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A short report on an even shorter hunt. I booked this hunt to follow my leopard hunt with Nick Nolte. @ndumo HUNTING SAFARIS is one of the quieter AH sponsors, but I have been talking with Karl Stumpfe for several years at DSC and thinking about doing this hunt. For me, it made a lot of sense to do the two hunts in Namibia, back to back.
The hunt is a 7 day, cape buffalo hunt. The flights from Windhoek to Katima Mulilo are only on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. My hunt is Wednesday to Wednesday, so they gave me a couple free days in camp to leave on Friday, the 25th.
After 14 days and no leopard with Nick Nolte, Nick said if I got done early with the buffalo, I could come back and hunt leopard a few more days. Upon arriving in the Caprivi camp, I met my PH, Wayne Cilliers. I told Wayne, if I can get a respectable buffalo quick, I would be very happy and leave early. Wayne's prior client took a nice buff on Day 4 of his hunt. Wayne said there were lots of buffs in the area, but finding a good one could take some time. Wayne also mentioned he had been working for two solid months and wouldn't mind some days off to go visit the wife and kids. So both of us were motivated!
Day 1 started out good. About 20-30 minutes after leaving camp, we were driving on a dirt road in the very dry flood plain of the Caprivi. The area to the left of the road was national park and to the right was the hunting concession. There was a huge dagga boy with another smaller bull, walking about 50 yards on the Park side of the road. We stopped and watched them for a while, hoping they would cross the road and be fair game. No such luck. Throughout the morning, we saw lots of buffalo. One method to locate them is look for the dust cloud in the air. It has been so dry for so long, the dirt easily turns to dust. We did about a 3 hour stock in the late morning and looked over several hundred buffalo. Just couldn't make a play on one.
We went back to camp, ate lunch and took a nap. We'd go back out around 3:30pm. Once back out, we immediately picked up pursuit on some the buff we saw in the morning. Many had found some shady area to bed down for a midday siesta. Throughout the flood plain, there are numerous "islands." These are high spots, with lots of trees and bush to provide cover. We tried to make a play on some smaller groups from these islands. On our third or fourth attempt of the afternoon, everything fell into place. The wind was right and we had a small group of 6-8 buffalo, about 100 yards away from us. we were well concealed on the high ground of an island. Wayne found a good bull and got me on the sticks. It was about 5pm, so getting late in the day. The bull was looking straight at me. We waited and waited for him to turn. After waiting 10-15 minute and concerned about running out of daylight, I told Wayne I was comfortable with the straight on shot if he was. He gave me the okay. My 404 Jeffery was loaded with 400 gr Swift A Frames. I was pretty steady on the sticks and let the first round go and could instantly hear the WAP! of the bullet hitting the animal. I was slightly left of center, but apparently did severe damage to the front right shoulder. The buff reacted, but only took a few steps and stopped broadside to us. However, a cow took up a position between the wounded bull and us. Several on buffalo surrounded the wounded one. After a couple minutes, the cow moved and I quickly fired round 2. The WAP! again was clearly heard. The second shot was a double lung hit and the bull dropped and was done. Wayne, like all good PHs, said "Reload!". I added a couple of rounds to the magazine and picked up two pieces of fired brass (It's what reloaders do) No finishing shot was required.
We walked up carefully to the bull. Wayne had his Blaser R8 in 458 Lott ready, if needed. The bull was dead, dead. While we prepped the area for photos, a herd of several hundred buffalo slowly moved towards us. They were about 100 yards away, an awesome and somewhat concerning sight to behold. We quickly took some photos and loaded the massive beast into the back of the Land Cruiser. Once back in camp, Wayne measured the spread and it was 42 inches. A great "Day One Bull!"
The hunt is a 7 day, cape buffalo hunt. The flights from Windhoek to Katima Mulilo are only on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. My hunt is Wednesday to Wednesday, so they gave me a couple free days in camp to leave on Friday, the 25th.
After 14 days and no leopard with Nick Nolte, Nick said if I got done early with the buffalo, I could come back and hunt leopard a few more days. Upon arriving in the Caprivi camp, I met my PH, Wayne Cilliers. I told Wayne, if I can get a respectable buffalo quick, I would be very happy and leave early. Wayne's prior client took a nice buff on Day 4 of his hunt. Wayne said there were lots of buffs in the area, but finding a good one could take some time. Wayne also mentioned he had been working for two solid months and wouldn't mind some days off to go visit the wife and kids. So both of us were motivated!
Day 1 started out good. About 20-30 minutes after leaving camp, we were driving on a dirt road in the very dry flood plain of the Caprivi. The area to the left of the road was national park and to the right was the hunting concession. There was a huge dagga boy with another smaller bull, walking about 50 yards on the Park side of the road. We stopped and watched them for a while, hoping they would cross the road and be fair game. No such luck. Throughout the morning, we saw lots of buffalo. One method to locate them is look for the dust cloud in the air. It has been so dry for so long, the dirt easily turns to dust. We did about a 3 hour stock in the late morning and looked over several hundred buffalo. Just couldn't make a play on one.
We went back to camp, ate lunch and took a nap. We'd go back out around 3:30pm. Once back out, we immediately picked up pursuit on some the buff we saw in the morning. Many had found some shady area to bed down for a midday siesta. Throughout the flood plain, there are numerous "islands." These are high spots, with lots of trees and bush to provide cover. We tried to make a play on some smaller groups from these islands. On our third or fourth attempt of the afternoon, everything fell into place. The wind was right and we had a small group of 6-8 buffalo, about 100 yards away from us. we were well concealed on the high ground of an island. Wayne found a good bull and got me on the sticks. It was about 5pm, so getting late in the day. The bull was looking straight at me. We waited and waited for him to turn. After waiting 10-15 minute and concerned about running out of daylight, I told Wayne I was comfortable with the straight on shot if he was. He gave me the okay. My 404 Jeffery was loaded with 400 gr Swift A Frames. I was pretty steady on the sticks and let the first round go and could instantly hear the WAP! of the bullet hitting the animal. I was slightly left of center, but apparently did severe damage to the front right shoulder. The buff reacted, but only took a few steps and stopped broadside to us. However, a cow took up a position between the wounded bull and us. Several on buffalo surrounded the wounded one. After a couple minutes, the cow moved and I quickly fired round 2. The WAP! again was clearly heard. The second shot was a double lung hit and the bull dropped and was done. Wayne, like all good PHs, said "Reload!". I added a couple of rounds to the magazine and picked up two pieces of fired brass (It's what reloaders do) No finishing shot was required.
We walked up carefully to the bull. Wayne had his Blaser R8 in 458 Lott ready, if needed. The bull was dead, dead. While we prepped the area for photos, a herd of several hundred buffalo slowly moved towards us. They were about 100 yards away, an awesome and somewhat concerning sight to behold. We quickly took some photos and loaded the massive beast into the back of the Land Cruiser. Once back in camp, Wayne measured the spread and it was 42 inches. A great "Day One Bull!"
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