Unwounded Buffalo cow charge!
We had a very exiting thing happen this past week , hunting a buffalo cow with a hunter from Norway.
We have some old Buffalo cows that we are in the process of culling and offer them to hunters as cull animals. A very good Friend of mine who owns Unzwa Safaris in Limpopo had a client that was looking for a late season buffalo experience that would not brake the bank and the date was set!
This part of the Kridyn area that we hunted is mix of open savanna and some clumps of thick bush mixed in, we found the herd pretty easy and made several stalks trying to pick out and old cow that did not have a calf and was loosing condition due to the drought and not having ant teeth left to feed on the limited short grass that is available currently
We came close to getting a shot a few times stalking to less than 20 yards from the herd, and spend many exiting moments on the shooting sticks waiting for a clear shot opportunity but every time the old cow was covered by others or was behind cover. the herd spooked a few times and would move of a short distance and we would follow. the old cow was struggling a little bit to keep up with the herd and eventually broke away from the herd we followed but could not get a shot as she kept eluding us in the thickets
We eventually broke for lunch as it was very hot! South Africa is experiencing very high summer temps right now and its very dry!
We headed out in the afternoon and I was thinking we were headed out to early as it was still very hot and was expecting the Buffalo to be laying down, but we got lucky and found he herd in a fairly open bit and was able to see the entire herd and could easily spot the old cow in the herd, while planning a stalk and getting close to the herd we briefly lost site of the cow and once we were in a good position we could not pick out the cow. I assumed she had laid down with a few others on the edge of the herd. Then there was movement on the far right of the herd. The old cows was heading into some very thick vaalbos breaking away from the herd, we checked the wind and planned a go around paths to were we last saw the cow.
It was just the hunter and me that went in, I was carrying my shooting stick in one hand and my 375 Ruger in my other hand and the hunter was following close behind me with my CZ 375 H&H client rifle.
a short ways in we spotted the cow laying down in some thick vaalbos under a camelthorn tree, it was to thick for a shot and she was up and gone pretty quick, we followed in the direction she went but lost her again, we looked around a bit and did not see anything.
We decided she had to be there in one of the thickets and made another loop trying to catch the wind, we walked through an open spot with some thick vaalbos on our right, the vaalbos was less than 10 yards from us, something caught my eye and I could just barely see the cow standing up from where she was lying, she stood up real quick made that typical buffalo grunt when they charge! she came straight for us with no hesitation!
The cow charged from less than 10 meters she came out of the vaalbos into full view at about 7 or 8 m By that time I had dropped the shooting stick and and had my rifle up and ready, I could see that the hunter that was slightly behind me had his rifle up and ready, as the Buffalo came from the side and the direction we were walking we both had a clear line of fire.
I was about to shoot when the hunter fired and hit the cow just below the eye and the shot went trough into her neck and she dropped right there, he reloaded super fast and I said to put one into the chest just to be sure!
When the dust settled and we processed what just happened, we made the rifles safe and I stepped over the where the hunter was standing, and told him to pace of from were he was standing. he took 5 steps and put a foot on the chest of the buff!
here are a few pictures
one fast shooting client and a happy Ph in this pic
first shot that dropped the cow!
I took this pic on my iPhone from were I was standing
To complete my Springbok slam and a long with "a couple" of other animals.
