DAY 3
6:30 wake up and the day begins. I traded in #7 for a .375 H&H Argentina build with a Mauser action. Upon inspection the bolt was running a little stiff, so I had Peter put a little lubricant on her and she was soon cycling smooth as glass. The plan this morning was to head to the far Northwestern corner of the property looking for fresh tracks cutting across the two-tracks then following up to identify said bull. Peter would be joining Ese and I this morning as backup with his .458.
The terrain here is not as flat with rolling hills. The vegetation was just as thick but there were very few armadillo holes. I wondered if buffalo and armadillos did not get along well together? We stopped several times the first 30 minutes and looked at tracks that were either too small or too old then continued. We then crossed an area that looked promising which had several large fresh tracks however the wind prevented us from directly following. We decided to circle around to see if they exited this area.
In doing so, we were on the two-track with a 4-foot fence running parallel on our left. To our right was about 30 yards of open area before the scrub began. (similar to a powerline back home) As we were just cresting a hill, we stopped to stare at an unusual sight. 200 yards straight ahead on the same two-track were four very large buffalo running directly at us. Looking for trouble, I imagined. As they continued running down the track we were standing on, I asked Peter if this was unusual? He looked as confused as I was and said he wasn’t sure what was going on. Either something spooked them, or they were fighting but your bull is the second to right. Peter put up the sticks and the buffalo kept coming.
At about 100 yards they must have spotted us because they stopped and were staring in our direction. Peter asked if I was comfortable with a shot from this distance. I said, no, not with an unknown weapon. I said I’d like to get within 50 yards. He asked what I wanted to do. With the wind blowing to 1:00, I suggested us to line up as one person and walk slowly across the 30 yards to the right until we get into cover then work our way towards them for a closer shot. Working towards them, about halfway, the wind shifted to 9:00. I look to the left and see one of the buffalo on the opposite side of the fence nose up. I had not calculated the fence jump or wind shift in my plan, but we were busted regardless. They were now all on the other side of the fence/property line. Ese was able to see them return either by jumping or pushing back through the fence further down so at least they were back on our side. Peter suggested we let them cool down and try again later as they will be spooked, and we don’t want to lose them. I agreed so we headed off to the East.
After 30 minutes, Peter spotted a lone bull. He was about 300 yards away on the edge of the scrub and all I could see was its rear end. We glassed for several minutes as he milled around finally turning and stepped out. He was simply huge and at least 300 lbs. heavier than the four we had just encountered. His horns were very small compared to his size. Peter asked if I was interested. I said let’s see how close we can get. We worked or way to 30 yards before backing back out. Pictures of these Argentina buffalo do not do them justice. They look so much more impressive up-close and in 3D. It was a fantastic morning.
We headed back to the lodge for lunch and to come up with a plan for this afternoon’s hunt. Peter felt if I really wanted the best chance at this bull, it would be to sit over the closest water to his last location and if he didn’t come in, we could start tracking again in the morning in that area. I agreed. Peter could not join us, so Ese and I headed out with Manuel (which is another brother/owner) with the .458 as backup.
As we came over a hill, we saw 20 some ostriches running in and around the cover. It was amusing to see. We soon reached the nearest water hole. From what I understand, there are 7-8 of these throughout the property and this was the closest one to where we were this morning. It wasn’t much of a water hole. Maybe 10x10 feet across. I envisioned a fancy concrete blind in the shade or something, but we were just tucked in the brush with a large tree to our back. Which was fine and comfortable. The water was about 40 yards to the South, and we had a South wind. Perfect…for the first hour. We watched a cow and calf come in and it was very relaxing. Until the parrots showed up. For those of you who have not been to Argentina these green parrots are everywhere by the millions. They are as common as our sparrows back home. They are pretty to look at but squawk and make so much noise, they become annoying very quickly. The problem was we were close to one of their nests.
With 90 minutes of light left, the wind switched to the Northeast which was the worst possible direction for this setup. Worse yet, there really wasn’t a place for us to relocate to. As we sat there for an hour, I gave this opportunity a zero percent chance for success. It will never work. Ese then spotted a huge Blackbuck behind us in the distance. While he and I were thinking through in our minds how we could pull this off, Manuel pulled us back from our distraction. The wind had magically shifted back and he had spotted buffalo moving through the bush. With maybe 20 minutes of light, we could see several in the distance. At their pace, it didn’t look like we would have enough time. I was wrong. Set up on the sticks, watching an opening, I whispered, is he one of them? Glancing at Ese, he held 2 fingers and Manuel confirmed the second one was my bull. At 50 yards, I watched the first bull pass through the opening in the crosshairs then waited for the second. As he did, I heard Ese whisper “shoot” the same instant I squeezed on the bull’s shoulder. The bull spun 180 degrees as I cycled the bolt and squeezed on his opposite shoulder. One more lightning-fast bolt cycle and the third hit home on his shoulder as well. He dropped within 10 yards of the first shot. I was glad, as I’m sure Ese and Manuel were, that there would be no long tracking job tonight. We quickly approached as it was getting dark now and I put an insurance shot in, just in case. (photos are poor due to phone camera low light compensation)
We were back to the lodge by 8:00. I cleaned up, and had another wonderful evening of dinner, drinks, and comradery celebrating with all the other hunters and their days success. At 11:00 Ese came in and handed me the bullets retrieved. For the last 3 hours he and a couple other guides had been butchering that 2,000 lbs. bull in the field.
3 days in the books with 2 days to go. I stayed up later than I probably should have but I was having too much fun listening to stories from the others on past adventures. It was a really great group of people. But my mind kept wandering back to earlier this evening. I wonder if that huge Blackbuck is in that field every evening?
6:30 wake up and the day begins. I traded in #7 for a .375 H&H Argentina build with a Mauser action. Upon inspection the bolt was running a little stiff, so I had Peter put a little lubricant on her and she was soon cycling smooth as glass. The plan this morning was to head to the far Northwestern corner of the property looking for fresh tracks cutting across the two-tracks then following up to identify said bull. Peter would be joining Ese and I this morning as backup with his .458.
The terrain here is not as flat with rolling hills. The vegetation was just as thick but there were very few armadillo holes. I wondered if buffalo and armadillos did not get along well together? We stopped several times the first 30 minutes and looked at tracks that were either too small or too old then continued. We then crossed an area that looked promising which had several large fresh tracks however the wind prevented us from directly following. We decided to circle around to see if they exited this area.
In doing so, we were on the two-track with a 4-foot fence running parallel on our left. To our right was about 30 yards of open area before the scrub began. (similar to a powerline back home) As we were just cresting a hill, we stopped to stare at an unusual sight. 200 yards straight ahead on the same two-track were four very large buffalo running directly at us. Looking for trouble, I imagined. As they continued running down the track we were standing on, I asked Peter if this was unusual? He looked as confused as I was and said he wasn’t sure what was going on. Either something spooked them, or they were fighting but your bull is the second to right. Peter put up the sticks and the buffalo kept coming.
At about 100 yards they must have spotted us because they stopped and were staring in our direction. Peter asked if I was comfortable with a shot from this distance. I said, no, not with an unknown weapon. I said I’d like to get within 50 yards. He asked what I wanted to do. With the wind blowing to 1:00, I suggested us to line up as one person and walk slowly across the 30 yards to the right until we get into cover then work our way towards them for a closer shot. Working towards them, about halfway, the wind shifted to 9:00. I look to the left and see one of the buffalo on the opposite side of the fence nose up. I had not calculated the fence jump or wind shift in my plan, but we were busted regardless. They were now all on the other side of the fence/property line. Ese was able to see them return either by jumping or pushing back through the fence further down so at least they were back on our side. Peter suggested we let them cool down and try again later as they will be spooked, and we don’t want to lose them. I agreed so we headed off to the East.
After 30 minutes, Peter spotted a lone bull. He was about 300 yards away on the edge of the scrub and all I could see was its rear end. We glassed for several minutes as he milled around finally turning and stepped out. He was simply huge and at least 300 lbs. heavier than the four we had just encountered. His horns were very small compared to his size. Peter asked if I was interested. I said let’s see how close we can get. We worked or way to 30 yards before backing back out. Pictures of these Argentina buffalo do not do them justice. They look so much more impressive up-close and in 3D. It was a fantastic morning.
We headed back to the lodge for lunch and to come up with a plan for this afternoon’s hunt. Peter felt if I really wanted the best chance at this bull, it would be to sit over the closest water to his last location and if he didn’t come in, we could start tracking again in the morning in that area. I agreed. Peter could not join us, so Ese and I headed out with Manuel (which is another brother/owner) with the .458 as backup.
As we came over a hill, we saw 20 some ostriches running in and around the cover. It was amusing to see. We soon reached the nearest water hole. From what I understand, there are 7-8 of these throughout the property and this was the closest one to where we were this morning. It wasn’t much of a water hole. Maybe 10x10 feet across. I envisioned a fancy concrete blind in the shade or something, but we were just tucked in the brush with a large tree to our back. Which was fine and comfortable. The water was about 40 yards to the South, and we had a South wind. Perfect…for the first hour. We watched a cow and calf come in and it was very relaxing. Until the parrots showed up. For those of you who have not been to Argentina these green parrots are everywhere by the millions. They are as common as our sparrows back home. They are pretty to look at but squawk and make so much noise, they become annoying very quickly. The problem was we were close to one of their nests.
With 90 minutes of light left, the wind switched to the Northeast which was the worst possible direction for this setup. Worse yet, there really wasn’t a place for us to relocate to. As we sat there for an hour, I gave this opportunity a zero percent chance for success. It will never work. Ese then spotted a huge Blackbuck behind us in the distance. While he and I were thinking through in our minds how we could pull this off, Manuel pulled us back from our distraction. The wind had magically shifted back and he had spotted buffalo moving through the bush. With maybe 20 minutes of light, we could see several in the distance. At their pace, it didn’t look like we would have enough time. I was wrong. Set up on the sticks, watching an opening, I whispered, is he one of them? Glancing at Ese, he held 2 fingers and Manuel confirmed the second one was my bull. At 50 yards, I watched the first bull pass through the opening in the crosshairs then waited for the second. As he did, I heard Ese whisper “shoot” the same instant I squeezed on the bull’s shoulder. The bull spun 180 degrees as I cycled the bolt and squeezed on his opposite shoulder. One more lightning-fast bolt cycle and the third hit home on his shoulder as well. He dropped within 10 yards of the first shot. I was glad, as I’m sure Ese and Manuel were, that there would be no long tracking job tonight. We quickly approached as it was getting dark now and I put an insurance shot in, just in case. (photos are poor due to phone camera low light compensation)
We were back to the lodge by 8:00. I cleaned up, and had another wonderful evening of dinner, drinks, and comradery celebrating with all the other hunters and their days success. At 11:00 Ese came in and handed me the bullets retrieved. For the last 3 hours he and a couple other guides had been butchering that 2,000 lbs. bull in the field.
3 days in the books with 2 days to go. I stayed up later than I probably should have but I was having too much fun listening to stories from the others on past adventures. It was a really great group of people. But my mind kept wandering back to earlier this evening. I wonder if that huge Blackbuck is in that field every evening?
The Doc hunt with Marcelo right out of the lodge, literally walking across the field out front. He was holding out for a better stag, I think he wanted double crowns and at least 13 points..... You did great my friend
