Cape Buffalo Packing Some Lead

[Ferrulewax]

Older video, but pretty incredible

 

[Amos Keeto]

Older video, but pretty incredible

In the "heat of the moment"........

 

[Huntndog]

At the WSF convention in Reno I caught up with my old buddy Ken Moody who has been in on around 400 caps buffalo kills in his 30 years of outfitting in Africa. He spent ~30 minutes telling me stories of memorable buffalo hunts. I don’t think there is a more adventurous hunt on earth, and am really not sure how some here have formed their opinions on the matter.

I hunted with Ken Moody three years ago and killed the buffalo in my avatar.
It was the single most thrilling hunt I have had in my 63 years. Something about squaring off at thirty yards with a pissed off two thousand pound brute that makes the senses come alive. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!
BTW Ken Moody Safaris is a first class operation.

 

[MattB]

I hunted with Ken Moody three years ago and killed the buffalo in my avatar.
It was the single most thrilling hunt I have had in my 63 years. Something about squaring off at thirty yards with a pissed off two thousand pound brute that makes the senses come alive. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!
BTW Ken Moody Safaris is a first class operation.

Congratulations.

Talking with Ken I could really feel his passion for buffalo hunting. He said that he had PH’s he had worked with that all had a species that they were just taken by (elephant, crocodile, leopard, hippo), but buffalo by far seemed to be the most interesting.

What surprised me most was both the distance they tracked some herds for a shot (10+ miles) and some of the multi-day tracks they made on cripples (a few 20+ miles over 2-3 days).

 

[pacoalcracker]

Carlton/McCallum is a first rate safari company. Buzz Carlton is one of the best PH's in all of Africa and is highly regarded. I assure you with 100% certainty, that was no canned hunt. None of his are or ever will be. When a large dangerous animal is trying to kill the bunch of you, they can and they will, the lead/solids must fly or you are dead. End of story. Sure there are canned/high fence hunting there as there is here, but CM Safaris isnt one of them. 20 years ago I hunted on the DeBeers estate (yes, the diamond mine family and very few people get to do that) about 400K acres in northern SA and while the perimeter was supposedly fence (mostly to keep poachers out and any seen were to be shot dead) it wasn't canned and it was a wonderful experience. Thats a lot of land and I never saw that fence once. I shot all but one of the 6 animals with my handguns, and that was shot by my model 70 in 375 H$H. There are many places across Africa that are still the real deal and even PH's get kill by buffs, leopards or ele's now and then. I have both a 470 NE and a 505 Gibbs ready to go the next time I'm in Africa. Use enough gun!

 

[kwackkillncrew]

Yall do know people die every year from cape buffalo right?
They are dangerous in a neutral mood.
They dont call them black death for kicks.
That PH was fixing to get real hurt. He was extremely lucky.
You don't even have to be hunting them to get charged by them. You could be tracking something unrelated.

You don't have to hunt moose or brown bear to get charged by them either....happens all the time.

Sent from my SM-S921U using Tapatalk

 

[gearguywb]

Ken Moody is on my short list for '25, along with Tsala

 

[Beendare]

. I have both a 470 NE and a 505 Gibbs ready to go the next time I'm in Africa. Use enough gun!

But wait…have you read the Rokslide .223 thread for everything? Grin

Dang, shooting either one of those rifles just doesn’t sound like fun.

 

[Spence1875]

That PH was for cool and collected during the chaos which sticks out to me. Never been charged by an animal trying to kill me other than the two legged kind, if I was looking for DG guide in Africa this guy would be it.

As to the first shot, it was bad and just buck fever I would guess. No excuse though as it was a big target, really close and he had solid rest.

Greta video, thanks for posting.

 

[KurtR]

Till you stand in front of one of those beasts charging you are not qualified to question how the situation was handled

 

[Amos Keeto]

You don't have to hunt moose or brown bear to get charged by them either....happens all the time.

Sent from my SM-S921U using Tapatalk

They don't have to be "big" to be deadly.
They are wild animals and when that "attack" mode kicks in.....forget it!

His Best Friend Was a 250-Pound Warthog. One Day, It Decided to Kill Him.

Austin Riley spent decades raising exotic animals in the Texas Hill Country. The animal he thought he knew best changed his life forever.

www.texasmonthly.com

A local stepped into his favorite pit bull's pen to feed her. When he finally got away from her, she had shredded his right forearm.
When he returned from the hospital with a cast on his arm, he grabbed a handgun and walked to her pen. She greeted him at the gate, wagging her tail as if nothing happened.
Even your best pet can turn on you!
Treat EVERY animal as if it wants to kill you!

 

[Northof51]

No experience with buffalo but been put over and under fences at calving time with beef cows…adding the size and wild factors in makes it a spot I don’t want to be.
The fastest I’ve had to retreat was from a baby badger…5 pounds of pure mean

 

[prm]

Man, I hate to say it but not really.

African safaris are such a joke and what a bunch of losers. That was 100% shooting a pissed off piece of livestock.

Don’t go to Africa and pretend like you are anything but somebody paying to play some game.

Truly no offense to guys that do it. I think it could be a lot of fun, but don’t you dare pretend that you are a hunter of any sort of grade. You are, at best, a rifleman.

I say this rarely, but you are a clueless fool. Maybe you should go give it a try.

 

[pacoalcracker]

Treat every animal with the respect that it can harm you at any time. I'm around horses all the time and ride 2-3x/week and it's a fact that just being around them much less riding them, your odds of a severe injury are 20x higher than someone who isn't. Horses kill many each year. Animals have their own minds and can do whatever they want anytime they want. Tamed, trained, wild...it does not matter.

 

[LookinforDirt]

Treat every animal with the respect that it can harm you at any time. I'm around horses all the time and ride 2-3x/week and it's a fact that just being around them much less riding them, your odds of a severe injury are 20x higher than someone who isn't. Horses kill many each year. Animals have their own minds and can do whatever they want anytime they want. Tamed, trained, wild...it does not matter.

When I was a kid in Georgia we had a friend that lived on a farm and they raised horses. To get to his house, we cut the corner of one of his fields where they kept 2-3 horses. One horse in the pen was this colt. If you entered the field and he saw you, he came at you full speed with full intent to take you out. Heck, he didn’t even wait for you to get in the field. If he even saw you, that was all it took. We used to hide in the bushes and wait for him to get far on the other side of the field and then make our move. Nothing like trying to get under a fence, run 30 yards, and get under another fence while some lunatic horse came barreling across a field wanting to stomp your brains out.

 

[tpicou]

Carlton/McCallum is a first rate safari company. Buzz Carlton is one of the best PH's in all of Africa and is highly regarded. I assure you with 100% certainty, that was no canned hunt. None of his are or ever will be. When a large dangerous animal is trying to kill the bunch of you, they can and they will, the lead/solids must fly or you are dead. End of story. Sure there are canned/high fence hunting there as there is here, but CM Safaris isnt one of them. 20 years ago I hunted on the DeBeers estate (yes, the diamond mine family and very few people get to do that) about 400K acres in northern SA and while the perimeter was supposedly fence (mostly to keep poachers out and any seen were to be shot dead) it wasn't canned and it was a wonderful experience. Thats a lot of land and I never saw that fence once. I shot all but one of the 6 animals with my handguns, and that was shot by my model 70 in 375 H$H. There are many places across Africa that are still the real deal and even PH's get kill by buffs, leopards or ele's now and then. I have both a 470 NE and a 505 Gibbs ready to go the next time I'm in Africa. Use enough gun!

Yep people don't realize how big some of these concessions and areas are. We've definitely hunted areas larger than many units people draw here and certainly larger than the species' natural range. Like you said, they have good and bad outfits anywhere. Just do some research. Plus, most of these PHs have so much experience. They can hunt a lot more than people can here and they have a much wider variety of species they hunt and contact. It's insane the level of knowledge and experience PHs and trackers have.

 

[CHWine]

I also waited 63 years until I was able to do my first cape buffalo bunt. I hunted with the same fellow three times prior for plains game. I was pretty surprised by the seriousness my buddy attitude was towards the buff hunt. Bad things can happen even to the best and most prepared hunters. We had a shooting opportunity at last light and we did not take it. "Only bad things happen at last light". It made me realize you seldom see buffalo hunts happen at that hour. One more thing......if I could afford it, I would hunt cape buffalo every year.

 

[prm]

“Hunting in Africa” is like saying ”hunting in the US”. It includes a wide range of styles. The plains game hunting I experienced was right up there with western US hunts for excitement (much more involvement with game, less of the camping/hiking), and far above any eastern Whitetail hunting I’ve done. I was able to discuss with the PH and make the hunt what I wanted. If you don’t want to hunt smaller land areas, don’t, if you don’t want to ride in a truck, don’t. Walking through the bush and stumbling into a couple lions or coming around a corner and having a rhino start towards you will wake you right up! Unlike much US hunting, there is a tremendous variety and numbers of game. If you like seeing a LOT of game and sneaking through the brush to get quick offhand, or stick supported, shots it’s a great time. I loved it there. My finances don’t support hunting buff, One of the PHs I hunted with is a guide for guides hunting buff near Kruger. He has some great stories.

 

[Amos Keeto]

Treat every animal with the respect that it can harm you at any time. I'm around horses all the time and ride 2-3x/week and it's a fact that just being around them much less riding them, your odds of a severe injury are 20x higher than someone who isn't. Horses kill many each year. Animals have their own minds and can do whatever they want anytime they want. Tamed, trained, wild...it does not matter.

Dealing with horses for umpteen ages, I was always surprised by folks that were looking for "... a kid safe horse ...".
There ain't no such critter!
....just like a dog that won't bite!

No experience with buffalo but been put over and under fences at calving time with beef cows…adding the size and wild factors in makes it a spot I don’t want to be.
The fastest I’ve had to retreat was from a baby badger…5 pounds of pure mean

Over, under, around and through!
I can only surmise that the proximity to and familiarity with humans is probably what makes livestock, shall we say, "less fatalistic"!

 

[Ferrulewax]

Yep people don't realize how big some of these concessions and areas are. We've definitely hunted areas larger than many units people draw here and certainly larger than the species' natural range. Like you said, they have good and bad outfits anywhere. Just do some research. Plus, most of these PHs have so much experience. They can hunt a lot more than people can here and they have a much wider variety of species they hunt and contact. It's insane the level of knowledge and experience PHs and trackers have.

Not only do they have a ton of experience, but most of them have to be educated to be a guide. As a guide, they typically have to manage their concession area and help with problem animals, poachers, and game management.