I recently returned from a Water Buffalo hunt with Gunsmoke Adventures, Barry Seabrook. The hunt was advertised here on AR and after a few emails I booked it. The duration was 5 days hunting, 2 days of travel. The hunt is a 2 X 1 hunt and the initial second hunter had to back out. Another forum member jumped on the deal and he was an absolute pleasure to hunt with.
Barry is an excellent guide and host. The camp was actually better than I expected, including a hot shower and "flush" toilet. None of this mattered to me but it was nice to have, particularly the shower as my travel plans included leaving straight from the hunt to the various airports. As it was, every security check point along the way home singled me out for extra interviews, and other "random" checks. This was likely due to my scruffy appearance. I think I looked like a terrorist.
We saw a large amount of buffalo everyday with multiple shot opportunities. The terrain we hunted varied from swamp lands to flood plains. We also visited a pristine beach and if memory serves me, we only saw two other cars/groups of people in the duration of our time on the concession.
The food was excellent. Barry did a great job of keeping us well fed and even catered to my peculiar eating habits with no prompting.
I brought a Ruger, Alaskan model in 375 Ruger. I used commercial rounds from Hornady, 300 grain in both soft points and solids. I had the smallest rifle by far, with the other two guns in use being a 458 Win Mag and a 470. I think I could have used a little more gun, with the 458 Win Mag being a solid choice for these animals. I only recovered two rounds from all the buffalo, one soft and one solid.
I would definitely consider this hunt again if I have the time and means. It was a great chance to hunt in some amazing country, see and shoot a large amount of animals. Barry did a great job getting all the paperwork for the rifle together and the importing was stress free. Exporting was a little different but that was due to my poor planning on airlines. I would recommend Qantas for all flights. I did not find Jetstar to be particularly customer friendly.
I understand pictures are appreciated in such reports. In lieu of pictures, here is a video.
Enjoy.

Buffalo in the land of Oz

Brings back memories, the old Landcruiser looks like the one we had back in '78.
Great photos. Sure beats just shooting one trophy to hang on the wall and collect dust, a trip such as you have had and we had all those years ago shows up how effective a shot you are and how good a cartridge is on a variety of shots.

That Toyota truck was awesome. Amazing testimony to the quality of their products during that time frame.

Neat video, thank you!

Very cool! Leaving for Australia in 10 days for 2 buff!

How many Buff did you see on the Hunt and was there a size Limit? How many did you shoot? Thanks

Nice video, thanks for sharing! Looks like a very enjoyable hunt.

quote:

Originally posted by Slider:
How many Buff did you see on the Hunt and was there a size Limit? How many did you shoot? Thanks

I don't know how many we saw, certainly more than we shot. There was a size limit. No trophy bulls, in theory.

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Excellent video, pictures and story! Plus the music / soundtrack !!! Really enjoyed that. Thanks for posting and congrats on a fun hunt !

Charlie

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I think it is the same cruiser, just got rustier from when we were using it
They were certainly a workhorse vehicle but rust was their enemy.
Interested in your comment on the 375 Ruger re a little more gun would be preferable. Was it because these culling shoots do not always present the perfect shot i.e. you take them as they come?

Regarding the 375 Ruger, there is little doubt it can get the job done. However, the action was fast, the shots less than ideal, and we worked under the theory that we didn't want to have to track any animals. So first shot stops were the goal. I realize that is always the goal, but with such large, tough animals, a proper "stopping" cartridge would have made the fast, marginal shot a little less tenuous. Perhaps I would use a bigger, more powerful round as a crutch for mediocre marksmanship.

Congratulations very interesting .

Brings back a lot of memories. Barry is a lot of fun to hunt with. Did he feed you any crabs? That run and gun hunt is a blast.

Did he feed you any crabs?

No, no crabs. We did enjoy fresh barramundi.

Awesome.

Just what Jack and I have been planning on for
several years til I got sick.

PM sent.

Thanks for sharing,
George

Gunslinger missed his connection but will be in Darwin at 1 am. He and I hunt with Barry starting tomorrow. Miss that Brisbane weather already...

quote:

Originally posted by mlazarus:
Regarding the 375 Ruger, there is little doubt it can get the job done. However, the action was fast, the shots less than ideal, and we worked under the theory that we didn't want to have to track any animals. So first shot stops were the goal. I realize that is always the goal, but with such large, tough animals, a proper "stopping" cartridge would have made the fast, marginal shot a little less tenuous. Perhaps I would use a bigger, more powerful round as a crutch for mediocre marksmanship.

Can understand that, we shot 5 or 6 buffalo each day to make up a truck load of meat for our guide. He had a pet meat business so took a load of meat back to his base outside Darwin at the end of each day leaving my mate and I in the hunting area. I used my 404 and it put buffalo down emphatically mostly using Parker Hale (Norma) and my RWS reload solids although must have slipped in a couple of the old Kynoch soft nose as I did have a couple of empty Kynoch cases at the end of the hunt. On a couple of occasions my mate and I ended up in the scrub shooting at very close range, he head shot with his 7mm Mauser but I could body shoot and drop them nicely with the 404, one only a couple of meters off the muzzle as it came crashing in through the scrub, not claiming it was charging, may have been confused and looking for it's mob but the nett effect was the same I suppose.
The 404 really does hit hard, both ends back then when I was pretty lightweight and scrawny. We stalked and took trophy bulls each day and then finished off a load of meat taking big old cows. Some of the cows actually had much longer horns than the bulls. Our hunt was probably close to your cull in some ways although we only paid a $100 daily rate and nothing for any animals, I think we were in before the safari business really got started.
Great experience and fun we had.

It is definitely more of a safari hunt/business model. Probably a "best value" hunt if the goal is a lot of hunting, not trophies.

quote:

Originally posted by mlazarus:
It is definitely more of a safari hunt/business model. Probably a "best value" hunt if the goal is a lot of hunting, not trophies.

Alot of these operations are purely shoot what you see from the truck and hardly ehat can be considered a Safari Hunt so ensure you are aware of what is offered and that it is what you are actually after

Adam,

Exactly! I think my experience was quite different as we shot no young animals.

Mark

I just got back on 8/6 from that very same cull hunt. I went to shoot and not bring anything back. Had a great time. Myself and my hunting partner dropped 25 buffalo in 6 days.
I was shooting a .404J with Hornady bonded softs. I was very pleased with its performance. Barry is great, camp was comfortable, food was good and lots of Buffalo. Fun low pressure trip.