So back at it again the following morning, persevere to overcome. Maybe we’ll locate that old Dagga boy again? Our trackers are checking for tracks, seeing if that old bull and the herd moved off? For the next few hours nothing, not one buffalo seen, but the tracks indicate they are in the area, in the thick stuff, too dense to track and get a shot. Oh well, we keep at it.
Tracker Geraldo getting a better vantage point.
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Then when you least expect it, it happens! We came around a bend near the river—and there they are: three bulls, one clearly very old with deep, dropping horns, the same old Dagga boy we saw the other day with the small herd but this time with just two other bulls! In fact, we’d seen those two other bulls deep in the reeds the other day but not the old Dagga boy who was probably hidden. He’s clearly within spec too! We were able to carefully close the distance to within 35 yards. I quickly got set up on the sticks. Derian whispered, “The bull on the far left—on the shoulder!” They weren’t going to hang around. I placed the crosshairs on the shoulder and squeezed the trigger.
The 500-grain North Fork soft point struck perfectly. All three bulls bolted into the tall reeds along the river. We waited, then heard the death bellow.
Derian said, “I can see your bull—he’s down, but the other two are still there.” They stood close by, partially hidden in the seven-foot-tall reeds, refusing to leave. Derian instructed me to stay back while I covered them from a higher vantage point, watching for a charge from the two other bulls. The trackers, Geraldo and Simone, threw branches and rocks, yelling to drive the other bulls off. It seemed they didn’t want to abandon their old comrade in the high reeds.
Finally, after several minutes, they moved off. We approached cautiously. The old bull was stone dead—he had deep-dropping horns, a white-faced dagga boy. The bullet had entered the left shoulder and didn’t exit, breaking both shoulders and causing massive internal damage. He went about 25 yards before expiring.
It was an emotional moment—taking a great buffalo after an elephant. I felt profoundly grateful to be there, living something I’d dreamed of all my life.
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Videographer Kristen. I thought she did an amazing job.
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Trackers Simone and Geraldo clearing a path in the tall reeds.
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