10 April 2014, 12:14
Neil DuckworthBloodless Buffalo hunt March 2014. PH Gary Duckworth, Mokore Safaris.
The Bloodless Buffalo of Sengwa!!!In March 2014 I had the pleasure of doing a buffalo safari in the Sengwa Research Area with Steve Machin. It was a short safari for a non-trophy buffalo (34” or less spread). Driving down the rough dirt track from Gokwe, it was hot and humid and I knew it was going to be thick and possibly wet.
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Steve arrived no problem and the first evening we went to the range so Steve could test fire the rifle he hired. The range went fine and we were ready for the next morning.
Leaving camp at first light the first morning and we found tracks from the evening before within the first thirty minutes. Driving around the block they had gone into we soon found where they had bedded the night before and so we started out on foot. By 9 in the morning we had contact but the shifting wind set the buffalo off.
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We did get a nice view of about a dozen or so when they crossed the Lutope River but there were no mature bulls in view. Crossing the river into the thick jesse on the other side we tried again. Again the wind spooked them and so we decided to give them ten minutes or so to relax a bit. Waiting we heard another group back across the river and so decided to check them out since they were undisturbed.
Re-crossing over we were soon in position about 50 yards from them but could only see bits and pieces of them due to the thick brush.
I told Steve we should just observe them for a while and be ready as that at this time of the year the bulls were still actively seeking cows in oestrous and so moved around quite a bit. After watching them for about fifteen minutes or so when the perfect bull came into view for a brief moment but then disappeared again. Getting Steve onto the sticks, we waited.
The bull soon came back into view but was in the dark shadows of the jesse and so seeing where to place the shot exactly was tough for Steve. The bull was facing us quartering on head towards us. Telling Steve to shoot under the point of its right ear, as this is where I figured the point of the shoulder was, Steve squeezed off a shot and the bull humped beautifully as they do on a perfect shot.
Steve was confident he had hit where he aimed. Listening intently for a couple of minutes for the death bellow, as I was sure it was dead, we heard nothing. I explained to Steve that they didn’t always bellow, however, I was sure it was down judging by its reaction to the shot.
After a few minutes we started into the thick jesse cautiously to try and find the buffalo. We searched for blood or other indications of a hit but couldn’t find anything. Following the herd for about a kilometre or so to see if he was still in it, and maybe showing blood… again nothing. It was very concerning as to the lack of even a drop of blood being found as we were sure it was a good shot from his reaction and Steve’s confidence in his bullet placement. Deciding that possibly it had dropped somewhere in the thick bush close to where we had taken the shot hence why we couldn’t find blood. Returning to the beginning , we started looping around and around the area trying to find single tracks leaving the herd or just some indication of a hit. We couldn’t find anything, but at around midday (after looking in vain for 3 hours!!) we saw some vulture’s descending. They landed in a big sausage tree close to us and so we went and concentrated our search there again, although we had been through that patch numerous times already. Still nothing, so I decided to go back to the truck and have some lunch which would hopefully give the vultures some time to descend onto the kill and then hopefully we could find it. Going back in a couple of hours later produced nothing though and so we kept searching until dark.
While on the way back to camp it started raining and I thought we had really even less chance of finding the bull!! Spending a restless night, we returned early the next morning to give another few hours of searching even though by now I was beginning to believe that we had possibly missed the buffalo as in 6 hours of searching we hadn’t found even one drop of blood!!!
On the drive in the next morning we found a fresh leopard track from the night before and stopped to look at it as it was a big tom’s spoor. Other than that the trip back was rather muddy, but we got to the end point ok. Leaving the truck and walking in to where we had shot the morning before, we came across fresh tracks, from after the rain storm, of a big dagga boy. Discussing and deciding that it was a good chance of these being made by “our” bull, we followed these through the jesse for about three hours until he joined up with the herd again. Just before his tracks mingled with those of the herd though, we found where the big tom leopard had been following the bull’s tracks for about 500m back and forth through the thick stuff along a little stream.
This indicated that the dagga boy we were following was even more likely to be “our” bull as the leopard was following its scent trail.
Once the bull’s tracks had joined the herd we took a short break to recoup. Deciding the only option was to follow the herd and hope to physically see him as there was still no sign of blood, we tracked the herd for another hour and then stopped for an early snack break.
Tracking the herd after the break, we soon caught up with them in the long grass and jesse along the Lutope.
Nothing could be seen other than a couple of cows and calves although we were within 30 yards of the group. While we watched hoping for him to show himself the wind swirled and the herd took off. Listening for a couple of minutes and then following the herd’s tracks, we came to the edge of the river and saw “our” bull walking slowly up the riverbed!!
I couldn’t believe our luck and quickly got Steve onto the shooting sticks. The bull was walking away from us about hundred metres out and so I told Steve to wait for a broadside shot. The bull kept walking so I whistled a few times which made him turn and stop. Steve took another shot at the bull which ran off up the bank into the jesse. Listening, we heard a brief death moan…. finally!!!
After about a five minute wait we went in after him and found him about fifty metres in from the bank in some thick jesse, stone dead.
What a great relief this was and a wonderful ending to what had been a tough two days both mentally and physically. The feeling of finding our “bloodless” bull with all the odds against us was fantastic. In a total of over ten hours of solid tracking we didn’t find a drop of blood or any other indicators that the bull had been hit!!
We did the customary photo shoot and then had to winch the buffalo down the bank, into the cruiser, and then, back to camp went a very happy hunting party.
This was another wonderful lesson in that perseverance pays off. It was so tempting at times to quit and count it as a miss as we were doubting ourselves after not finding a drop of blood after all those hours of looking.
Steve’s first shot had hit the bull in the neck under the ear where Steve had aimed but between us there was somehow a misunderstanding of under which “part” of the ear the bullet should go!!
All is well that ends well and a very happy Steve wound up with a fantastic Dagga Boy trophy and still three more days to explore a beautiful wild area!!
Always glad to see that hunters keep looking for the quarry until it`s found. The feeling must be great when you eventually find it!!
