Africa is a funny place.

Late last month, we hunted in Botswana for Cape buffalo. In the wilderness. Perfect buff habitat.

We hunted them for nearly a week and a half. We walked probably 60 miles tracking them, mostly without success. We did, by hard work, find and kill two of them, but only after a great deal of doubt along the way.

Then, as we are driving along the main drag toward Kasane International Airport, what do we see?

Two beautiful trophy bulls, grazing not 5 yards from the side of the road. This was inside the city limits!

Has anything like this ever happened to you?

I can’t be the only one.

Sure. Not in Africa but elsewhere. Game animals seem to know where to hang out and be safe amongst humans.

I have several monster white tail bucks that hang out in my back yard every year. We can't hunt them in our subdivision so they know they are safe. This one was from 2 years ago. Didn't see him last year.

quote:

Originally posted by Todd Williams:
Sure. Not in Africa but elsewhere. Game animals seem to know where to hang out and be safe amongst humans.

I have several monster white tail bucks that hang out in my back yard every year. We can't hunt them in our subdivision so they know they are safe. This one was from 2 years ago. Didn't see him last year.

Todd,

I recall you posting about those neighborhood beasts. There are also the animals you might see all the time in the off season, but have a calendar to know the hunting seasons.

Several years ago, hunted elk in Montana outside the park. Hunted ten days and did not see a elk out of the park. Came back into town and a big 6 x 6 was lying down on the football field.

My brother and I went deer hunting in Colorado for a week. We struck out.

We come home and a friend has shot a 179" typical off my brothers place.

quote:

Originally posted by Todd Williams:
Sure. Not in Africa but elsewhere. Game animals seem to know where to hang out and be safe amongst humans.

I have several monster white tail bucks that hang out in my back yard every year. We can't hunt them in our subdivision so they know they are safe. This one was from 2 years ago. Didn't see him last year.

Fantastic looking buck.

last fall I had been up back pack deer hunting for 10 days.
as I was coming home I turned the corner by the church onto my street.
a big 4x4 buck run right in front of me, and as I swerved to miss him another one just as big darted out in front of me and got knocked down by my truck breaking his back legs.

I ended up tagging that one on the front lawn of my next door neighbors house.

quote:

Has anything like this ever happened to you?

I can’t be the only one.

Mike

Many times


Super buck Todd!

Was hunting at the beginning of the rains in Simanjiro in March. Buffalo were streaming out of the park. I shot out way early and should have been more selective. Saw some massive bulls after my license was filled. Taught me patience.

The biggest whitetail I have ever seen was on a little patch of woods by Military Rd in Arlington Va. It was huge.

Love that buck, Todd. Wild sideways tines!

Nothing like that has ever happened to me close to home. The only deer that come into my yard are does raiding my apple trees!

quote:

Many times

Yep.

Years ago a friend and I camped at a spot that usually produced decent bucks and was legal for antlerless. After three days we hadn’t seen a single deer and were hauling his camper home.
Two miles from our campsite we saw a decent eight point with a group of doe in a pasture beside the road. When he saw us he jumped the barbed wire fence, crossed the road, jumped a second fence and stood peeking out from behind a large oak tree with a “No Hunting” sign nailed to it.
I don’t believe we ever went back as we decided the deer there were smarter than we were.

I've been hunting antelope in Wyoming for almost 30 years and the biggest buck that I've ever seen alive, lived in an empty field behind the KMart in Casper Wyoming.