I'm writing the new article in the italian revue CACCIARE A PALLA. Object: the Water Buffalo hunt.
I will be very happy the have the experiences of the forum subscrivers about the hunt of this great trophy and also the impression about the behaviour's differences during the hunt, wiht the african Cape Buffalo.

Mario,
I never hunted cape buffalo but I've a little of experience with the water ones. I've hunted with a couple of AR members who hunted (and hunt) cape buffalo every year and they said that they were as chalenging as the african ones.

In some places of SAmerica buffs are domesticated but some run wild once they find good habitat. Here they are very spooky because of hunting preassure (by farmers specially), because they aren't seen very well by the sanitary authorities.

Never seen one drop on spot despite we use 416 rigbys. Last year while hunting with Richard Powell and Ed Foden, we received a full charge in the tall grass. they are very dangerous animals but not by nature, just because they are continously being pushed by farmers and hunters, so they have develope some kind of evil tendency agianst man, First they always run to the bush, but once inside, if you start to bother them, you can have a nice surprise

You can find them wild in northern Argentina, northern Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay and I think also in Venezuela and Colombia, not sure these two last ones. The difficulty will depend of how often the place is hunted, because as any animal, they can become tame if not disturbed.

They live mostly on family groups, with a big bull, an old cow and several young cows and their calfs. Also you can find a younger bull around these family groups (around 10 animals) looking for a distraction of the leader bull, and sometimes also bachelor bulls alone.

They like to wallow in the mud so you often find mud baths while hunting them. At midday, in the hours were the sun is high, hunting these baths is specially productive.

To each his own, but I prefer to use softs, a good one just behind the shoulder and sit under a tree to smoke and allow the animal to die in peace is a good way of keep you out of trouble.

Next weekend I will do some scouting preparing a visit of a friend (AR member) so I will take some pictures and maybe I can hunt one (depending the dosis of whisky I drink with the farmer, the cheapier the trophy fee will be ).

The big bulls are around 1,000 and 1,200 kilos.

Any question is welcome. I think our aussie friends have a lot of experience about them.

L

Both animals are typically bovine in behavior, they do four things" drink water, graze, chew a cud, and sleep, thats it, that is there natural cycle of life....

If you interrupt this process then expect anything...Mostly they run off at being shot, but ocassional they will charge you...The Water buffalo is the larger in body and horn than a cape buffalo...Aggresiveness has to do with circumstances...Cape Buffalo shot into a lot or that have been choused every night by Lions seem to get aggresive and Water buffalo that have been constantly disturbed are more aggressive...Same with domestic cattle, you get them hot and they get mean...Cattle have more adrenaline than any other animal I have been told and I believe that because if you wound them with the first shot they can be bloody hard to finish...

The bigger better bulls go off by them selves at daylight to get away from the ladies, the water, eat and lay up in the shade by about 11:00 or even earlier....The herd will do the same and the lesser bulls and normally a big herd bull will stay with the herd, The big bull may or may not stay on any given day...

When shot into are jumped, a herd will run like hell for maybe a couple of hundred yards, then stop and graze as if nothing happen, they forget danger in a hurry, they will do this a couple of times, then after being jumped about 3 times they will hit a long mile eating
trot and go to the Sudan or North Pole non stop..Guess there memory bank gets to working...

Thats the short of it, without going into detail...

If you can check out the archives from about May/2004 I wrote up the saga of that water buffalo hunt/and all out charge in 'Big Game Hunting Around the World' on AR. He ambushed us from about 10 yards .. head down and came like a rocket ! I swear !! The Gaucho and I had time to throw up our rifles and shoot.. And somehow we knocked him down at 5 yards .. Any hesitation, looking in the wrong directon, or an unlucky pair of bullets and two men would have been quickly killed.. I am doing my best to go back to Africa in early July .. via Uruguay so that I can hunt those wonderful game animals one more time .. and man, but I respect them !!! I have also hunted cape buffalo in Zimbabwe and it was very exciting too .. but no charges .. thank goodness .. anyone who wants a full charge starting at 10 yards has never seen one before ...

Have hunted both the water buff and the cape buff, but am no expert. Three or four of each doesn't make you an expert, IMO.

Every cape bufalo except one has been raked by a lion and I think this makes them spooky and if wounded, a formible adversary. Had a charge last time in Zimbabwe and that gets you to appreciate the larger calibers real fast, love that 450.

The Asian buffalo was hunted in the Northern Territories in a very remote area. The large bulls were spooky and acted a lot like deer in heavy cover. When shot, even in the boiler room, there was no instantly dropping them. Normally, they would still try to run away. They have no carnivors which would make them extremely mean in my opinion, but under the right circumstances can be very dangerous. My ph discontinued taking bow hunters out because of one instance when an agitated bull turned the vehicle upside down on the hunters after they bolted and ran to it for cover.

Certainly, the wild Asian Water Buffalo is a great hunt, but first place for an adrenalin rush has to be the cape buffalo.

Dak

Only hunted one of each so that is no real basis to go by. However a comment passed onto me by a Aussie guide for an African PH who was bow hunting water buffalo and I thought it sounded right.

It went something like this:

Cape Buffalo, undisturbed tend to be more aggressive than water buffalo. But if shot well will die more quickly than a water buffalo. Both animals if wounded and especially if wounded badly will take a lot of stopping and may turn aggressive. Water buffalo especially are harder to kill in these circumstances probably due to their larger size.

Of course this is on 'average'. Some animals just seem to have bad days and will react even if unprovoked. There are enough accounts of either to make it foolish not to respect either animal.

Water buffalo seem to be especially like this ie the change in behaviour. Like a cow most of the time, but other times if the bull wants to go somewhere and you are on his path, he aims to move you from his path. The WB are the "king of their patch" other than humans whom they never may have seen, and as the largest beast expect to be treated as such.

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From my very limited experience both took several minutes to die after both were well chest shot. The cape was shot twice with a .375 but didn't know where the shots came from. The water buffalo definitely had more umph but was also shot much harder several times, but we also were right in his face as well.

Both are fun to hunt and I hope to continue to add to experiences hopefully with at least one of either each year.

Interestingly the most unprovoked and regular charges will come from feral scrub bulls, and not from either species of wild buffalo.

guys
thank you very much.
Is true in the 70' in Australia, a big bull have charged a train?

Mario

Yes that is the story. Didn't witness it though.

I have also heard exactly the same story about a Cape Buffalo in Southern Africa.

Good stories. Why spoil a good story with the truth (whatever that is).


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BUT I am interested myself. I remember reading a newspaper account re-printed somewhere and would like to find it for myself. Will also post the query on several other forums to see if anyone has a reference (Google failed to find anything).