Outfitter : Barry Seabrook, Gunsmoke Adventures and Joe Wilson
Hunters : DoubleDon( Don Soter) and Bama15 (Randy Martin)
Area : Buckingham Bay Northern Territories
Animals Hunted : Non- Trophy/ cull Water buffalo and pigs
This will be kind of a rambling report, no day to day or blow by blow. I picked this hunt up on AR, had been thinking about hunting in Australia for some time and this was my first trip down under. The only draw back was the flying time, I spent 44 hours in the air round trip. Thank goodness for Virgin Australia Airlines, had more leg room, even the laboratories had more room. They even had real headphones to listen to the movies.
This was a 2x1 hunt, Barry teamed me up with Don who had hunted with him before. There is always some concern when you are hunting with someone you don't know but Don and I hit it off well and had a blast. I have to admit, Don out shot me, he loves doubles and shoots them well.
We ended up taking 25 buffalo and two pigs and it was the most "fun" hunt I have been on. We would ride the two track roads till we spotted something, usually a group, then make a stalk. The leaves don't completely fall off the trees and brush making it fairly thick. The stalks were so much fun, sneaking and creeping, if they blew up, " OH WELL", just go and find some more. Buffalo were every where. We had two doubles where Don and I shot buffalo together. One stalk, I shot a cow on the shoulder, she staggered and went down, Barry says shoot another, I picked another cow and shot her on the shoulder and saw her go down. When we went to recover her we could not find but one. We looked and looked, no blood, nothing. Barry and I both saw two go down. Long story short, we rolled the cow over and she had been shot in opposite shoulders. I had not seen her get up, shot her again in the opposite shoulder thinking she was a different buffalo. On one of the walks we went on, came up on a herd in some thick stuff and I missed a cow. Barry thought I had wounded a bull, when the herd started running a bull was lagging behind, so thinking that was the bull I had wounded he shoots and hits the bull. They track him down and "OOPS, MISTAKE," it was a trophy bull scoring 100.



One afternoon we stopped and ate lunch by a small creek and after we ate Barry and I went for a little walk mainly to look for pigs. After we had gone just a little way we began see buffalo, on group here, some more over there, one big bull rubbing his horns on a tree. It was to thick to get Joe's truck in here to recover the meat so we practiced sneaking up on them and had a blast. Must have seen 60 buffalo. A couple of days later we came back to this area. Joe goes one way and we go another to check things out. When we meet back up Joe says he has spotted a young bull standing under a tree so off we go following Joe. He spots a bull but he is in a thick area with his head in a cluster of bushes making where you can't see his horns. Joe tells me to sneak up as close as I can and judge his horns, if his horns are not over a certain size shoot him. I'm thinking, "Yea Right" this country boy from Alabama has not even seen a water buffalo before this week and I'm to judge the horns. I slowly moved in as close as I dared, the only thing I could see was his shoulders. Barry was behind and to my left, I whispered," Be ready, I'm going to shoot." I shot, Barry shot, the bull staggered toward me and fell. I started walking toward him to put in the insurance shot when he gets up and stumbles toward me. I thought about making a Mark Sullivan video, I baked up and shot him and that finished it. This was my biggest bull, had mud all over him were he had just been wallowing.



One day toward the end of the hunt, I spotted a bull in a open area a good ways away. So here we go, hiding behind trees, sneaking up on him, got to within 100 yards and the bull suspects something but not sure what, so he walks toward us, holding his head high with those big horns laying side his back. You could see his nostrils working the wind trying to pick up the scent. Don waited for him to turn broadside but he never did. After what seemed like forever, he shot him in the chest. That was Don's biggest bull of the hunt.



The last day we ate lunch by a billabong and did a little fishing, caught a few small ones and enjoyed taking a break at a beautiful spot.




Got a couple of pigs always fun.


Don setting fires, why is it SO MUCH fun to light fires.

We were stalking a buffalo, you can see the termite mounds.

Camp was pretty basic, most food was cooked over open fire. Barry did an excellent job as cook. On night we had fresh crab, oh my was it good!



Barry on the left and Joe. Looks like we had a lot of fun.



This Land Cruiser is 36 years old. They use it to recover the meat and it goes through the woods like a bulldozer.



This was my biggest cow.



These termite mounds were down in the wetter areas, up in the dry places they were the regular round mounds.



In this day of latest, greatest super bullets, Swift A Frames are just boring, same thing every time. All these were recovered under the skin on the opposite side.



I did a little fishing in Darwin Bay after the hunt. It was wrong time of the year so things were really slow but still enjoyed the experience.

Hey Randy, a good report on an all round fun week. Was a great time having you and Don in Camp

Barry

Bama, after...no, while reading your post I wanted to head north. Good to see you had a top time and good results.

Sounds like you had a good time. I hunted with Barry a while ago and it was a blast.

Hard to beat those A-Frames for buffalo I don't really think you can.

welcome to seabrook buffalo university sounds like you got good marks all round

and the professor is a hell of a guy as well

may be about time for me to get a bit more education under my belt

quote:

Originally posted by stradling:
welcome to seabrook buffalo university sounds like you got good marks all round

and the professor is a hell of a guy as well

may be about time for me to get a bit more education under my belt

You must be going through buffalo withdrawal by now. When you've had trips like ours' you can look around the world and wonder what can even begin to qualify for an encore.

G'Day Fella's,

Great to see you blokes have been busy, and havin some serious fun by the look of it!
I hope you enjoyed your time in Oz, and your NT Safari.

Regards
Homer

I found the termite mounds really interesting. When they are in the wet areas they are thin but get in dry areas they are the normal mounds.





Barry was the snake handler but he convinced me to hold it. You can see I am a little apprehensive.

Hi Randy. Nice report! It was a pleasure spending time with you in camp. Barry was a wonderful host. I was amazed at the performance of the Swift A Frames. My Hornady DGX bullets were disappointing. Midway just got the .410 400 gr. Swift's in and I am ordering some for my hunt with Barry next year. Stay well!