The sound of thunder is ominous. It is the pending sound of violence.



Enough of the rosy rhetoric. I have just returned from my first safari of this season and was priviledged to have experienced some of the finest buffalo hunting of my career. For whatever reasons the usual big herds of buffalo had not yet crossed into my concession. There was quite a bit of Lion activity, which could make for a viable excuse. Pickings were slim however all was not lost and my scouts found evidence of some lone bulls up against the communal belt. Here the soils are clay and are dominated by grass varieties of Hyparrhenia (elephant grass) being thick and long and previously and adequately described by Capstick. The buffalo sought this damp dense cover and the hunting was electric and very exciting indeed.



In Zambia we call these solitary males ‘kakulis’ but are commonly referred to as dagga boys – dagga meaning mud. Their hoof print is oversized and often has a squarish appearance unlike the younger bulls whose print is more circular. These bulls are massive bodied and generally short of temper. The hunting is not every ones cup of tea, however my hunter was experienced and wanted an up close opportunity to use his open sighted .404J. In long grass your trophy is purely the buffalo and the sport. Horns are irrelevant. Age is determined before the chase and the shooting is off hand and quick, the target is often obscured and good bullets are essential. A double rifle is handy for this sort of work and during the next few days mine was often pointed with intent.

These lands are a potential mine field and steps are thoughtful and carefully placed. Glossy piles of fresh dung give you an indication of the proximity of the animal and as you get close you will find the bush becomes ominously quiet. It is almost like nature holds her breath and is content to quietly observe the unfolding drama. My mental state is to dismiss the instinctive and persistent signals to flee and was not sure what everyone else was thinking when Michael my tracker suddenly stepped back to reveal the dark silhouette. The sound of thunder at your feet is a black storm that you have chased and is the great sound of buffalo at close quarters

The buffalo has not smelt you he has sensed you and at a few paces. It takes a couple of minutes to compose ones self after such an encounter. Checking the guns are back on safe and with an unconvincing grin you wipe down your sweaty hands. Talk is whispered. When all are reasonably composed the game starts again. At first the tracking is easy, as the running hooves have pounded the dirt spilling soil either side of the track. But it is not long before the buffalo again seeks deep cover; he is forewarned now and will walk wide circles to pick up your scent. The game is usually over at this point and these dagga boys will search out new territories and walk many hot miles to seek them. The sun is high and the wind is fickle and probably a good time to break. The hunting for Kakulis is reserved for gloomy mornings when they leave the cathedrals of long grass to seek out grazing.

We eventually hunted down this particular buffalo over three days and he provided some very fine hunting indeed. The final showdown was as expected and my hunter’s shooting was exemplary. He has a story to tell and indeed the memories to go with it.

Enclosed are a few photos taken over a weeks hunting. Note the two bulls top of page were gored by Lions and had bedded down in a nearby swamp. Unfortunately they were just outside my boundary and we never came across them again. Probably hiding in some long grass.

A proper bull, I am envious.

Great hunting! I have been there, but not successful.The most exciting hunting I have ever done.

Proper Kakuli...Well Done

Agreed . Good show Andrew

Great pictures and some nice narrative....

Great explanation of "dagga boy" hunting! Great pictures of the "pucker brush"

Lovely old bull - awesome stuff Andrew!

Fantastic! That's what Buff hunting is about! It just doesn't get much better.


.

Well written. Made me a little nervous just reading about it!

Well done on an excellent hunt!

Nothing like those shadows of black among the waving sea of yellow/orange. I remember it well. I never thought of ghosts as black before.

Well done to the hunter and to you Andrew.


Cheers
Jim

WOW!!!
Congrats to you and hunter

Andrew.

With a gifted pen such as yours, the pictures come alive.

Congratulations, what a fine buffalo.

Jytte

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
A proper bull, I am envious.

Why?

quote:

Originally posted by mej:
Andrew.

With a gifted pen such as yours, the pictures come alive.

Congratulations, what a fine buffalo.

Jytte

Jytte,

You need to meet this chap. It was his decision to get in close and now I have gained a few grey hairs.

Problem with this style of hunting is the danger and you need to be mentally prepared for the final outcome.

Great trophies. Congratulations to all. MMP

A fine bull to be sure.

Andrew, wonderful storytelling and an impressive trophy!

Great post, thanks for sharing.
Very well written!

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
A proper bull, I am envious.

Why?

I just like old broomed off, hard bossed dugga boys. Look at that buff's tattered ears too. My dream buffalo at this point in my hunting would be a scrum cap. I had a chance on a scrum cap a number of years ago, but it was the first day of my safari and I failed to appreciate what I was passing up. Since then I have shot a number of buffalo, some with 16"+ bosses, some over 40", but the one I regret not shooting was the scrum cap.

Andrew;

You had me on the edge of my chair...thrilling explanation (although I doubt "thrilling" is the correct word for your hunt!!

Congrats to you and your hunter...well done!

Best regards, D. Nelson

Well done on a fine bull!

Sounds like great fun. AIU

Andrew, your words make it seem as though I'm there as I read. Congratulations on a great hunt and wonderful bull.

Most excellent.

Great penmanship Andrew. What a huge boss!

58 days to go!

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
A proper bull, I am envious.

Why?

I just like old broomed off, hard bossed dugga boys. Look at that buff's tattered ears too. My dream buffalo at this point in my hunting would be a scrum cap. I had a chance on a scrum cap a number of years ago, but it was the first day of my safari and I failed to appreciate what I was passing up. Since then I have shot a number of buffalo, some with 16"+ bosses, some over 40", but the one I regret not shooting was the scrum cap.

Good attitude.

We just returned last night from Zambia on the hunt posted here by Andrew.

Our two rifle battery consisted of two Dakota Safaris, one in 404 Jeffery, and the other in 338 Win. mag. Both rifles performed well.

I used 400 gr. SAF bullets on the Buffalo with predictable bonded mushroom performance. The shot was about 80 yards. It did not exit and the shot presentation was broadside. It was found on the opposite side of the hide. The 338 shot 250 gr. NP and each bullet used did exit. I brought 275 gr. SAF also also, and only used it on Zebra. It was shot in the frontal chest and also exited.

Animals taken were the Buffalo shown here, and also Roan (our no. 1 request to Andrew), Hartebeest, Reedbuck, Zebra, Puku, and Oribi.

This safari was by far the best we have experienced. This was only our 6th safari, so being novices, we do not have a wealth of knowledge for comparison, but we cannot imagine a finer hunt.

We were particularly impressed with two qualities in the staff; friendliness and discipline. Andrew runs a well organized camp.

Finally, we want to thank Andrew himself, and the AR membership and Saeed, for guiding us to Royal Kafue. We think we have found a man of honor and a professional that we hope to hunt with again. In fact, if Zambia decides to bring cats back on quota, we will be hunting Leopard and Buffalo with Andrew next year. Oh, and Sable. Oh, and Kudu. Oh, and Sitatunga. Oh, and, well, you know how this can go...

Cheers Mr and Mrs Good People.

Great stallion taken at the end of a hard days hunting. Note the absence of shadow stripes.

Some general interest photos.

Love the Zebra minus ghost stripes and that Reedbuck has some mass to it. Congrats on the Roan. Love to hear the details of that one. They were really wary on Andrew's place when we were there.


Surefire,

Did you ever hear anything back from Emirates about why your never got your approval? If you still have my number please give me a call.

Cheers
Jim

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:








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Very nice..one of the heaviest reedbuck I have seen.

I agree that was a proper buff hunt. Would like to do that hunt myself

surefire7 - Huge congrats on an outstanding safari and lifelong memories.
I may have mentioned previously how intoxicating Royal Kafue can be and absolutely love the Zebra I didn't get!!

Regards

Congrats to all on a great safari.
Clear that several of us only have had incredible experiences and been imprinted with lifelong fond memories of our time at Royal with Mr Baldry.
Not long to go for round 2 AB.

OK. Andrew has posted the rest of the trophy photos, so perhaps some narration would be helpful.

First, to return to the Buffalo hunt. Andrew pretty much described the conditions very well, and from the photos, one can see the height of the Elephant grass. I've not hunted buffalo in grass that tall or thick before, and it was a great experience. We had many times where rifles were carried at either port arms for extended periods or simply pointed and ready to fire. Two times we were in the middle of that sea of grass when we were alerted to the presence of buffalo. The next second was the Sound of Thunder to which Andrew referred. Rifles were aimed at the 15 foot wall of grass a yard away that surrounded us waiting to see if the Buffalo were coming at us or going away. Visibility was probably 3 yards into the mass of yellow/green shoots. I remember thinking to myself that if a buffalo head popped out through that wall, time would be rather short to make a considered shot. I thought it would probably have to be a quick instinctive shot like quail hunting with my Springer Spaniels, but reminded myself in the last nano second to aim and not shoot into the blackness of Buffalo. But I wondered if there would even be time for that. All of these thoughts were traveling at the adrenaline induced speed of light through my brain, and the next seconds brought the fading sound of escaping Buffalo. I was carrying my 404, Andrew his 500NE and my wife the 338 on both occasions.

After three or four days of hunting this particular Buffalo, we finally had our chance. Lions kept pushing them from watering holes, so it took a few days of effort to find him. We had been tracking him for most of the morning. I need not describe to this group the skills and magic of African trackers. Simply amazing to watch. Suddenly, as Michael and Jonathon (our trackers) were about to enter the long grass for the umpteenth time ahead of us, Andrew halted the group. He walked ahead and searched. He motioned us ahead slowly and silently. From an anthill he had climbed up, Jonathon mimed that the Buffalo was asleep under a tree in the tall grass. Michael pointed him out and I desperately tried to make grass and dirt turn into a Buffalo, but I could not. Then he arose from his resting spot and I thought, 'oh, there he is!' God, I wish I could see like those trackers. Anyway, he wasted no time clearing out of his bed and went over a bank. Andrew ran after him and I followed to the top of the bank. Andrew said, 'shoot that Buffalo'. After all of these close encounters in the long grass, here was my Buffalo 80 yards away in the open. At that moment I was thankful of the time that I had spent on the range with my new 404J and the newly installed fluorescent orange fiber optic front sight that old eyes can actually see! The shot was made and moments later I was holding the horns of my Buffalo. Thank you Andrew for giving me the most exciting hunt of all of my safaris to date.

The first animal I took was my number 1 animal, the Roan. They are very wary animals and it took some stalking and 'hovering' to stay low enough to get close. This we did to an ant hill totally undetected. We waited there crouched down as the herd of Roan walked to us. At about 70 yards, the bull was about to wind us in the cross breeze, so Andrew gave the 'go ahead'. Michael and Andrew stayed on the ground as I stood up to take the shot. We watched them run and Andrew and I were certain of the spot where it dropped. Nope! After much angst and searching, Michael spotted the Roan, dead on his side. Whew! Relief. He had run a very long distance after taking the 250 gr. NP through both lungs. Full exit. Champagne broke out at camp. I knew the rest of the safari was now just gravy.

Next was the Hartebeest. After a good stalk, I took the shot at about 200 yards, hidden behind a tree. This was a heart shot on my animal that was half covered by another
hartebeest. Concentrate. Do not shoot the front animal. Whew! A lucky shot. 30 yard run and it was over too. Two in the salt!

The next day, driving along the cutline, the game scout said 'Reedbuck'. I put binocs on him and said something like 'did you see that?' Man, he looked good. After stalking for awhile, I thought we had lost him when Andrew set up the sticks, I hurriedly put up the rifle, and he pointed and said, 'Do you see him?' Uh, no. Michael helped with his pointing finger. Nothing. Andrew took my rifle and
gently moved it 20 degrees to the right of where I had it pointed. Ahhhh! Standing perfectly still, and hidden behind a large horizontal branch (right across all vital spots of course) and surrounded by four foot grass, he was quartering to us. Andrew asked if I needed to move the sticks to get around the branch. I looked hard again and worried that if we moved the sticks, he may run off and we would lose him. Seeing that his shoulder was slightly exposed under the branch, I decided to shoot from there and try to slip the bullet under the branch. Another lucky shot! When we walked up on the buck, I was astounded at his horn length and mass. The safari was in full stride I thought.

After a long day of chasing the Buffalo, we headed back to camp one evening and were close, when Michael said, 'Zebra Bwana'. This was my wife's only request. Another stalk using the trees available, and Andrew set up sticks for her. At about 150 yards, she put the 275 gr. SAF through the chest of the stallion as he faced us. Full exit. Running maybe 50 yards, a cloud of dust indicated his blood pressure was down, and four hooves straight up in the air told us she had her Zebra. A new bottle of champagne was opened and Andrew took the picture you see as we toasted her success.

The last two animals taken were the Puku and Oribi, again with the 338 and 250 gr. NP. Yes, that was definitely enough power! A 223 would have been enough, but one can only take so many rifles to Africa. The 338 pulled light duty.

After the Buffalo meat came into camp, Lions came to claim their share at night. Roaring as we had sundowners around the campfire, we knew this was wild Africa. We locked the door to our chalet when we retired to bed.

A few days later, around the same campfire at breakfast, Iran, the camp manager walked up to us, paused at attention, took off his cap and announced, 'Madame, Bwana, you should probably know that there are elephants in camp.' Definitely, I thought. Yes, we should know that elephants are in the camp. We looked up from the fire. There, about 50 yards away, were three elephants. I looked at them, and then at our chalet. Yes, I could make it. My camera was in the chalet. I need to walk slowly. No fast movements. About then, my better half came out of the chalet. She looked around the corner of the wall where I was pointing and back to me. I was excited. Do you see that, I silently mouthed? A head shake yes. Bring me my camera I mouthed again. A head shake no. It was not just a no, it was a definite no head shake. Wow, wild Africa.

Again, we wish to thank Andrew and his staff for a wonderful safari, and the Kaindu community the privilege of hunting on their
communal land. We are returning next year for the Leopard/Buffalo hunt. Until then, Cheers!