17 August 2009, 16:17
jcorry8 Buffalo in 9 days. Selous R2 Ruaha. One Charge.
Dates: August 2 – 18 AugustOutfitter: Pierre van Tonder
PHs: Pierre v T & Wikus Grunewald
Area Hunted: Selous R2. Ruaha River
Rifles used: John Rigby .416, John Rigby .416, Blaser R93 .375 & CZ 375
Ammo: Factory Federal (.416) & Hornady
Weather: Warm with occasional showers in afternoon
Game Hunted: Buffalo x8, Impala, Zebra, Baboon, Hartebeast, Warthog
This was a family hunt. The hunters were my uncle Robert, 66, two cousins (Henry, 20 & Sidney, 18) & me, 23. All we wanted was buffalo.
We fly from London to Dar with BA. No problems. We then fly straight into the concession on 2nd. Flight time approx. 1hr
There is hardly any time difference, which is great. That afternoon we check our zero and unpack. I was the only one shooting open sights on my .416, so I didn’t have to worry about a scope.
Aug 3rd.
We get up at 5am. Quick cup of coffee, some breakfast & off we go.
4 hunters so 2 vehicles.
We pick up buff tracks at 7am. Henry, PH Wikus and I set off.
The wind was useless, so we kept on bumping then for the next 3hrs. We had seen a couple off good bulls in the herd so we decided to keep on going.
At 10:45 we finally push the herd out of the thick stuff into an open area where we ran to get a shot with the sticks being set up quickly by Wikus. Two bulls stepped out of the herd to see who we were. Henry rested his CZ .375 on the sticks and settled his crosshairs on the bull on the left (70yrds), the sticks slipped down momentarily but it was only a matter of seconds before he got a shot off just as the one on the right turned away.
The shot was slap in the middle of his chest through the heart. He ran 50yrds and as we ran after it into more deep thicket the large blood-trail told us it wasn’t going far and after a few minutes we heard the loud death bellow and sure enough there it was. After an insurance shot it died and Henry finally got his first buffalo after a 10 day hunt last year with a different safari company which offered no chances at all. A beautiful bull with very wide horns, it will take him along time to shoot one better.
Robert and Sidney with Pierre picked up no tracks and stalked some wary Hartebeast three times to no avail.
4th
I shot a Lichtenstein Hartebeast at 50yrds. The shot was with open sights. The first shot was good, but I fired three more into him as he ran away. I pretty much weighed him down with lead weight. It was a great stalk, and one I will remember.
Nothing else was shot but Sidney and Robert were following buffalo all day.
5th
In the morning Sidney and Robert follow buffalo all morning but don’t see a bull as the cows are at the front of the herd. Robert gets on the sticks three times but there is no suitable shot until 10am when Robert shot his first buffalo at 60yrds with his Jeffery .416. His shot was in the shoulder and the bull runs 20yrds and drops dead. His PH was Pierre van Tonder. In the afternoon Sidney shot a super zebra at 148yrds with his Blaser R93 .375, only one shot.
Henry got a Hartebeast that was easily stalked with a large mound between them. He dropped it on the spot with his .375 with a 110 yard frontal chest shot.
6th
At 7am in the morning Sidney and Robert pick up tracks of a herd and follow them. When they get off the cruiser Robert turns to Sidney and suggests that he leaves his gun and takes the camcorder instead but Sidney tells him to take his gun. As they are following the tracks the trackers hear the buffalo but it turns out to be a dugga boy who comes into view 60yrds away facing them. Sidney fires a shot that goes through a tree and the buffalo runs (on later inspection the bullet broke the front leg and skimmed the heart). The trackers follow the blood for 5 minutes into heavy thicket. 30 seconds before the charge Robert is using his camera and Hamilton (a tracker) takes it off him and points to his gun. Then Pierre and Sidney walk into the buffalo 15yrds away from them. The bull charges them and Pierre fires two shots from his .500 Jeffery and Sidney fires three shots with his straight action Blaser. The bull passes 10 inches from Pierre (on later inspection the hoof print can be seen next to Pierre’s foot print) and drops between Sidney and Pierre. It gets up in a millisecond to pass 2 feet from Sidney. It charges Robert who was standing 5 yards away in front of a tree. He had fired two .416 bullets at it as it had charged the others, but had short chambered the third bullet in the excitement so got a dry click. He had a 50/50 decision – left or right. He jumped to the right and cut himself on a tree but one cut is better then a pair of horns! The buffalo went left. Sidney and Pierre ran after the dugga boy which had ran 30 yards and put two more shots in each along with another from Robert. While the buffalo ran off the game scout let off his AK47 but missed the buffalo! During the charge Sidney said he experienced slow motion and had the biggest adrenalin rush of his life (as did his father!). It was his first ever buffalo and he had the most amazing experience possible. The buffalo had a range of shots in his body, one .375 in his cheek and two .500 in his head, one of which must have gone above the brain and out just below the back of the boss. All this was over by 7.30 in the morning. After the hunt all of them were laughing with relief and the trackers were in hysterics.
This was Sidney’s first buffalo. He is 18yrs old.
The day before, Robert had jokingly wished for a charge and got exactly what he wanted. Beware what you wish for, as they say!
7th
Robert shot a zebra with his .416. 140yrds
Henry and I saw buffalo all day, but they were always in the thick stuff.
Hunting this time of year in the Selous was hard as there was still a lot of unburnt long grass, and dry leaves like cornflakes in the thicket.
8th
Robert & Sidney saw a female Leopard in the middle of the day.
They had no luck with the buffalo.
We had a long day on our cruiser. Little was seen for most of the day. I shot a baboon with my .416 at 70yrds. The 450grn hit him in the chest so he didn’t run very far!
It was at about 5pm, whilst driving along ‘buffalo road’, a herd of buffalo was spotted to our left.
As the light was running out on us we made chase through the thick bush. At one point we were running so fast that we almost ran into the middle of the herd.
At a quick inspection I didn’t see any bulls in the group. Just a split second later the tracker pointed to the top of the hill to our left. There stood a lone bull. I raised my faithful .416. Just as I lined up on his shoulder he ran off. As the light was going very quickly Wikus, and I, took chase. We ran as fast as we could to the top of the hill to try and catch up with the bull. As we got to the top we saw not one, but three bulls. I shouted to Wikus ‘WHICH ONE?’ he replied “THE ONE IN THE MIDDLE”. I needed no further instructions. My shot was quickly fired into the bull as he ran parallel to us. The shot hit him hard in the lungs. The bull only just made it to the top of the next hill before he died. I was exhausted and it took some time to get my breath back.
I was very pleased with the bull. Not a record breaker, but a great hunt & one I shall remember.
9th
Today I was with Sidney and Pierre. He was now looking for his second Buff.
We left camp nice and early. It was long before we picked up some fresh tracks down by the river. They had been down to drink just hours before we arrived.
We followed them until we reached some thicket where we waited in an opening to see if the buffalo would turn but they didn’t. So we followed them to a dry riverbed where we ambushed them on a bend but missed them just as they crossed. We went and rested on a rock hoping that there might be some stragglers of the heard, which had not yet crossed the bed. After ten minutes of waiting we suddenly herd some rustling in the bush above the riverbed. Then in the bush we could see a bull moving. He disappeared for a minute and then along with a cow, another bull and two calves he walked onto the riverbed 35yrds away. Sidney waited two seconds while he lined up the bull and then fired. They never saw it coming and the other buffalos turned with the grace of a ballet dancer and high tailed it. The bull took a further two shots and then ran up the bank. 30 seconds later we heard the death bellow and found the bull 10yrds away from the riverbed and Sidney put another insurance shot into him. John could have potentially shot the other bull but a cow blocked a clear shot.
Having shot his first buffalo early the first morning Henry was back on point accompanied by Robert and led by Wikus. Quickly finding buffalo tracks they were once again led into the deep thicket and walking on the fallen leaves makes a lot of sound. Taking it easy and waiting for the herd to reach an open area a shot (from Sidney) was suddenly heard, despite not being close it was loud enough to spook the buffalo and with a few more shots the buffalo panicked and started to run off. With a quick decision Henry and Wikus ran to the left to cut them off and with the sticks up Henry rested his .375 and watched as the buffalo ran in front single file. Fortunately the bull was at the back and as it entered the open it paused to look at them, Henry was ready and fired instantly, a perfect shot in the shoulder and the buffalo ran off, as they followed it a loud death bellow was heard and the buffalo was found dead 60 yards away. A hard boss but not as wide as his first, but it did get his adrenalin pumping!
10th
Very hot today. Picked up tracks early morning with Sidney and Pierre. Wind hopeless all day. Eventually the herd splits into two groups. We follow one, but turns out that there is no hard boss there, except an old cow, which is blind. We watch her as she walks into two trees. It was hard work in the thicket as they kept running every time we got nearby.
In the other cruiser, Henry and Robert were with Wikus and after finding Dugga boy tracks Wikus told them about the a group of 4 often found in the area. Wikus had recently taken one from the group and was sure the other 3 were nearby. They quickly found them and after a 20 yard shot was not possible due to the long grass and one lone tree, we saw 2 of them 90 yards away with one blocking the big one behind, and only its horns and neck could be seen. Robert pulled off a brilliant shot with his .416 in the neck dropping it immediately and we found it dead on arrival. A brilliant buffalo to complete the Hiscox’s hunting. Robert had wished the night before for an early buffalo and lunch at the camp, and this one was shot at 08:30!
11th
Everyone has now shot their 2nd Buffalo, except me!
I was with Sidney and Pierre. Today was dedicated to getting the final buffalo.
We drive Simba Road, where we know there are Buffalo. The problem is the ground is covered in dry leaves like rice crispies, which makes hunting them almost impossible. We hoped we would catch them out in the open.
We decided to take an early lunch at 12:30 and wait for the day to cool down. Hopefully then the Buff will start to move again.
At around 4:30pm we make a slow walk down to some water. We see plenty of zebra and Impala, but no buff. As the light was once again running low Sidney turns down a Hartebeast and I decided to have a go at a zebra. After a failed stalk we decided to head back to the cruiser, cutting through the forest. On our way back Hamilton, a tracker, thought he heard some walking in front of us. Just as we started walking again we started to hear some tick birds above us. Suddenly the mood changed. We were hunting again, and the buff were close.
We saw the herd grazing in front of us in the open. The wind was perfect and the trackers had smiles on their faces. Things were looking good! It was a large herd of about 200 +.
Picking out a hard boss was going to be tricky. Pierre soon spotted the bull and we moved in. Suddenly Pierre stopped and said “TAKE HIM”. My Rigby .416 was on his shoulder, the bull had stopped as was looking straight at me. He was 70yrds away. This was a long shot for me, especially as I was using my iron sights. I put the bead on his chest and squeezed the trigger. The Nosler Partition slammed into him. The bullet went straight through the middle of the heart. He ran 50yrds and dropped. He was finished. I was over the moon with my shot. To wound him this time in the evening would have been a disaster. I love my open sights! It was a beautiful bull and a lovely buffalo to end the safari on.
The heart from my second buffalo.
12th
8 buffalo shot. Time to relax.
We all got up late and spent the day fishing on the Ruaha for Tiger fish. We wade into the middle where a sand island has formed. 10 minutes before there was a crocodile there but it was a small 8 footer. 40yrds from the island there was a large pod of hippos and two males fighting so I decided to bring my .416.
I lost a big fish in the afternoon and Henry caught a small tiger fish. No metal trace, so the tiger just bit through the line.
We fire off a few rounds on the range at bottles & the next day we fly home.
An amazing trip.
Many thanks to Pierre and Wikus for making it possible.
would love to be able to hunt there,well done