Gents:
With the two threads here on buffalo and hippo I'd like to ask (out of curiosity) you to compare and contrast the two as two of Africa's big game that are somewhat reasonably priced. Advantages and disadvantages of hunting both? Price, success rate, etc. I've shot both and will ponder your thoughts. What say you? With hippo, should the new term be the Big Six?
Cal

Cal-

Hippo is commonly considered one of the Dangerous 7, along with Croc. It is often substituted for the Rhino as a "new" Big 5.

Like you, I have killed both (multiples of each) and have almost had a safari vehicle turned over by a Hippo at night and had another Hippo charge out of the water and chase our safari vehicle during daylight. That one gave the trackers a thrill, as he kept coming. Whereas most Buff will run away, IME, I have found Hippo very willing to charge under unprovoked conditions.

Since most Hippo are taken in the water and usually only wander inland at night, it is difficult to compare them from a hunting standpoint. Hippo, like Croc, demand an accurate shot at a small target that can be difficult to locate; between the eyes works every time.

My SIL hunted for a Hippo on the Zambezi last September, after he had his Buff and I my Ele, with no luck. Hippo were there but the bulls had been hammered earlier in the season.

I have shot so many of both, but, there is absolutely, positively, NO WAY of comparing hunting buffalo with hunting hippo.

You go and HUNT a buffalo.

You go and SHOOT a hippo.

I have not shot anywhere as many of either as Saeed, but my experience mirrors his statement.

Price wise, I think hippo is much less expensive, but then that is doing it as an add on for some other DG (cat) hunt. The TF's are lower with hippo.

Having said that, the only big animal I have lost was a hippo, and that was due to poor shooting.

I would love to shoot one on land but, hope it does not take up to much safari to to get in that position.

Hippo that is

It is almost time for me to tell the hippo story about my friend who got chomped, and got written up by Peter Hathaway Capstick, then telephoned Capstick late one night from Chicago to South Africa to correct the story.

According to my PH, who knew the facts, neither version was accurate.

what story would that be?

Cal

Buffalo and Hippo are different animals and require different hunting tactics.

Both have there pluses and negatives and it comes down to what do you really want to go after.

Dry land hippo are usually taken from what i have been told are in the heat and with dry conditions. water holes are shrinking and animals are congested making some bulls out and about near the water holes.

One unique aspect of hippos is how beautiful (eye of the beholder) the tanned hide can be. Not so much on old scarred bulls, though. My wife wants to shoot a satelite bull or old un-scarred cow (if legal) for the hide for furniture, and meat for local villagers. Will probably do this in the Caprivi, unless US F&W lifts the ban before our Moz. hunt this summer.

the only hippo i have shot was taken as lion bait. i didn't think much of it at the time, but as the years pass the more I think of it. Granted it isn't like buff, or leopard, or ele or lion for that matter, but finding a really big one and the whole process thereafter is ceertainly one to be remembered

quote:

Originally posted by cal pappas:
Gents:
With the two threads here on buffalo and hippo I'd like to ask (out of curiosity) you to compare and contrast the two as two of Africa's big game that are somewhat reasonably priced. Advantages and disadvantages of hunting both? Price, success rate, etc. I've shot both and will ponder your thoughts. What say you? With hippo, should the new term be the Big Six?
Cal

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
I have shot so many of both, but, there is absolutely, positively, NO WAY of comparing hunting buffalo with hunting hippo.

You go and HUNT a buffalo.

You go and SHOOT a hippo.

Cal I too have shot both, and in general terms Saeed is spot on! In most cases one simply shoots Hippo once a real trophy bull is found. If one is looking for a real hippo trophy hippo bull, he must look at a lot of bulls before he pulls the trigger. In that type of hippo the HUNTING is just a valid as HUNTING a real trophy buffalo.

In most cases a PH will simply take you to a place where pod rests in the water in daylight. He then picks the best one he sees there at tells the client to shoot that one. In that case hippo is simply a target as Saeed says.

Then there is finding a hippo pod in late daylight, locate the trails where they come back to the water and you come back very early the next morning in just breaking light, and walk along the shore to catch hippo on land coming back to water. In this case the hippo who believes you to be between him and water will charge anyone there. In this case the hippo is a very dangerous animal, and shooting one here is definitely not target shooting.

My best hippo sported a pair of 28 inch main fighting tusks, but we looked at a lot of hippo before we found him, though he was shot standing on a sand bar he did not know we were there so I guess you could say I just shot him, and you would be technically correct, but we did a lot of hunting before we found him so I consider him HUNTED.

On the other end of this, I have taken buffalo that were never aware of my existence before the bullet slammed into his heart, still anyone here would consider that buffalo HUNTED.

All of the above is simply my personal opinion, and worth exactly what you paid for it!

.....................................................................

I can't get too excited about hippo hunting. It just doesn't trip my trigger so to speak. No judgements being made about others however. It's just that I'd prefer to spend my money elsewhere. Some situations would call for taking one however, such as bait for lion or (less likely) leopard.

I've taken exactly 1 hippo. It was a bit of a different experience from most as described here on AR. My hunt was in RSA and was conducted back before PAC participation by clients was suspended. My outfitter had a good friend on the Parks Board staff who called and told of three hippos that were escaping the Kruger Park each evening to raid the farmers sugarcane fields that were actually separated from the park by the park fence. Their policy was to eliminate any of the animals that escaped the park due to overpopulation.

So, we, our hunting party and 3 Parks Board Officers, went into the sugarcane fields on three different nights, armed with spotlights and big bore rifles, looking for hippos on land!! We finally found them on night three. It turned out to be pretty exciting there in the dark among the cane stalks, and there was a lot of shooting once we located them. I would gladly do this type of hunt again if the opportunity presented itself, but simply sniping one while coming up for a breath of air really doesn't do it for me.

Night hunting for hippo on land, with the game wardens :

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
I have shot so many of both, but, there is absolutely, positively, NO WAY of comparing hunting buffalo with hunting hippo.

You go and HUNT a buffalo.

You go and SHOOT a hippo.

My experience as well....


.

Until the tables are turned and then the hippo is a formidable opponent. To date I have had three very nasty experiences with hippo and they are to be treated with the greatest respect.

Admittedly most hippo are sniped from a distance.

I refuse to shoot hippo in the water.
It's shooting for sure.

Mozambique 2009 Hippo hunting

Boko on land can be every bit as fun and tricky to hunt as nyati. I very much like hunting them both, but hippo on land only!