quote:

Originally posted by Steve Ahrenberg:
Rather than hijack the "Drums of Morning" thread, I figured i'd just tell the story in a new thread.

Andrew commented in that thread that re-aquiring a single Buffalo three times and getting him killed is a story in itself, let alone that he was 49.5 inches.

I booked this 2018 hunt with Wayne Grant through John Barth. It was essentially a East African Eland hunt with a few others to make it interesting.

The Safari was to be in the GMA, now National Park called Ibanda/Rumanyika. As Lavaca accurately stated, it lies on the Tanzania border with both Uganda and Rwanda. The Kagera river is the international border and the border between Uganda and Rwanda is about center the concession.

The GMA has a very distinct, very prominent, ridge that runs almost the length of the GMA and it is visible from everywhere. The concession is in a bad poaching spot, it is almost completely surrounded by villages. The Rwandan's are known to canoe across and poach for bush-meat. There were lights, dogs and gun-shots heard/seen every night.

Along with the Eland and other PG species, I had 2 Buffalo and a Leopard on quota. I couldn't pass up the chance to hunt Leopard with the man who actually wrote the book on it. We also had a quota for an East African Sitatunga of the adjoining GMA, Rumanyika.

Somewhere easy in the Safari, we were hanging Leopard baits. Wayne hangs baits in places you'd normally expect, but he likes to get far off the roads to do so. This particular day, we were off road in a long canyon, heading to the saddle at the top. We stopped and departed the cruiser to look for a the right tree. As we did, three Buffalo broke cover. Two were nicely shaped classic bulls, both in the low 40's. The third was the enormous bull that had a width we both guesses at 45". He was old, and grey. His horns didn't have deep drops or full curls, but my gosh he was wide. I commented to Wayne that I'd like to try to find him again.

We hang said bait and move along.

Perhaps 2-3 days later, we were in that saddle again to check that bait. When we got to the tree, the bait was gone. It wasn't hit by a cat, it was hi-graded by poachers. They were messy. They dropped a handful of snares near the tree, which I pocketed.

Wayne was pissed. we didn't have a fresh bait with us. Wayne wanted to drive to the top of the ridge and have a higher look around. As we drove down the ridge, we saw four poachers down below us. They were not far from the bait-sight where we lost the bait. They were sitting around a fire, smoking meat, probably our bait.

Wayne asked me if I minded losing a day to catch and delivery these guys. I said lets get it done.

To make a long story short, there was gun-fire, and running poachers, one got away. Now, we had three poachers to turn in.

Now we have three poachers, Wayne, Myself, an observer friend of mine, a TAWA scout, tracker and skinner in the cruiser.

The TAWA scout, Lawrence said he would have cell service further down the ridge and he would call the local TAWA office to have them come and get the poachers. As he finished that statement, the same three Buffalo we had seen, busted cover and ran further down the ridge. Wayne and I jumped out, I grabbed my Charles Osborne 450-400-3-1/4. We followed just a bit until we saw them descending the ridge, opposite the side we saw them days previous.

We sat and watched them for probably an hour. Once Wayne and the tracker were satisfied that they knew where the went to bed, we carried on with the poacher delivery.

Once we got rid of them, we had to circle an entire valley to get the wind. We parked where we figured, was one korango away from their bedding spot.

We missed it by one korango, but none the less, we found them. Three times in three days, in, as they say, "Miles and miles of bloody Africa".

They were bedded in a pretty good spot. We ran out of cover at about 75 yards. We hid behind a tree for bout an hour, until they got up. I really wasn't happy about the distance so had the tracker hand me my scope sighted .375. I shot and as will happen, all hell broke loose.

They stayed together for most of the follow-up. They really used the long grass well. We had to have a tracker climb a tree and watch the grass for us. In about the third island of impossibly long grass, the tracker only saw two Buffalo depart. Now it's getting sporty, as we know he's in there. We moved slow and listened as we moved. I was fortunate to hear him off to our right, moving away and exiting the grass.

I was able to anchor him without further drama with my double. He measured 49.5". It was the largest Buffalo I've ever killed (by 5") and it was tied for the largest that Wayne had ever hunted, in his 35 year career.

I have lots of photos of the poacher encounter and the Buffalo, but where I'm at, I can't access IMGUR. I'LL post them after I get home in a week or so, unless someone wants the do it.

Wayne is intensely old school and I truly enjoyed our time together. We fly camped in the Rumanyika swamp for 3-4 days on this Safari as well to look for a EA Sitatunga, which we did, but I missed a really tough shot.

I did however kill am EA Eland, to complete all 4 Eland, also an EA Roan to complete all 3 of them. The Impala there were all 26"+ and I killed two over 27".

quote:

Originally posted by Safari2:

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Ahrenberg:
Rather than hijack the "Drums of Morning" thread, I figured i'd just tell the story in a new thread.

Andrew commented in that thread that re-aquiring a single Buffalo three times and getting him killed is a story in itself, let alone that he was 49.5 inches.

I booked this 2018 hunt with Wayne Grant through John Barth. It was essentially a East African Eland hunt with a few others to make it interesting.

The Safari was to be in the GMA, now National Park called Ibanda/Rumanyika. As Lavaca accurately stated, it lies on the Tanzania border with both Uganda and Rwanda. The Kagera river is the international border and the border between Uganda and Rwanda is about center the concession.

The GMA has a very distinct, very prominent, ridge that runs almost the length of the GMA and it is visible from everywhere. The concession is in a bad poaching spot, it is almost completely surrounded by villages. The Rwandan's are known to canoe across and poach for bush-meat. There were lights, dogs and gun-shots heard/seen every night.

Along with the Eland and other PG species, I had 2 Buffalo and a Leopard on quota. I couldn't pass up the chance to hunt Leopard with the man who actually wrote the book on it. We also had a quota for an East African Sitatunga of the adjoining GMA, Rumanyika.

Somewhere easy in the Safari, we were hanging Leopard baits. Wayne hangs baits in places you'd normally expect, but he likes to get far off the roads to do so. This particular day, we were off road in a long canyon, heading to the saddle at the top. We stopped and departed the cruiser to look for a the right tree. As we did, three Buffalo broke cover. Two were nicely shaped classic bulls, both in the low 40's. The third was the enormous bull that had a width we both guesses at 45". He was old, and grey. His horns didn't have deep drops or full curls, but my gosh he was wide. I commented to Wayne that I'd like to try to find him again.

We hang said bait and move along.

Perhaps 2-3 days later, we were in that saddle again to check that bait. When we got to the tree, the bait was gone. It wasn't hit by a cat, it was hi-graded by poachers. They were messy. They dropped a handful of snares near the tree, which I pocketed.

Wayne was pissed. we didn't have a fresh bait with us. Wayne wanted to drive to the top of the ridge and have a higher look around. As we drove down the ridge, we saw four poachers down below us. They were not far from the bait-sight where we lost the bait. They were sitting around a fire, smoking meat, probably our bait.

Wayne asked me if I minded losing a day to catch and delivery these guys. I said lets get it done.

To make a long story short, there was gun-fire, and running poachers, one got away. Now, we had three poachers to turn in.

Now we have three poachers, Wayne, Myself, an observer friend of mine, a TAWA scout, tracker and skinner in the cruiser.

The TAWA scout, Lawrence said he would have cell service further down the ridge and he would call the local TAWA office to have them come and get the poachers. As he finished that statement, the same three Buffalo we had seen, busted cover and ran further down the ridge. Wayne and I jumped out, I grabbed my Charles Osborne 450-400-3-1/4. We followed just a bit until we saw them descending the ridge, opposite the side we saw them days previous.

We sat and watched them for probably an hour. Once Wayne and the tracker were satisfied that they knew where the went to bed, we carried on with the poacher delivery.

Once we got rid of them, we had to circle an entire valley to get the wind. We parked where we figured, was one korango away from their bedding spot.

We missed it by one korango, but none the less, we found them. Three times in three days, in, as they say, "Miles and miles of bloody Africa".

They were bedded in a pretty good spot. We ran out of cover at about 75 yards. We hid behind a tree for bout an hour, until they got up. I really wasn't happy about the distance so had the tracker hand me my scope sighted .375. I shot and as will happen, all hell broke loose.

They stayed together for most of the follow-up. They really used the long grass well. We had to have a tracker climb a tree and watch the grass for us. In about the third island of impossibly long grass, the tracker only saw two Buffalo depart. Now it's getting sporty, as we know he's in there. We moved slow and listened as we moved. I was fortunate to hear him off to our right, moving away and exiting the grass.

I was able to anchor him without further drama with my double. He measured 49.5". It was the largest Buffalo I've ever killed (by 5") and it was tied for the largest that Wayne had ever hunted, in his 35 year career.

I have lots of photos of the poacher encounter and the Buffalo, but where I'm at, I can't access IMGUR. I'LL post them after I get home in a week or so, unless someone wants the do it.

Wayne is intensely old school and I truly enjoyed our time together. We fly camped in the Rumanyika swamp for 3-4 days on this Safari as well to look for a EA Sitatunga, which we did, but I missed a really tough shot.

I did however kill am EA Eland, to complete all 4 Eland, also an EA Roan to complete all 3 of them. The Impala there were all 26"+ and I killed two over 27".

Steve, I wonder what the status of that place is today as a National Park?