Dangerous Game hunt course at the Africa Wildlife College -Practice round Part 1:Buffalo

[nztimb]

Watching with anticipatory interest Gert. Thanks for taking the time to post this great report.

 

[Pheroze]

Really great thread! Thanks

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Completed my re-loading the 404 Jeffery and the 8x57JS Small ring Turkish Mauser . Ruan my son will be hunting with the 8x57JS Mauser, using a 220 gn Stewart core-bonded bullet in front of S335, 42gn propellant, giving me around 2300 f/s.
The 404 Jeffery I loaded with 350gn Stewart core bonded soft nose, S365, 75gn giving me 2100 f/s for a Blue wildebees bull.
Members, we went around the buffaloes to approach them with the wind in our faces and the sun from our backs. Long before we saw the buffalo we had the following indications that the buffaloes were way ahead of us. We saw/hear the Red Bill Ox pecker birds in the trees above the buffalo herd we are tracking....

We heard the buffalo chewing cud and groan while lying down , the eight (8 years ) old buffalo stood at the fringes of their safety zone circle.
Fact: 8 to 10 years of age buffalo bulls mortality rate is the highest of all buffalo, these eight years of age buffalo bulls find it their duty to protect the cow and calves from lions and other predators. Most of the eight year/nine year breeding /guarding buffaloes are shot for trophies since few sport shooting clients knows which buffalo is eight to ten years of age and normally 42 inch spreads...the breeding genes....
Here is a photo of a Red Bill Ox pecker looking for ticks and parasites on the buffaloes:

Some characteristics of a mature buffalo bull past prime , a candidate for trophy hunters without demolishing the gene pool...

Left side buffalo:
Notice the dewlap underneath the chin....it is testosterone that effect these types of characteristics. The white marks along side the eyes, a solid hardened boss growing densely with external growth /bone structure just below the boss above the eyes..a bulging effect. The penis sheath has a lot of dens grown hair on the point of the penis sheath...
The strong, muscle compact build at the heavy front quarters suggest this bull has fought to reach the top ranking position in the herd...the difficulty now is to keep that position. Unfortunately, these buffaloes always patrolling the herd of cows /calves and looses condition fast...ensuring an eminente defeat by another bull taking over his position.
Fact: This scenario creates a situation where these defeated bulls join other bulls to gain condition to return later to the herd and challenge his rival for the nr.1 position again...this is where trophy hunters shoot these buffalo since they perceive these buffalo as to be the 'Dagha Boy buffalo" . At this stage these bulls are shot and their genes dies with them, ensuring a smaller genetic pool..

 

[Pheroze]

Sorry Gert, you lost me on that last one. I thought the bull on the left was past prime. But, are you saying that after a little R&R with the boys, he will be back in dominant form?

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Back to tracking Buffalo:
The following photo shows two buffaloes lying to the left side of the herd, much nearer to us when we approach the herd, they were fifteen meters from us and the rest of the herd twenty meters to twenty five meters:

We used Dr. Kevin Robinson`s technique to move nearer to the buffalo herd without causing them to retreat or start running away from us..it is the most effective stalking technique I have ever seen deployed to approach buffalo.

This cow did not understand what is happening and walked up to us to come and investigate ;

Now we commence with the laser shot placement exercise :

Then we used Dr. Kevin`s 505 Gibbs to get a real feeling of a hunting rifle bead on a buffalo... Gert van der Merwe with the 505 Gibbs...

Some photos of all the participants doing this exercise:
Ian with the 505 Gibbs:

Eugene with the laser rifle:

Me and the laser rifle:

Jacques junior with the laser rifle:

Here you will notice the dot on the buffalo , it is the green laser ...

The buffalo at the right hand side looking at you..there is a dot level with the top of the heart , where the aorta pipes are entering the heart, a top heart shot is deadly..


We now took the time to discuss all the characteristics of a trophy buffalo as well as pointing out witch buffalo needs to stay in the gene -pool and are not suitable for trophies. It took about halve an hour to discuss all the characteristics of these buffaloes. Meanwhile we were moving closer to the buffalo ..were were extremely close to them at the end of this session .

We then retreat and move away slowly so as not to disturb them....
After all this tension and adrenaline rush we drive to a river bed to braai wors and have a nice brunch...
Starting a fire to make a nice brunch:

Always busy discussing what we learned thus far about buffaloes.

Gawie takes a break:

Piet Nel ready his rifle to take Jacques Snr and junior to approach an elephant ensuring unbelievable memories with his son...
While returning to camp we saw some game as well:

Back at camp, around the fire, we discuss all we saw and experience and just enjoy sitting around the fire with a hot cup of coffee...

The following day will find us on the shooting range , going through all that regarding a rifle and how to use it for dangerous game hunting.

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Sorry Gert, you lost me on that last one. I thought the bull on the left was past prime. But, are you saying that after a little R&R with the boys, he will be back in dominant form?

Yes, Pheroze, a lot of these bulls, eight, nine years to ten years of age fight to become the herd bull, to keep up his performance he patrol the herd to keep opposition away..but eventually he start loosing condition so he is not able to keep on being the herd bull to spread his genes around..he looses a fight against a better conditioned bull and retreat to a group of other "dagha boy bulls" to regain condition whereupon he join the herd to regain his position..during this phase this bull will be shot as a "trophy " bull a dagha boy bull...so the genes dies with him..The moral of this story is: We need to review the term 'Trophy" when it regards a buffalo bull ....research done by Dr. Kevin Robinson and Master Degree students indicates that there are less than 4 % of the 8 to 10 year bulls left...the gene pool is starting to vanish..we are getting bad genes in to the herds... Pheroze, taking in account all the characteristics of a prime bull..that bull will still be able to add his genes to the pool....I will find you a good representative prime bull photo..

 

[Pheroze]

Yes, Pheroze, a lot of these bulls, eight, nine years to ten years of age fight to become the herd bull, to keep up his performance he patrol the herd to keep opposition away..but eventually he start loosing condition so he is not able to keep on being the herd bull to spread his genes around..he looses a fight against a better conditioned bull and retreat to a group of other "dagha boy bulls" to regain condition whereupon he join the herd to regain his position..during this phase this bull will be shot as a "trophy " bull a dagha boy bull...so the genes dies with him..The moral of this story is: We need to review the term 'Trophy" when it regards a buffalo bull ....research done by Dr. Kevin Robinson and Master Degree students indicates that there are less than 4 % of the 8 to 10 year bulls left...the gene pool is starting to vanish..we are getting bad genes in to the herds... Pheroze, taking in account all the characteristics of a prime bull..that bull will still be able to add his genes to the pool....I will find you a good representative prime bull photo..

That's really very interesting information. It's really impressive that Dr. Robertson and his colleagues are taking a proactive approach, ensuring we as hunters are doing what we are supposed to! But, what do you then look for in a trophy bull? What are the hallmarks of the animal we should be targeting?

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Animal that will constitutes a buffalo trophy without reducing the gene-pool:

Older than 11 years, horn-ends has started to be grind away, hair loss is evident and some parts smooth skin, growth started to get prominent around the front end above the eyes...body is not build as heavy as when the eight year /ten year bull fight for dominance/real dagha boy wallowing in mud pools to protect his aging skin against mites and sun..really old looking bull on its way out ....I am a succer for a scrum cap..the ultimate "trophy bull" ..but Dr. Kevin Robinson will be able to give you a much, much better definition..

 

[Pheroze]

Sports Afield magazine had an "ugliest buffalo" contest that I think was a push to recognize the problem you are describing to us. But, the PHs will always have the pressure from their client to find a bull that looks good. I suspect not many would pay thousands to go an hunt the ugliest thing in the mud hole. This presents a very interesting dilemma! It's good that you have brought this forward. 4% is a very low number. But, as the dominant bull, I suspect they have a high mortality rate anyways. I wonder what a sustainable number would be.

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Pheroze, Dr. Kevin Robinson and his research team is going to analyze 6000 buffalo in herds to get the average presentation of herd bulls between eight and eleven years to see what the gene pool consist currently off. They have extremely sophisticated equipment to do this research... This concept needs to be applied through out the conservation scenario. In the Karoo , a Game farm owner of Jewel of the Karoo already reached a stage where his springboks rams are heavier and has longer horns than the springboks in the Kalahari due to the application of this concept ...I am not talking about canned buffalo of the game breeders in South Africa..you can not take those steroid buffaloes the game breeders are stuffing full of high protein pills and stretched horns as gene pool animals....no ..this needs to be done in an environment like the KNP where animals still roam free although it is a confined area...

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Day three: Shooting skills and rifle fitting Apologies for the poor quality of the photos, the camera slept outdoors the previous night)

Members, we commenced with day three where rife handling skills, cycling rounds through the action, shooting accurately and a perfect rifle stock fit is of utmost importance. Dr. Kevin Robinson took the lead to explain how important a perfect rifle stock fit is when shooting a dangerous game rifle. He pointed out to the fact that off the shelve bought dangerous game rifles do not feed correctly and does not fit the owner . These rifles need to be customise to fit properly as well as adjust mechanically to cycle effectively...this will cost you around R20000 extra to convert an off the shelve rifle into a proper functional dangerous game hunting rifle.
As pointed out previously, a double square bridge Mauser costing R174 000 had to be prep and ducked taped to fit the owner . Gawie assisted us in effecting small changes to some of the rifle`s stocks to get a better feel and accuracy by changing height /width of the stock in using cardboard and masking tape...

Changing the profile of the rifle stocks to fit the owner better:

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Then it was off to the range where we shot life size buffalo targets at different angles and in different positions.

Gawie used a paint that overlap and provide different colors to indicate a hit in the heart, red color, hit in the lungs a purple color and a pink color indicating a hit in the lungs and heart...
I was fortunate to shoot an incredible accurate rifle, the 404 Jeffery, even a blind person can shoot this rifle accurate...I did shoot the rifle with v-express sights and it really was extremely accurate at all the distances we shot from...

Ian Rautenbach and Gawie as his guide...

Looking at the shot placement, Ian really did shoot well with the .375 H&H Magnum...

Gert van der Merwe doing the "shuffle" an important technique to get near a buffalo, the buffalo does not recognise you when you shuffle on your back side towards them....

Discussing shot placement ....

Waiting their turn...

Gert van der Merwe indicating his great shot placement and excellent shooting skills...

Looking at how the participants goes through their exercises...

Bum shuffling is the name of this game, buffalo will approach you to see if they can figure out what is crawling along the grass towards them..

We enjoyed this exercise tremendously and every one was confident he will be able to shoot at least straight when hunting buffalo...

We then commence walking back to the camp , get together some proviand, and drive to the river where we usually have a brunch. On route we search for buffalo tracks to follow, unfortunately the buffalo cross over to the other side of the river into another concession area that is being managed by another wild life organisation...

 

[BRICKBURN]

........... drive to the river .............. On route we search for buffalo tracks to follow, unfortunately the buffalo cross over to the other side of the river into another concession area that is being managed by another wild life organisation...

Now that is Buffalo hunting.
Drive on the border of the concession and they are always across the "other side".

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Arriving at our brunch making destination we conjured up a great brunch that consisted of pap, wors, eggs, gravy, bacon , steak, chops and Blue wildebees liver braaied in onions...a great dish perpared by Ian Rautenbach, Gert van der Merwe, Eugene Groblar made the bacon/eggs and sheba...

Eugene making the scrambled eggs:

Gert van der Merwe pealing the onions , making the bacon...

Dr. Kevin making sure the food is up to standard...
Everyone is doing something ..it was a great brunch..the Witbank team really lifted the bar of excellence very high..

Jacques jnr and snr still recovering from their ordeal with the elephant bull...

A group photo of the best dangerous game team on this course...

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Day four, receiving our certificates and return to home:
Members as all good things must come to an end we completed the course. Dr. Kevin Robinson handed over our certificates.
Ian Rautenbach receiving his certificate:

Gert van der Merwe receiving his certificate:

Jacques van Dyk receiving his certificate:

Jacques jnr. receiving his certificate Jacques shot the 9.3 x 62 caliber , he used Dr. Kevin`s rifle that shot 635 buffaloes in is lifespan..)

The camera man getting his certificate as well...

Then it was time to pack up and return to Witbank:

Members, I really hope you have enjoyed this thread ...

 

[stug]

Awesome course Gert! Years and years of knowledge passed on in 4 days.

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Stug yes, you are right, it is a great course conducted by great people like Dr. Kevin Robinson , Pieter Nel and Gawie ( need to get Gawies `s surname) ...I already got a group of six members together for an Elephant course next year..

 

[Hunting Sailor]

Great thread! Thanks for sharing it with us.

//Gus

 

[Gert Odendaal]

Gus, thank you very much for the positive reply, it s much appreciated. This course afforded me the opportunity to get so near a buffalo and to learn about buffalo as a specie. It is just to expensive to hunt a buffalo here in South Africa. If you do get an opportunity to hunt a buffalo , you can do nothing with the meat, you are not allow to move, bones, raw meat from the Low-veld to the high veld of Mpumalanga where I resides. I do not want to shoot an animal/game if I can not use it`s meat for table fair and biltong.
If ever I get the chance to hunt a buffalo I want to sleep on it`s spoor , for at least a week . It needs to be an experience , a hunt on foot for at least a week while sleeping in the bush every night ...this hunt needs to be something between the way I hunt on the 1882 Era Black powder hunt and a safari hunt on foot for a week long at least... I then need a few days extra to dry the biltong as well...

 

[Neale]

Thanks for putting this together for us. It would be a good experience to do this course in the future.