I know Ernest and have recently been communicating with him about other areas.. Thank you.
Yes, Ernest is my go to. I’m going to Zimbabwe with him in August for lion Buffalo then may be over to South Africa for rhino and then in 27 Botswana for elephant.
Thank you for the feedback!
It’s an amazing hunt. There are tons of old bulls and their management criteria is very interesting as well.
Thank you! Yes, my sons and I were there in June. Two Klaserie bulls and one Umbabat bull. We then did what you’re doing and finished on a private concession. Amazing trip. I hope you enjoy the rest of the experience. Here are our bulls. Please share yours and the hunt story.
Why do you think the genetics are better there?
Your guess would be as good as mine, I’d suspect the huge park combined with low hunting quotas. The size and age based quota on South African side definitely helps also. There are other areas that produce good buffalo each year, but I don’t know where else produces the consistency except a few areas in Tanzania. There are other areas that give a great buffalo hunt today but high 30s is all you can realistically expect for the biggest bulls. If you look back the quotas were way too high not so long ago in those areas. I think those areas unfortunately shot out the best genetics and need time to recover, but I’m still not sure they’d compare to the best Kruger bulls.
If I was concerned about size I think Kruger would be it. But I, like you, would care much more about the overall hunt than just the size of the horns.
I agree. Just because it's behind a fence doesn't mean it's shooting fish in a barrel. The property I'm hunting next week is 26,000 acres in Northern Limpopo and has some pretty thick bush, especially with all the rain they had this year. A buffalo hunt a couple weeks ago required many days and 60 miles of walking to get the bull they were after. He does it the right way of starting early picking up the tracks and following them wherever they take you.
I was an African rookie when I arrived in Greater Kruger in June but I have to say that our hunt met all of my expectations. Enough so that I would do it again without hesitation. I'm sure there are many "wild" tracking hunts and "fenced" private property hunts that are amazing too and I would like to experience both eventually. I have no other points of comparison but I am quite sure that a quality PH/Outfitter can deliver an exceptional experience in any of these environments. One of the things I now believe about Africa is that the PH/Outfitter is the single most important part of the equation. Mine was exceptional. @Spear Safaris
Good luck!
I’d like to see that first bull stand next to a scrum cap and put all the hunters that say a scrum cap is the ultimate buffalo trophy to the test. That bull has everything especially width and age.
There are very good fenced properties that would provide the same experience as a wild area, but there are a lot that won’t. If the only criteria for a buffalo hunt is they run away and can be dangerous it opens up a lot if options, but hunting a property where every buffalo on property is known and chipped and has possibly been darted in the past destroys any trophy value to me. I’ll pay more to hunt a buffalo that’s been chased by lions and poachers and lived wild its whole life. I don’t mind hunting PG behind a fence but I’d ask a lot of questions before hunting DG behind a fence to determine if it has value to me.
There was a scrum cap with him and another bull, I’ll see if I have a picture of both in the same frame . My daughter had a different angle so she might.
