That presentation haunts me still, as I had a similar shot at a fantastic buffalo in the Selous last September and I blew it (some of you will remember the description in my hunt report).
It was late in the day, the sun was low and behind the buffalo, to the left of the buffalo. To top things off, my vision isn’t very good these days due to having cataracts. He came out of very thick grass into an opening at about 50 yards, broadside, and presented an easy shot. I was using my .416 Hoffman, shooting a 400 grain Bearclaw. Just before I shot, the buffalo turned from broadside to essentially the same angle as in the picture. I misinterpreted the angle as being more frontal than it actually was, and I ended up shooting the buffalo perhaps an inch or two to the right of the green dot.
The buffalo seemed to be hard hit and there was a lot of arterial blood. We followed the bull through thick grass till it was too dark and left him for the night. That was a long and quiet drive back to camp. The next day we tracked the buffalo for over 6 hours before finally having to accept that he was gone as he’d joined with 5 other bulls and they were well onto the neighboring concession in heavy cover when we turned back. Following a wounded buffalo for hours and several miles, often through thick grass, is mentally and physically draining.
That bull was 44-45” in our estimation, with deep curls and good length. It would have been my largest buffalo to date and Alan Vincent’s biggest of last season.
So, with all that preamble, if I had the same shot again, it’d be on the red dot and I’d have a 400 grain TSX chambered.
