New member from Minnesota

Hello friends! I am a new member from Minnesota. I have hunted deer and bear and am planning my first African hunt . Looking at South Africa and interested in buffalo. Been thinking about this for many years. Plan on using a 375 H and H. I am overwhelmed with finding an outfitter. Any tips would be appreciated. Happy to be here!
Welcome to AH
 
Welcome, glad to see another Minnesotan join the group! I hunted with @BAYLY SIPPEL SAFARIS last July and it was a great experience. I hunted plains game but will be returning soon hopefully for a buff hunt, they shoot some really nice ones.
Looking very forward to that!!! Would be great to see you again Reed. Send regards to your dad!

Kind regards,
Dempsey Bayly & Michael Sippel
 
The .375 is an excellent all round rifle for Africa! We look forward to future hunting reports.
 
Welcome to AH! Lots of great info and resources here.
My son and I had a great time with @BAYLY SIPPEL SAFARIS last year...I posted a hunt report here if you feel like having a look....
https://www.africahunting.com/threa...buffalo-hunt-with-bayly-sippel-safaris.76961/
Good luck to you...
IMG_4220.JPG
 
I'm just north of the border. Been to RSA four times hunting the Eastern Cape. Same outfitter every trip but he doesn't advertise on here so ...

I would say for the species you're looking at harvesting, 375 is just a bit over the top. I took this wildebeest at 370 yards and even that was too far for my 30-06. Way too far for 375. My PH let me use his 270 WSM.
20210824_102410.jpg

And two days later this kudu at 440 yards with the same rifle.
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If hunting springbuck, your shots are typically beyond 375 range (not always) and the animals are small yet very pretty. Try to save the skins. Warthog are also not very big and good eating. Shooting one with a large caliber rifle may not be the best plan in my opinion. Unnecessarily wasteful. Also, they are very flighty critters (everything wants to eat them!), especially up close. Longer shots may provide more opportunities. Yes, many do use 375 for African plains game but curiously the same guys would never use a 375 to hunt similar size big game on this side of the pond. I spent a lifetime hunting elk and moose with 30-06 and never considered myself undergunned. I have 24 plains game on the wall and three more on the way. All but the two above were taken with 30-06. Two springbuck and one impala were pushing the range limitations of that caliber with 165 Partitions. Both dropped on the spot. I would suggest taking two rifles. Never a bad idea anyway in case one goes kaput. A new scope broke on my first trip and I switched to a camp gun 30-06 with no time to check it at the range. Turns out it was over a foot low at 200 yards. Fortunately, the kudu bull gave me a second opportunity later at 330 yards. I made adjustment and dropped him just before sunset of my last day hunting.
 
welcome from next door, So Dakota. don't forget contact Jennifer at @TRAVEL EXPRESS for your travel needs she is great and will get you there and back
 
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Greetings Nutterman,

Khomas Highland Hunting Safaris of Namibia, welcomes you to the greatest forum on earth.

Under normal circumstances, we would offer buffalo hunting up in the Caprivi Strip, Okavango River vicinity, wide open geography, no game fence and soforth.
However, with the recent purchase of our additional land plus, the renovation of and adding onto existing structures there, we are not doing hunts for any of the dangerous 7 at the moment.

Our new lodge (name of “Aub”), is near completion now and eventually we will get back to the Caprivi hunts for all of the dangerous 7, especially Buffalo.
In the meantime, we recommend our friends at Ndumo Hunting Safaris (also a fellow Sponsor of AH).
There are others of excellent reputation we could recommend as well however, they do not advertise in this forum and I do not wish to violate the rules here.
Likewise, several other members have already recommended their favorite Safari companies to you.
I expect that any of those mentioned and any of the ones who advertise here and / or have reached out to you will be great outfits to hunt with.
Just make sure to thoroughly research any Safari Company that you are seriously considering sending your hard earned deposit to.
It’d be a shame to pay for what you thought would be hunting a large part of untamed Africa, only to discover that you’re stuck on a tiny plot with ear tagged animals trotting toward the truck (accustomed to being hand fed), all contained within a 10’ electric fence, that you can see, almost everywhere you look.

Your plan to bring a .375 H&H for all species, is an excellent one, with well over 100 years proven track record on; “everything from elephant to dik dik” as the saying goes.
It is my favorite hunting cartridge.
I have hunted with it many many times here in Alaska (where I live full time) and in Africa multiple times as well.
I’ve shot quite a few Sitka black tail deer and caribou with it, as well as duiker, steinboks, Klipspringer, springboks warthogs and many others up to and including 3 bull eland so far.
It is generally a lot less destructive on edible meat than high velocity cartridges are (the 7mm magnum and the various .300 magnums come to mind).
And yet, with a solid bullet, it will pass through a huge elephant skull and brain.
Likewise, it has the same trajectory as a .30-06 does.

.375 H&H. .30-06
235 grain = 150 gr
270 grain = 180 gr
300 grain = 220 gr

Perhaps the 300 gr .375 has a slight trajectory advantage (perhaps), as it leaves the muzzle around 2550 fps, compared to the 220 gr .30-06 @ 2400 fps.

I do not claim to be a long range rifle competitor.
But, I can hit a paint bucket at 300 meters / yards with my .375 every time, while standing and resting my rifle on tall shooting sticks, firing a .300 grain bullet.
And my rifle has nothing fancy for primary sighting, only a simple old vintage 4x Zeiss scope.

Having said all of that, it is somewhat unusual to shoot animals beyond about 200 paces in Africa.
It does happen but if your PH and yourself are any good at stalking, extra long shots don’t happen much in most of huntable Africa.
And for Buffalo, I am confident that your PH whomever they turn out to be, will not set the sticks for your shot until you have closed with the animal to something under 100 yards.

Admittedly, I’ve not shot a buffalo with this caliber.
However by reputation, with today’s extra tough bullets, it is a good one for them.
My favorite of the premium expanding bullets today remains without question, the Swift A-Frame.

You are going to do a double back flip when you see Africa for the first time.

Best Regards,
Velo Dog.
 

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Welcome, a Wisconsinite here. First trips are the best. This site is so full of info, don't feel bad, you can over analyze but here there are some super experienced hunters and outfitters. Determine your expectations, put it out for those to answer and you will have a great hunt. It's a true statement, the addiction happens the first morning you are there. Welcome to SA addict land. I started with PG and it just grows on you. Buffalo are awesome. Enjoy.
 

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Good morning. I'll take all of them actually. Whats the next step? Thanks, Derek
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