As mentioned above we recently had a very successful hunt on one of our concessions that borders the Greater Kruger.
This area is roughly 9000 acres in size and consists mostly of mopani and sweet thorn veldt. The Klasserie River also runs through the property that gives it that extra special diversity with thick reeds and big trees like Nyala and Jackal berry. Add to this some old buffalo bulls and you have a place that offers some really unique hunting.
On this hunt we had some strange weather. The first day was close to 40 degrees Celsius, then we had two very cold days after which the temperature slowly warmed up again. This together with a full moon made hunting these old bulls a reel challenge.
The first day was spent looking for fresh tracks and trying to locate these old bulls. With the river running through the property its not always easy finding fresh tracks as these old bulls mostly drink from the river. Driving around checking all the water points we bumped into a herd of about 8 bulls with some nice old dagga boys amongst them. We quickly decided to make a stalk on them but unfortunately the wind had other ideas. The constantly changed direction which made it nearly impossible to get close to these bulls. We decided to leave them and take up there tracks later in the afternoon hoping that the wind would be more constant. We picked up there tracks at 15h00 again and with the wind now blowing more consistently in one direction. Our spirits were high that we were to catch up and most likely get a opportunity. We weren't on their tracks very long when we saw that they have joined a small breeding herd. Knowing now that we would have to contend with a lot more eyes and ears we moved as quietly as possible scanning for any movement ahead.
It wasn't until 17h00 that we spotted the first black shape ahead of us in some very thick acacia thorns.
We immediately sank down to the ground checking the wind and trying to figure out what would be the best approach.
The hard was on the move and feeding slowly away from us. As the black shapes were moving through the thick stuff we could make out that the bulls were at the back of the herd.
Checking the wind constantly we made a loop around to get in position so that they would feed past us. This kind of worked but with the bush being so thick we could not see all the buffalo. In the end we managed to see a couple of bulls but we just did not have a clear shot. Pushing our luck a bit we tried to move to a opening but were spotted, we were about 20 yards away when one of the bulls spotted us and that was enough to make them run off.
It was already late and we decided to let them be and try our luck again the next day.
Day 2
During the night a cold front moved in and that caused the temperatures to plummeted drastically.
When we left camp we knew that finding the buffalo was not going to be a easy task as the cold temperature and wind would cause the buffalo to stick to the thick stuff and not move around much.
After driving around for a while we were fortunate to spot three bulls lying close to a thicket. This was just pure luck. Wish I could say we located them because of our extraordinary skill set, but that would be exaggerating just a little bit.
As we stopped to asses if there was a shooter they slowly started to get up and move away. We could see that there were two really nice old dagga boys and one younger bull. We immediately moved away with the vehicle and when we were at a desirable distance we stopped and started to move in on foot.
We got to the spot were we last saw them and started following their tracks. They did not move off more than 100 meters when we saw them feeding slowly to our left.
We got down on hands and knees and did some leopard crawling for about 30 meters until we reached an opening through which there was a clear shot.
The bulls were feeding towards the opening and we just hoped that one of the old bulls would stop and give us the opportunity at a shot.
Everything worked out perfectly and one of the old bulls stopped and I barely said shoot when the shot rang out.
A perfect shot and the bull did not go 15 yards and fell down.
We could not have asked for a better trophy. Great old warrior and I do not think this bull would have made it through another winter as he had no more teeth left and his condition was already poor.
After enjoying the moment and taking the necessary pictures the buffalo was loaded and taken to the skinning shed were all the necessary care was taken to make sure the client would have a everlasting trophy on his wall.
We headed back to camp to enjoy lunch and the rest of the day was spent looking for buffalo without any success.
The next couple of days was spend looking for fresh sign of buffalo but it was as if the old bulls just vanished. We spotted a lot of young immature bulls and a couple of breeding bulls that was in their prime but no luck on the old dagga boys.
With the temperatures warming up the bulls started moving around more and on the morning of the second last day Diana smiled upon us and we bumped into a herd off about 9 bulls. We spotted one very nice old bull which had it all, drop, curl, big bosses and a nice spread.
We immediately went of after them. Using a termite mound and and some rocks as a barrier between them and us we were able to get within shooting distance.
The first shot was from a sitting position at a buffalo that was slightly quartering away from us, this was no easy task but the client made a perfect shot.
After the shot the buffalo did not go more than a 100 yards, we found him standing broad side and we put in a second shot on the shoulder. This time they ran of into the thick stuff and we gave him about ten minutes before we started the follow up. We heard the buffalos death below and knew we had our trophy in the salt.
When we got to him the other bulls was still standing around and did not want to leave their fallen companion. We had to wait for about 15 minutes for the other bulls to move off and during this time they would move off and then suddenly come back with a very displeasing attitude. This caused for some unnerving moments but once they moved off we were able to approach and admire this exceptional bull.
We do not compare horn length to the success of a safari but these two bulls had it all. They had spread, drop curl and a lot off character, everything one looks for in a trophy buffalo. For those who asked the first buffalo measured 38 inches and the second bull 42 inches.
Above all we had a great hunt and a experience to last a life time.
