There's Something About Buffalo: The Review

Eventually_Africa said:

Hello all!

I won this book in a drawing on this site a while back and promised the author, @Kevin Thomas that I would review it when I was done so, as a man of my word, here is the review.

First and foremost this book could, in my opinion, have been titled "Hunting Buffalo for Dummies" because of the detailed, step by step approach it takes to laying out exactly how a buffalo hunt can go from meeting the PH that you decide to go with, through proper firearms and bullet selection, to the airport and travel, the arrival in Africa, then the beginning, middle and end of the stalk all the way through to the climax of the hunt. It also touches on what can happen if the hunt doesn't go so well and you end up with an angry buffalo on your hands. The pictures are, at least to a novice hunter such as myself, well thought out and strategically placed to show you several different variations on each theme. The stories are very detailed and vivid and the graphs are something I can see being added to this website as reference material for how stalking and tracking formations will line up.

While the book isn't so much of a "hair raising tale of daring do" it is a very informative, up front guide to how the game is played. It is easy to read and follow with a good logical progression from one topic to the next. It doesn't jump around and leave you wondering what just happened and what might happen next. Overall, therefore, I have to say I'm very happy to have it in my library as a wonderful reference guide and a "how to" of the full hunt. I would definitely recommend it to new hunters such as myself and perhaps to the seasoned hunters as well to see how your experiences stack up.

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Ridgewalker said:

Oops, I was going to do a review as well. I agree with you. Good write up. It is not a literary piece, but as you said it is more of a “how to” with antidotes of situations. He also included shorts from well known outdoor writers of their experiences. As you stated it is an easy read and an enjoyable one IMO. A bargain of a read on buffalo!
I would recommend it to anyone who wants to hunt buffalo, or anyone who just enjoys hunting buffalo.

Thanks for the reminder Eventually_Africa!

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Kevin Thomas said:

Thanks very much for the positive feedback/review on my latest book There's Something About Buffalo, I really appreciate your constructive critique. Reference the title though, I'd rather stay with the current title than have titled it 'Hunting Buffalo For Dummies' - a title like that may have been misinterpreted by some that I was sort of dismissive of them as ethical and perhaps skilled sport hunters. And that certainly wouldn't have been the the case at all, my whole intention from the start had been to write an easy to read, easy to absorb informative book on that magnificent of beasts, the African buffalo. Go well and good hunting.

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Eventually_Africa said:

Oh, no worries! That part was far more "tongue in cheek " than anything and not meant as a serious suggest. I was just using it to let people know the book is a wonderfully detailed guide that would let even a dummy hunt with greater confidence!

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