Day 6, Jan 25
Out looking for buffalo tracks again this morning. Walked about 7 kms (4 miles) on my poor blistered feet (looking for sympathy here!). At this point I’m just hoping the crocs make it for the duration.
We had found buffalo, and the wind was more or less playing ball, but they seemed to be walking with a purpose, and that pace was too fast for me. Every time we’d make contact, it would be with the tail end of the herd, and there were no good bulls there. We’d back off and try to get ahead of them, but then make contact again, and find that we were looking at the same buffalo. This happened at least 6 times, and each time it became more frustrating, given the heat and the difficulty I had in walking with the blisters. We finally decided they weren’t going to slow down, and Guav had an idea where they might bed down for the day, so we decided to come back after lunch and try to find them again.
On the way back to camp we came up on a Nigerian bohor reedbuck which for some reason was just standing about 40 yards from the road, staring at us. Guav said he was a fine specimen, so without really thinking about it, I grabbed the gun and took a shot off-hand (this can happen if I go too long without taking a shot. It’s a disease, one I’ve given up trying to cure). Dropped it where it stood. I think eland is the best tasting venison, but reedbuck isn’t far behind.
When we got back to camp we found that the Cuban had left. I assume that means the poachers have been brought to heel, if only for the time being. He was an interesting person to have in camp, though, so we’ll miss him at dinner.
After our siesta, we headed back out to the area where we had left the buffalo. We began walking, without tracks, towards the area where Guav thought they might have rested up. Within an hour - so about 5 pm – we spotted the herd, moving to our left. Once again, we were in a game of backing away, and trying to get ahead of them. We had much the same frustration as in the morning – it seemed every time we saw the herd, we had to pull away, move as quickly as possible (not that fast for me at this point) and then slowly move back in. The only advantage we had this afternoon was that they were feeding, not walking with a purpose.
After a good 45 minutes of this, we were looking at losing our light. We were a bit north of the equator, and at this time of year, the sun goes down around 6.10 pm, and you can likely shoot for another 10 minutes after that. So it would be soon or never. Guav had seen a black buffalo which he thought met the criteria so put the sticks up. But as he continued to glass the herd, he saw a roan coloured bull which seemed both older and bigger. It took a few seconds for us to both agree on which buffalo he was referring to, and for one behind it to clear. The buffalo we wanted was feeding and had his head down, but he was broadside. I had switched bullets since the mis-fire and was now using 300 grain Federal loaded with Triple Shocks, a bullet I have complete confidence in.
I took an extra second this time, because of the position, but thought I had a pretty good line on his vitals. Everyone was ready, and I took the shot. The buffalo jumped and ran, milling with others, but I think we had completely surprised them, and they hadn't seen us yet, so they really didn’t move far. But of course that only made it harder to see which one was the target. Guav glassed for a couple of minutes, while I tried to stay ready for a second shot. The first shot felt good, but I was so tired it was hard to be sure.
After a minute Guav said “I think that’s him by that tree, but I need to be sure.” I took aim at the shape in any event, so when he said “yup, that’s him” I wasted no time and took the shot. This time the entire herd ran off, with my bull heading in a different direction. We closed quickly, but equally quickly saw that he was down. We slowed down, got to about 15 yards, and could see he was trying to get up, but couldn’t. He didn’t have long to go, but I put an insurance shot into him, and that ended things.
It was now after 6 pm, and we’d tracked a total of about 6.5 miles today looking for a bull just like this one. I thought he was magnificent, but I have to admit that he was quite a bit smaller than the eland, which is normal for Western savannah buffalo.
Guav, Dean and I settled down for a bit of a rest and some water while our trackers went back to get the truck and swing by camp to get some additional help. It was quite dark by the time they came back, and it took even longer to get the truck to the buffalo. But once the crew arrived, short work was made of the “halving” him and he was loaded on the truck. The only thing we had left behind was the stomach contents.
I was looking forward to a long hot shower when I got back to camp, and that was topped off by spaghetti with reedbuck sauce for dinner. Fantastic!
Thanks, that laugh helped get blood flowing back into my frozen ears.
