Gentlemen and others,

I'm working on an article on hunting dangerous game in South Africa, both on private and communal land.

While I know a great deal of you disagree with hunting DG in SA I'm sure there are some of you out there that have done so and enjoyed it. If so, please let my hear about your experiences.

The focus of the article is on the positive aspects so please help me with that only.

Thanks for any help

Gayne

Here are two for you Gayne. Both wilder than my last hunt in Zim.

Saw everything from Rhino to Wild Dogs and Hyeana. Heard Lions and Leopards.

Many have more experience than I but I can't imagine much wilder.



http://forums.accuratereloadin...043/m/2111038161/p/1

http://forums.accuratereloadin...131062881#9131062881

Gayne, hunting Leopard in RSA is no different than hunting the cat in other countries with the exception you can use artificial light at night. Permits are few but cats are plenty big. Cattle and game killing cats are sorted out and some can attain giant size. Anyone who shuns hunting Mr Spot's in RSA under fair chase guidelines are sorely misinformed, mistaken or just making up bullchips. Also, there are some very large Croc's and Hippo's in RSA. My recommendations are to use a PH that has a lot of experience and access to quality areas. Another "adventure" would be hunting Bushpig & Hyena, but that's another story.

I have hunted both croc and buff in RSA. The croc was on the limpopo river and Botswana was on the other side. There are no fences or obstacles in the river that I saw. We stalked along the river until we spotted a good one that was in a group of 7 crocs on a sandy island in the middle of the river. We had to crawl to get into shooting position as they say once one croc spots you they are all gone.

The buff was on a 30,000 acres ranch and never saw any fencing once I was inside. We checked a few water holes checking for fresh tracks. Once we found fresh track we tracked on foot. Took about 6 hours to catch up with the lone bull.

Gayne,
Here is my hunt report from our RSA safari in 2003.
http://forums.accuratereloadin...=719109101#719109101

Re-reading it I am amazed at how little detail I included so I'll fill in some of the blanks. We were hunting Klaserie (sp?) which borders Krueger and supposedly has no fences between the concession and the park. The buff was taken on the first day of my first safari so it was an education to say the least!

Thanks guys. Keep the comments coming

Gayne, I hunted leopard quite a few years back with a recurve in the Northern Transvaal now the Limpopo province. It was a tough hunt and we ended up taking a great tom that had been killing livestock.

Although a different experience than hunting one in more wild country I don't believe it is any less of a challenge, just a different experience. The cats rarely come to a bait before dark and artificial light is legal and is the only option in most cases. Although I do know a guy that took a big cat in daylight with his recurve on a natural kill it is the exception.

i was just about overrun by a dung beetle

Gayne,

Here's the info on my RSA buff hunt Spiral Horn Safaris Buff Hunt
BLUF: Hunted one property that was grazed down to dirt with a "house nyala" that followed us around. PH didn't like it either. Next property was thick, thick, thick, with close up buff hunting and plenty of adrenaline. Loved it!

Feel free to PM for more info. Thanks for the DSC hat.

I passed on a buffalo hunt this past June when I was told not to shoot any buffalo with ear tags. What a joke.
Cal

I also hunted South Africa in August. I was with Wagner Safaris. My PH Was Ian Brown. I hunted 2x1 with my brother and our agreement was to hunt Wagners property which was fenced only on one side. The rest of it was open and bordering the Oliphants River. The animals would move freely from Klasserie nature reserve and Kruger Park crossing the Oliphants.

We had a lovely time, our PH was superb, we got our buffalo on day 3 and day 5 after tracking for up to 7 hours a day. The hunting was not easy at all as the area was full of hills and thick bush. The buffalo i had shot was not hit properly and we had to track it for two hours after the first shot and it was the scariest experience of my life! The buffalo even charged from a distance and took a good 3 shots from my 416 rigby for it to finally go down.

I was told by alot of people that the 'buffalo will look at you and smile' just before you take your shot in SA, but they were totally wrong. I have always hunted Zambia on resident tags and shot ten buffalo so far in Luangwa, but the experience that i had in SA was worth the money and a totally wild hunt. In my opinion it is where you go in SA and who you hunt with.

I will post the pictures of our buffalo in the hunt reports section soon.

Luangwa Lover, the reality is that most of the properties in South Africa is high fence there are some really nice areas that are not. Coming back to your Red Tag Buffalo until not to long ago it was almost impossible to hunt buffalo in South Africa expect for A few spots behind the so called Red line, and Zulu land, That is when ranchers started breeding DISEASE FREE BUFFALO, those animals needed to be tested clean by law. Yes it is A highly profitable business as you can see from the sell of this $4M Bull not to long ago, SO IT IS VERY POSSIBLE to find some with tags in there ears (especially if he cost $4m) on some of these ranches. It my not be everybody's cup of tea but that is the reality. IT is now possible to hunt buffalo any place in South Africa were not to long ago that was not possible. And trust me red tag or not they don't change there ways!

Sorry guys I did want to go of topic here. I think if you do your research you can have A great dangerous game hunt in South Africa.

I have not hunted DG in South Africa--but I know it can be done and can be enjoyable. I had a good friend hunt one on a farm--the farm was 8400 ac and he hunted for 3 days and took a nice buff out of a herd of 30 or so.

I know there are areas around Kruger (Klaserie, Timbavati and Umbabat Private Nature Reserves) have some of the biggest buff in Africa. I had a very good friend hunt in the Timbavati and take a 45.5 in buffalo, he has been to Masiland, a couple of places in Zim, and Zambia and he said he would go back to the Timbavati in a heartbeat.

47" Buffalo taken in Timbavati feb 2013

RSA I hunted leopard in Soutpansberg mnts ( Waterport) on big ranch
Tough hunt and my PH had some scars from the past hunts with clients.
Hunted and killed nice buff on Kruger border, communal area and no fences, had a ball and a charge.
Elephants in Denstadt area outside Mapunkubve NP and Botswna ( Tule) border on Limpopo. Great hunt and many elephants
Ended up killing cow in self defense and bull on last day
In elephants every day but many were very cranky
So they were all great hunts

quote:

Originally posted by cal pappas:
I passed on a buffalo hunt this past June when I was told not to shoot any buffalo with ear tags. What a joke.
Cal

Geez Cal, just think that you might have nailed a 50" bull. Next time, take a chance.

This is all helpful...Thanks