Hunter: Brandon Gleason
Outfitter: JWK Safaris
Location: Limpopo Province, South Africa
PH’s: Jono Joseph and Adriaan Wepener
Dates: Sept 10-17
Rifles: Merkel 140AE .470 NE, hand loaded with 500gr Woodleigh Weldcore RNs
CZ 550 AHR modified .375 H&H, hand loaded with 350gr Woodleigh PPs
Animals taken: Cape buffalo bull and cow, blue wildebeest


This trip began a looooooooooong time ago. I suppose I can blame the likes of Tony Makris and Peter Capstick, was well as a Boy Scout leader that left around a copy of American Hunter magazine during a winter camping trip that was full to the brim with African hunting tales.

April of 2016 brought me a son to this world, and a hunt special to the AfricaHunting forums that I simply couldn’t say no to. My wife, on the other hand, found it quite easy to say no for almost a month. I finally won out (or so I think I won, I’m sure I’ll pay for it tenfold in the long run….), or the sleep deprivation hit a critical point, and she said yes.

It was from that point on that I spent a tireless 16 months reading, researching, practicing, and counting the days. During that time, Adriaan from JWK and I exchanged countless emails. I’m actually surprised we even had anything left to talk about when I finally got there. He was fantastic with everything I asked, no matter how menial.

September 9 I boarded SAA for a nonstop flight from JFK to JNB. I didn’t sleep a wink on the flight. Arrival was very smooth. When I stepped off of the jetway, I was met by a RiflePermits representative who escorted me through passport control and on to collect my baggage and rifles. Ana made the process absolutely painless. From there, Adriaan and myself departed JNB for our camp in the Limpopo for the next week (or so I thought!).

The four hour drive was very nice. Adriaan was as an enthusiastic about hunting and guns as I am. We talked the entire way. When we finally arrived at the property (Boulders Game Ranch) we were greeted with a most welcomed site! COLD BEER! Jono was on the other end of the radio to direct us in.



We settled into camp, had some light snacks (never realized how much I was going to love cucumbers and cheddar cheese on crackers!), and headed off for a quick site in at the range. We loaded back into the Cruiser and went for a quick spin to a nearby dam for some sundowners. Jono and Adriaan had informed me that another property they had access to (1600ha) on the border of the APNR had a few elephants and a small herd of buffalo come through the fence that day and we would move up there to hunt my buffalo. They described the camp as “rustic” and still being built. I was adamant about going to Africa with an open mind and rolled with the plan. It still hadn’t hit me that I was in Africa.

My first night in camp was absolutely MISERABLE. I’m relatively sure it was the Malarone. I had a few amazingly vivid dreams friday night after my first dose, and none were what I’d call nightmarish. Sunday night I tossed, turned, had horrifying anxiety about being across the world from my son, and I think dreamt that I was awake all night. I totally swore off the antimalarials from there on out and decided to chance it on the premise that I’d be back in the US by the time symptoms would show and would be able to get top notch care if needed.

We loaded into the Cruiser at around 530 after some coffee and rusks and drove the 45 min or so to the other camp. I was pleasantly surprised by the sturdy new buildings, running water, flush toilets, and solar lights. I’d say they were stretching to call it rustic.

We got out onto the property and had a quick breakfast. At 7 or so, we started driving the blocks trying to cut tracks. We would cut what looked fresh, and walk after it. We ended up bumping them numerous times, and got some great looks at the herd which was about 20 strong.

At 11 am or so, it was getting up there in temps (32-34*C). We headed back to camp to relax a bit and grab some food. Lunch time rolled around and I hadn’t realized just how exhausted I was. I was nauseous and couldn’t even eat lunch. I ended up taking a nap for about 3 hours and woke up feeling a whole bunch better. I had been really conscientious about hydrating and was alternating a bottle of plain water with a bottle of half strength gatorade (brought single serve drink mix packs with me, they were quite the hit!). I was still sluggish that afternoon.

We bumped the heard again in a mopane stand and Jono’s eyes got really wide and practically dragged me just to the left of the bush in front of me to see a HUGE bull standing perfectly broadside to us, facing our left. He was facing head on, and I put my double up to my shoulder. I settled about midway up his body after coming up his front leg. As I squeezed the front trigger, he turned his head to his left. I heard nothing, but Jono heard a dreaded sound of a ricochet. He turned a hard and fast 270* and took off running away from us. We slowly approached where he was standing and saw no sign of blood, nor any broken limbs or signs of a ricochet off a tree behind where he was. We tracked him for about 200m to the next road crossing and saw zero blood. There was no blood on the road and none of the tracks looked to be dragging a leg. Jono surmised I hit the left horn as he turned his head left to look at us. I was pretty bummed out.

We jumped that herd twice more that eve before we called it quits and the bull appeared not to be hit. We saw them come into the far side of the dam at our camp while we were having a drink before dinner and he still looked uninjured. I was slightly relieved. I still slept terribly that night, despite walking a GPS measured 25km that day.

Tuesday morning brought some amazingly close encounters with buffalo. Jono and myself got into the heard within 20m the first time, and one particular cow just kept busting us. She would walk into us (almost always from our right to left), and immediately look to her left and make us and spook the whole heard off.

The second close encounter was a might hairier. We were walking up a dirt road after tracks and noticed the herd directly to our left, maybe 50m in. We crouched down and tried to get into them, the wind was blowing across us. We got maybe 3m into the bush when all of their heads went up and looked straight at us. We froze and crouched. We couldn’t really move without blowing the whole thing. After about 20 minutes, they decided to move, RIGHT TO US. I was half soiling myself and half excited. They were only walking, but I still figured at least 10-15 tons of bovine moving right for me. We were right on the edge of the road and behind the one decent sized tree in the area. Jono instructed me to put my gun to the low ready and be ready to punch that bull when he called me to. Well, you guessed it, that cow popped through the brush onto the road not 10m from us going from our right to left, and immediately looked to her left and made us. She bolted, and the rest of the herd followed her, not 10m from us, thundering along. I won’t lie, I took a few steps back and kept my vision right a bit for any oncoming bovines. I’m pretty sure that’s the second cardiac stress test I’ve had in my 30 years of life thus far.

That afternoon, the property owner (Pieter Strauss, also a PH) met up with us and came along for the hunt. I’d guess he's in his 60’s. It was incredible watching the man move through the brush! I did my damnedest to keep up, but it was NOT easy. We decided for the afternoon hunt that I’d carry my double and the tracker would carry my scoped .375. We cut the herd as they were heading for another watering hole, and got there just as they were exiting stage left. Pieter took off along the bottom of a berm to conceal us, followed by Jono, myself, and the tracker in that order. We rounded the end of the berm and Pieter called for my .375 and had me set up on a tree branch as they were crossing the road about 65m in front of us (again right to left). As that original bull crossed, he stopped briefly at the left hand edge of the road. I drew up his shoulder with the illuminated CDI reticle of my Swarovski scope as I swept the safety off. I squeezed the trigger and he dropped immediately. Pieter and Jono both immediately said to shoot again by the time I had a fresh shell in the chamber and I put two more into his body as quickly as I could cycle the bolt and get back on center mass of his chest.

I swapped guns with the tracker after making safe, and Jono and myself made a cautious approach with our doubles in hand. He was down and not moving, but I put both barrels into him just behind the front leg to be on the safe side. My initial shot had been high and spined him just above the shoulder joint. My next four were lung shots. A cold Castle never tasted so good, and I pretty much hate lagers! Photos were taken and we had sundowners right on the road there with Pieter, Pieter’s family (wife, daughter, and grandson), Jono, Adriaan, Gert (property manager), and myself. The tracker and skinners brought another truck in with a trailer and winch to load the bull onto. The bull went 40.5” edge to edge, 15 7/8” left boss, 16 1/8” right boss. Numbers weren’t my primary goal, just a good hard bossed bull. This was a pleasant surprise!





I slept really well Tuesday night. I felt much more relaxed. Wednesday morning we got back out and tried to get back on that same herd to see about collecting a cow. After the same bump and trail technique of the two days prior, we caught up to the heard in a block of thorn bushes. Our tracker lead with my .375 in hand, followed by Jono, followed by myself with my double. We saw them (again) to our right, and they (again) went to cross us from right to left. As that same cow came to the clearing at about 70m, she (AGAIN) looked left and saw us. This time, we were sitting and our tracker was right in front of me offering his shoulder as a shooting support for my .375. I came up the front leg again as she stopped, swept the trigger off, and dropped her on the spot. Swapped the bolt for the double, and Jono and myself made the approach. She was still moving her front legs and breathing. I put two into her chest just behind the front leg and watched a fountain of blood pump from the holes with each heartbeat until she expired. Photos were taken and she was loaded onto the truck after the skinners and tracker cut in a track to the middle of the block where we shot her. My first shot, again, was high and hit the spine. No matter how much time I spent studying the diagrams in Perfect Shot II, I kept placing shots high. I had really mixed feelings about that.



We left that camp shortly after lunch to head back to the Boulders property for the remainder of our trip. I wanted to take the afternoon off and just relax, and do a little plains game hunting Thursday and Friday. I was stunned when we got to the Bush Camp Lodge on the Boulders property. Air conditioned chalets with en suite bathrooms, an air conditioned bar room loaded with local hunting magazines, a beautiful deck off of the bar room overlooking a water hole, and a really nice refreshing swimming pool just below the deck, also with an unobstructed view of the water hole. We swam and had drinks all afternoon, then hung around on the deck and talked about hunting all evening until dinner time. I was on cloud 9. It had finally hit me that I was in Africa. We had a wonderful dinner that evening on the deck, and I slept like a baby in a 16*C bedroom after a steaming hot shower.

Thursday found us chasing blue wildebeest across the property. We kept bumping a young bull herd, and occasionally bumped a larger mixed herd. We were driving a long looking for fresh spoor to cut and the tracker spotted a lone bull up to our left up the hill. Jono and I departed the truck swiftly with my 375 and a set of shooting sticks after driving well past the bull and backtracked with the wind in our favor. The bull was walking down hill towards us, spotted us as we set up, turned back up hill, then turned back and ran towards us. It was the damnedest thing I’ve ever seen an animal do! When he made the turn back up hill again, I hit him quartering away behind the left shoulder, dropping him. He went 27.5” wide with a beautiful coat on him.



We spent all day Friday trying to get me a respectable impala. We crossed a few mixed herds, but nothing stayed still long enough for us to get a great look at. We did see numerous wonderful sable on the property, as well as waterbuck, zebra, warthogs, kudu, ostrich, and a whole bunch of giraffe. It seemed there were giraffe behind every tree on this particular property.

Saturday I wanted a nice relaxing day before departing for home on Sunday. Being so close to the Kruger, we spent the day in the park. We went in the Palaborwa gate, down to Latabe, and out the Orpen gate. We had brunch in the park, and saw a ton of animals along the way. We rode comfortably in Adriaans Volvo and enjoyed listening to an audiobook of Brian Hearn’s White Hunter novel. Ive since listened to the audio book twice since getting home. We stopped at the Tuskers Museum early in the morning and I was in absolutely awe. A definite must see for anyone!















We stopped at a few roadside stands for some small wood carvings of the big 5 that I wanted for my office at home, and onto the airport. I had 4 hours to kill, so checked into one of the pay by the hour lounges. It was way worthwhile for the $10/hr just in food and drinks alone. The 16 hour flight home went a little quicker thanks to a brisk tail wind. Everything on the USCBP/TSA end of things was painless. The longest part of the trip was the 3 hours it took us to get back home to Shelton from NYC. I’m pretty sure I didn’t put my son down the entire day Monday. I missed the little bugger pretty bad while I was away.

All in all, I had a fantastic trip, made some wonderful memories, and forged some really fantastic friendships with Jono and Adriaan. They really provided a wonderful experience for me. I was well looked after by their staff, my cup was never empty, and those boys really LOVE to hunt. They were as excited as I was every time we left the truck and they both lit up EVERY time we would talk about anything hunting. The camps (even the "rustic" one) were very comfortable and well maintained. Julian, the chef, kept me well fed and tailored each meal to what he noticed I enjoyed/not the night before. I will be back to Africa some day. I just won’t do it alone again. I’m hoping to get my son there one day, also. My biggest fear is that hunting won’t be (as) available for him when he’s old enough.

That's one hell of a first Buff!

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
That's one hell of a first Buff!

Thank you! I figured I should "get it out of my system" on a good one...... (or so I told my wife.....)

Congratulations, enjoyed your report and I really love the shape of your bull, as it was said one hell of a first bull! Thanks for sharing.

Congratulations, great report!

Thanks for posting it.

Wonderful report and congratulation on the hunt and a safe return to your family.

Great story. Your comment about the crackers, cucumber, and cheese reminds me of my first night in Africa. Not sure if it's the excitement of finally being there or just the relief of not being on a plane anymore, but the first thing I ate in Africa I can still remember vividly and think it was the most delicious (bacon and cheese stuffed pastries).

What a gorgeous bull! Not too shabby for your first buffalo.

Thank you all, gentlemen. I still feel like I'm trying to process the whole experience in my mind still.

Congratulations on your success and thank you for the well written report.

Congrats. That is a serious set of hooks on that buff.

Awesome pictures of your buff bull, Brandon. Are you sure there's no "photo trickery" involved in that image? Just yanking your chain, since you used that phrase regarding an I Phone picture of a Waterbuck I shot.

quote:

Originally posted by Bud Meadows:
Awesome pictures of your buff bull, Brandon. Are you sure there's no "photo trickery" involved in that image? Just yanking your chain, since you used that phrase regarding an I Phone picture of a Waterbuck I shot.

Haha! Fair jab, sir! I actually AM sitting behind the front leg in that photo with the bull, so definitely a little “trickery!”

Brandon,

Great report! Nice buffalo and well done all around.

Mark

Looks like fun was had by all. Thanks for posting the report and pics.