SOUTH AFRICA: Hunting With GAME 4 AFRICA SAFARIS In The Eastern Cape

[Sika98k]

Nice bull! Was that on Kudu Ridge? Or one of the other properties they hunt?

It was roughly 45-50 minutes from the lodge. The population of kudu is awesome ! Previously I have hunted in Namibia where the kudu population was drastically reduced some years ago owing to an outbreak of rabies that, I believe, specifically targeted the kudu.
In fact I think that on 7 or 8 trips I have possibly seen less than 20 kudu including cows. Here I’m seeing 20 in every valley ! This is indeed kudu heaven.

 

[Nutterman]

To Sika98k,

Saw the Barnes bullet, great mushroom.
Also saw the heart, nice shot. How did perform overall? How was penetration?

 

[Sika98k]

To Sika98k,

Saw the Barnes bullet, great mushroom.
Also saw the heart, nice shot. How did perform overall? How was penetration?

This was my first rodeo for a buffalo so I was thumbing “The Perfect Shot” until my fingertips bled.
Without bragging I can say I have done my share of hunting. I have shot a couple of thousand foxes. I suppose I’m well into 3 figures on deer and have had a few trips to Namibia hunting various animals.
However the dreaded “bush fever” can creep up on the best of us when the chips are down.
Honestly when the bull came out slowly from the bush I was glad of the eye relief on the scope as I’m quite sure my eye was out on a stalk !
Meeting an animal like that at 40 yards is pretty awesome ! Anyhow the castinets didn’t start playing.
The animal was pretty much broadside on to us. On Wik’s instruction I squeezed off the round. It was immediately evident to me that a good strike had been made. The bull buckled down on his knees. I reloaded swiftly and we watched him. He had no interest in his surroundings and keeled over swiftly. The death bellow followed shortly.
I never used Barnes in a cartridge before. When the bullet was recovered we carried out a perfunctory postmortem. The bullet had drilled through a rib just behind the shoulder. Traveled through the chest cavity doing a great job on the heart and some lung damage and was embedded in a rib on the far side. It came out with a little wiggling.
Looking at the animal being eviscerated it obvious that if you gut shot a buffalo you have a very long day ahead of you. The stomach is enormous and would soak up any bullet.

 

[Firebird]

Maybe I missed it somewhere but could you please post a couple photos of your Buffalo?

I’ll guess you are out looking for “alternative opportunities” today-bushbuck or waterbuck or nyala would be high on my list. Interested to see what you find.

If it were me I would take my camera and a half day at the Pumba lodge. Eager for more news from your adventures

 

[Nutterman]

Maybe I missed it somewhere but could you please post a couple photos of your Buffalo?

I’ll guess you are out looking for “alternative opportunities” today-bushbuck or waterbuck or nyala would be high on my list. Interested to see what you find.

If it were me I would take my camera and a half day at the Pumba lodge. Eager for more news from your adventures

What a blast! Can’t ask more out of a bullet then that. That was a 375 wasn’t it?

 

[Sika98k]

What a blast! Can’t ask more out of a bullet then that. That was a 375 wasn’t it?

Yes, Sako 85, 375H&H, 300gr Barnes TSX

 

[Sika98k]

Maybe I missed it somewhere but could you please post a couple photos of your Buffalo?

I’ll guess you are out looking for “alternative opportunities” today-bushbuck or waterbuck or nyala would be high on my list. Interested to see what you find.

If it were me I would take my camera and a half day at the Pumba lodge. Eager for more news from your adventures

I’ve tried several times to do this but get defeated. One more try.

Maybe I missed it somewhere but could you please post a couple photos of your Buffalo?

I’ll guess you are out looking for “alternative opportunities” today-bushbuck or waterbuck or nyala would be high on my list. Interested to see what you find.

If it were me I would take my camera and a half day at the Pumba lodge. Eager for more news from your adventures

 

[Nyati]

Great buff, congrats !

 

[Sika98k]

So this morning,it’s 0700 here, we are going after a buffalo cow for my buddy Craig. Wik has told us the cows are more dangerous than bulls owing to them being in larger groups with calf’s.
On an aside the 3 remaining bulls have found me ! I woke up at 1130 last night and got up and pulled the curtain aside. There were 2 buffalo bulls on the lawn outside my room ! They did however depart in haste. Wow, can they move !

 

[CBH Australia]

Maybe I missed it somewhere but could you please post a couple photos of your Buffalo?

I’ll guess you are out looking for “alternative opportunities” today-bushbuck or waterbuck or nyala would be high on my list. Interested to see what you find.

If it were me I would take my camera and a half day at the Pumba lodge. Eager for more news from your adventures

Hunted with G4A in 2020, used Wik’s 7mm

Plenty of Kudu and other game available and as a cull hunt I had good variety and opportunity.

Great food and staff.

I really enjoyed Pumba reserve. An extra that I researched while I was there.

@Sika98k I’ve seen this Buffalo come around the house they happily munch away unless disturbed.

 

[Sika98k]

What a hunt we had ! We drove out to Wik’s property some 45 minutes away. The day was very misty and we took it slowly to allow the mist to burn off.

it was still there when we arrived so we discussed the meaning of life for a while and moved off. The sun broke through and a beautiful view of rolling countryside appeared. The variety and amount of game was staggering, impala, springbok, lechwe, warthog, sable, one monster, oryx, scimitar oryx, to name a fe.We were on foot hunting the thickets on the valley floors. We covered a few miles with no recent sign and drove a while to another valley where we started again with a decent breeze on our faces.

We came to one area where Wik told Craig to load up and safety on. Job done and we moved off with Wik in the lead. Suddenly he froze with both hands outstretched to signal us to stop.

Wik did a bit of staring into the bush and then indicated that we should move back quietly. we did so willingly, it was thick ! A 100 yards out he explained that he had spotted some buffalo but it was too thick to get a shot. We walked out off the bush and hooked around to get in front of the buffalo who were still feeding.
Some distance on we crept back into the bush and oh so very quietly crept in to watch an open area in the bush. Wik positioned Craig on the sticks and the wait began.

This got very tense when buffalo started appearing. A head here, a tail swishing in the bush, a slight movement behind a bush but nothing clearly showing. Two bulls, several cows and two calves could be seen but over to our right I could see other buffalo were present.

Wik moved Craig’s position even closer to get a clearer view. We now had buffalo grazing within 30 yards of us ! This gets your attention, especially when all you have is an iPhone and sheath knife !

After 45 very intense minutes a cow presented broadside and a clear shot. It saw us and it’s head came up.The order was given and Craig took the shot. We then rapidly stood back sheltering behind a bush as 20 or so buffalo charged past us at an alarming speed. You only need to run faster than the other guy.

The cow was now balefully looking at us from 50-60 yards below us. The look on its face clearly showed that we owed it money. It started coming towards us bur a broken right shoulder prevented it. Craig took a shot into the chest which clearly hit the heart. It staggered a short distance and collapsed under a tree. Shortly afterwards we heard the death bellow.

We had a very intense 45 minutes in the bush but fair dues to Wik, he was confident and clear in his instructions. Great guy to hunt with. You couldn’t ask for better. The LandCruiser came in and we slaughtered a few bottles of water. It was pretty hot and the excitement level had been high.

The cow was gralloched, we had a couple of sandwiches and loaded the Buffalo onto the back with the winch. Back to the lodge and a couple of cold Castle beers were in order. Hopefully I can upload some photos tomorrow.