Cape Buffalo hunting book recommendations

[Muntjacer23]

Hi all,

I’ve bitten the bullet and have booked my first cape Buffalo hunt for March next year with Game 4 Africa!

Having never hunted in Africa before I’d love some book recommendations to read between now and then!

I’ve recently read Death in the long grass and the Rigby Dagga boy book, and I now have my eyes on Horn of the Hunter - by Ruark and Tall Tales, The Life of a Professional Hunter in the Zambezi Valley- Charlton for my next purchases!

If anybody can recommend any books covering Cape Buffalo or just general must read African hunting books it would be greatly appreciated! I do enjoy reading autobiographies too which is what appeals about Tall Tales!

I look forward to seeing your recommendations!

Thanks!
Tom

 

[RLD]

Buffalo and Buffalo II by Boddington are good. Africa's most Dangerous is also very good. I cannot recommend The Perfect Shot enough, and Robertson's little book on hunting and judging Cape Buf is quite good.

I found Thunder without Rain, quite weak and would not recommend you spend your money on it.

And happy hunting!

 

[Altitude sickness]

Watch Buzz Charlton and many other PH’s hunts on YouTube. It will show you many scenarios and potentialities to prepare for. Both physically and mentally without the artistic license often taken in hunting books.

You will see with your own eyes what to do and as important, what not to do.

Books are good for the Romance. But not the prep.

 

[Muntjacer23]

Buffalo and Buffalo II by Boddington are good. Africa's most Dangerous is also very good. I cannot recommend The Perfect Shot enough, and Robertson's little book on hunting and judging Cape Buf is quite good.

I found Thunder without Rain, quite weak and would not recommend you spend your money on it.

And happy hunting!

Thank you will look into those!

 

[Muntjacer23]

Watch Buzz Charlton and many other PH’s hunts on YouTube. It will show you many scenarios and potentialities to prepare for. Both physically and mentally without the artistic license often taken in hunting books.

You will see with your own eyes what to do and as important, what not to do.

Books are good for the Romance. But not the prep.

I’ve watched a lot of YT videos and will watch many more before my hunt! But I also enjoy reading hunt stories too! I appreciate some come with a bit of artistic license tho!

 

[Firebird]

I’ve hunted successfully with g4a and you are heading for a good time. I will reiterate as others to read Boddington’s Buffalo books (1 is enough) and the perfect shot 1. That is more than you need to know by quite a bit. Enjoy the other adventure stories if you enjoy reading.
I had my hunt filmed and it should be available later this fall, will be a good educational per What to expect on that particular property.
Practice off Rudolph sticks or 4 stable sticks and you will be good to go

 

[Muntjacer23]

I’ve hunted successfully with g4a and you are heading for a good time. I will reiterate as others to read Boddington’s Buffalo books (1 is enough) and the perfect shot 1. That is more than you need to know by quite a bit. Enjoy the other adventure stories if you enjoy reading.
I had my hunt filmed and it should be available later this fall, will be a good educational per What to expect on that particular property.
Practice off Rudolph sticks or 4 stable sticks and you will be good to go

Great to hear!
Will certainly get a copy of Boddingtons book!
Would love to watch your film once it’s finished! I’ve heard nothing but great things about G4A! And some great write ups on this forum about them which I’ve read many times!
All of my deer stalking here in the UK involves Viperflex quad sticks so will hopefully be well prepared!

 

[Rolly]

Hi all,

I’ve bitten the bullet and have booked my first cape Buffalo hunt for March next year with Game 4 Africa!

Having never hunted in Africa before I’d love some book recommendations to read between now and then!

I’ve recently read Death in the long grass and the Rigby Dagga boy book, and I now have my eyes on Horn of the Hunter - by Ruark and Tall Tales, The Life of a Professional Hunter in the Zambezi Valley- Charlton for my next purchases!

If anybody can recommend any books covering Cape Buffalo or just general must read African hunting books it would be greatly appreciated! I do enjoy reading autobiographies too which is what appeals about Tall Tales!

I look forward to seeing your recommendations!

Thanks!
Tom

The Boddington books on Buffalo are very good.

 

[steve white]

Nyati: the art of hunting the African Cape buffalo....was put out by AfricanHunter magazine, includes pieces by Don Heath and others and claims to be the end all, be all book...and it probably IS!

 

[Sika98k]

You’ve made a good choice choosing Game 4 Africa to hunt with. Wik is a very competent man to hunt with. Go on a diet before you visit. The food is too good.

Anything by Ron Thomson is a great read on hunting in Africa. The books are available on Kindle to purchase and download.

 

[forshoes]

There's Something About Buffalo by Kevin Thomas

 

[Mountainshadows]

Horned Death by John F. Burger
It will let ya know vindictive these critters are. It's a good read.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Anything by Dr. Kevin Robertson gets my vote.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

@Muntjacer23 you are in good hands with @GAME 4 AFRICA SAFARIS. Will you be using your rifle or one of their rifles? I believe they have a nice Sako in 375 and use Swift A-Frame bullets. Read some of the recommended books and practice shooting off of sticks. I look forward to reading your report.

 

[matt2H]

Copied and pasted from my trip report (fingers crossed this works )

I am also quite a reader and have a decent library of African Hunting books, those that I do not have in hard copy – I download to Kindle. It’s far from an exhaustive list, but I found these ones especially helpful:

• Africa’s Most Dangerous by Kevin Robertson
• Hunting the African Buffalo by Peter Flack
• Buffalo! by Craig Boddington
• Horned Death by John F Burger
• Buffalo by Ron Thomson

Of course for pure nostalgia and dreaming of Africa, Ruark’s Horn of the Hunter and Use Enough Gun are always recommended.

Although I am certainly not the biggest fan of podcasts as I generally find them like lectures – I did gain benefit from these:

Cape Buffalo hunting with Kevin Robertson

Cape Buffalo Hunting 101 with Kevin Robertson

 

[Green Chile]

There are numerous resources out there but these represent many of the good ones (not Thunder without Rain though). I think the best one for a single resource for a first time buff hunter is Africa's Most Dangerous. The chapter on packing lists alone was worth getting it for but it's also sort of a gathering of the author's best writings on buffalo. Get the others as you have time, resources and interest. Some go and take a buff and are done...check the box, done and dusted. For others, it's the black hole and we are never the same.

 

[Muntjacer23]

@Muntjacer23 you are in good hands with @GAME 4 AFRICA SAFARIS. Will you be using your rifle or one of their rifles? I believe they have a nice Sako in 375 and use Swift A-Frame bullets. Read some of the recommended books and practice shooting off of sticks. I look forward to reading your report.

I’ll use one of their rifles. My own Sako S20 in .308 wouldn’t do the job haha so using one of their Sako’s will be great! All my deer stalking in the UK is off sticks so should stand me in good stead! Although the pressure of deer stalking won’t compare with that of buffalo hunting! So got that to contend with!

 

[dogcat1]

Hunting the African Buffalo by Peter Flack is excellent.
Boddington's CD's on buffalo hunting are good too, except for the blatant advertising.

 

[EBaker]

Augusts in Africa by Thomas Mcintyre is great as is White Hunters by Brian Herne.

 

[camperx]

Another good one is 'The Buffalo Harvest' by Frank Mayer & Charles Roth. He talks a lot about his Sharps'.