write for. I chose not to use names in the blog. But it will make everything clear for you. It's just about that.....lessons learned. I head back to buff hunt in 2016.....as it should be done.

WALKING PREY love and appreciate your vulnerability so we all can learn. Wishing you the best and a big buff in 16

dt