A trip to remember

[Bandera]

We had a great trip with Africa Maximum Safaris.
Jacque and Natalie are great hosts.
The staff is friendly and welcoming.
My PH Gene was great!
AMS and the PHs perfectly matched up hunters to PH’s

We flew Delta dierect from ATL. We did have a two hour delay leaving out of ATL

I put together a trip with 6 other friends. We had one cancel two weeks before the trip. One of the guys, it was his first time hunting.
My buddies dad had a stroke a month before the trip and lost the vision in his right eye. So he trained up on shooting left handed. What a trooper.
Along on the hunt was my wife and my buddies wife and 19 year old daughter. She was quickly nicknamed Safari Barbie. She took the nickname in stride.

4 Buffalo
During the Buffalo stalk the ladies stayed in the truck.
We started out with Rock Paper Scissors to decide who was going to shoot first. My buddy won.

Buffalo number 1.
We set off looking for Buffalo. We (my PF Gene) eventually spotted a lone bull a good ways off probably 3/4s of a mile, in some bush but moving in the direction we had come from. We decide to circle back to get down wind and get a better look at this bull. We eventually got into a position to start a stalk. Instructions were given that me and my PH are back up if needed. We would be to the right of my buddy and his PH. My PH gave me the instructions to always stay on his right side. No problem.

We started the final stalk. Over the creek and through the grass from bush to bush. At about 60 yards we were in position, the bull was grazing and moving towards us but had moved into cover.

The wait was on, my buddies PH Zander made a Buffalo noise and the bull turned head on looking right them and presented a frontal shot, the 375 Ruger popped! Well it would have been a boom but it was suppressed. The bull hit the ground he was down, with a frontal heart shot but the old bull was not out and was back up on its feet as a second and then third shot where fired hitting bull. The bull turned and wheeled, my buddy is reloading, some what unsuccessfully from his ammo wallet. The damn thing was flopping around. One round in the magazine and then Zander’s double spoke once, the 500 NE stopped the bull still at about 60 yards. Here is where it interesting. That bull was stopped and wobbly, a rifle swap happened, Z handed my buddy the 500 NE. My buddy lined up for a shot and the 500 NE spoke again. By this time Z had topped my buddy’s rifle and a second rifle swap happened. The bull took 3 more rounds of 375 Ruger and collapsed and bellowed. Wow what a start to a hunt.

Buffalo number 2

My buddy and his PH are acting as backup now. After his experience he decided that a safe word was needed. He declared I should yell pineapple if I felt things were going south.

We set off on foot and found tracks. We had good wind so we followed into the thick brush and got with in about 35 yards and then the wind shifted and they were gone.

So we headed back to the truck and circled off we went to head them off. Once out the truck and moving towards where my PH thought they might be headed we bumped into a larger group of bulls. The wind was willing about and busted us a couple of more times. We got a bit of a break and got a good position on this Bachelor group we stopped and then again the wind shifted as my PH was glassing the group and off they went. My PH said they looked to be heading to the top of the hill along a tree line. We back tracked got on a road and moved towards where he thought they would be. Once again we had the wind in our favor. moved through the brush slowly and mostly quietly. At roughly 180 yards we had very little cover, so we went to ground. We crawled about 130 yards on our hands and knees through the thorny, rocky ground. They have what I call sand spurs in Africa along with every other kind of thorn. We crawled we waited, we crawled we waited.

Finally we had a decent tree to move to. I set up on my knees, braced on a low branch and waited, the bull finally presented a shot, inhale deeply, exhale whispering breath, gently press the trigger on a quartering away shot. The rifle boomed the bull stumbled and turned away. About 3 seconds later the death bellow sounded once then twice. I told my PH that we don’t need no stinking pineapple.

We moved up to the tree line saw the bull was down and waited for the trucks.

As the trucks approached we walked back towards them and loaded up. Once we started towards the downed buffalo, the rest of the herd started towards the trucks. You can hear my buddy say I think they are going to charge the truck and he then yells pineapple. Safari Barbie is the one saying um, um.

The herd turned and headed off.

I was not present for the next two Buffalo.

Buffalo #3

Buffalo number 3 was taken with a single shot from a 416. It was a very nice old bull that would have been 45”s except that he had one horn broken. My other buddy said the bull turned and ran at the shot then collapsed a few seconds later. They then witnessed a second bull toss the dead bull into the air. The younger bull then led the group off.

Buffalo number 4.
As recounted to me. The cow with a bad attitude.
Apparently this cow bluff charged the truck then disappeared into the brush. The guys unloaded from the truck and had not gone very far when the cow charged at very close range. They had enough time to see that she was already head down. There was just enough time for each of them to get off one shot apiece and at about the same time they fired. The cow hit the ground with a shot from a 416 and a 500 NE, one of the shots hitting the spine. Two more shots and she was finished. The cow had collapsed about three feet from them.

Then the shakes and the holy fork that just happened set in.

The Replacement Zebra
My zebra hunt was for a replacement zebra that the taxidermy or skinners or who ever messed up.
I wanted a comparable zebra to the last one I shot.
Distinct marking in the main and distinct ghost stripes.
We saw zebra cross the road into the bush.
We unloaded from the truck and set off to get a better look. After catching up with this group it was decided there was not a shooter in the group. Back to the truck and we moved and spotted another group of zebra, but no shooters in this group.
We are moving back towards the truck when my PH spots a lone Zebra. A nice stallion. A Quick Look verifies he checks all the boxes.
The Zebra was facing us, at about 150 yard. I dial the scope to 150, a single shot from the 375 Ruger did the job. The zebra went a few yards after the shot.

Giraffes!

Sitting at dinner the opportunity for 2 giraffe cows that needed culling was presented. Sure I will shoot a J-raffe.
My buddy quickly respond with I will shoot one also.
The next morning we load up in a borrowed truck. My PH explained that he had buggered up the bumper on his truck and had not reinstalled the hitch after replacing the bumper.
Get in the truck and off we go for about an hour drive.
We quickly figure out there is no heat in the truck.
The property we hunted was a beautiful property with rolling hills trees lines and bush and rocks, lots of rocks.
The manager on the property showed us the Giraffes that they wanted culled and so it began.
These two cows were in a group that was in some thick bush and tall trees. We moved to down wind, and started moving towards the herd to get them. To break from cover.
The giraffes broke cover. We set up the shot. Again a single shot from my 375 Ruger and the J-raffe was down.

On the way back the borrowed truck decided to break down.
So… a rope was found and the lead Toyota Hi Lux pulling a trailer with a giraffe in it ended up towing a Toyota Hi Lux which was pulling a trailer with a giraffe in it.

At one point we pass a semi truck going up hill.

I decide to make a change and hunt Black Wildebeest.
We had to wait a day to get access to the property, no big deal, I will tag along with some of the other guys.

The Black Wildebeest.
The property we hunted was a grass land with some bushes, a lot of thorns and small rocks.
We worked for an hour to get into a shooting position. We ended up in the only clump of brush for at least a mile.
There was a decent Wildebeest. 153 yards perfect broadside. I line up on him and take the shot. The Wildebeest does not react to the shot other than bolt and run. We checked for blood, hair, nothing. I missed.
I checked the scope mounts and the CDS dial everything checked out. Loose trigger nut! For the next 3 hours we chased Wildebeest. We would get close enough to hear the bull grumble and then run. We finally got at about 250 yards from a bull and he was angry. My PH said we can get him. We stayed in him and he broke from the herd. We moved in set up on the sticks and he moved. We moved with me staying on the sticks, finally he presented a frontal shot at 211 yards.

I took the shot and the Wildebeest went around 50 yards collapsed.

375 Ruger bullet performance.
I used the Barnes TSX 300 grain on all the animals. We recovered 4 bullets from the 4 animals.
My buddy used the Hornady DGX.
Barnes TSX preformed flawlessly, the DGX not so great. The DGX lost about 50 grains of bullet weight.

 

[SafariCurious]

wow, thanks for the detailed and interesting report!

 

[Ridge Runner]

Congrats on some nice animals.

 

[Mekaniks]

Excellent! Thank you for sharing

 

[DieJager]

Waidmannsheil! Some fine animals