Hunting East Cape Bushbuck

[graybird]

One of our PHs in camp last year had been speared by a wounded bushbuck. The PH's client had wounded a bushbuck and he had sent his Jark Russell on the blood spoor. They were in very thick bush and he could hear the dog worrying the bushbuck. He was walking/crawling down a game trail when suddenly the dog came running back to him. He said the dog was in high gear running down the same trail he was walking up when the dog literally ran between his legs. Then, the next thing he said he saw was the bushbuck but it was too late, he was too close.

The bushbuck speared him in his leg and the other horn hit one of his testicals. Natually, he hit the ground with the bushbuck horns still lodged in him. As he was lying on the ground he grabbed the horns of the bushbuck and pulled them out of his body. Then, he realized, "Now what the hell am I going to do with this thing?" So, he was lying on his back holding on to a wounded bushbuck's horns screaming for his tracker or client to shoot the bloody thing off him. I don't remember if it was the tracker or the client, but one of them did shoot the bushbuck while he was still holding onto his horns.

Also, my hunting buddy shot a bushbuck the next to the last day of our trip last year. The bushbuck ended up sticking the dog a bit near his flank before a finishing shot couple be made. The dog was ok after a little dental floss and a couple stiches. He was ready to go hunting the next day as if nothing had happened.

Those are the only two stories I have of bushbuck getting their revenge on hunters.

 

[enysse]

East Cape Bushbuck

Here is the East Cape Bushbuck, I shot with Russ Field Safaris in May 2009, it was at 9:30 am in the morning.

We got really luck we were glassing a thick drainage or canyon. And we heard some rocks tumble. The bushbuck ran up to a dead end in the drainage and was looking to get away. He was not sure, what was bothering him, but didn't want to stay to find out. The PH tossed some rocks to scare him out and he was cutting through the middle of the drainage. I didn't have a steady shot and the Ph kept yelling to shoot him. I adjusted my shooting stick and waited until the bushbuck slowed down and then I fired, a 90 degree shot downward toward the bushbuck, who was under a tree in the shade, with his back to me. He had stopped to figure out the danger and I shot and hit him through the spine...he was like 160 yards away at the time. It was a hard shot and great way to end a 7 day hunt!

 

[BRICKBURN]

Nice trophy E!

 

[sestoppelman]

Looks a lot like mine!

 

[Shuggy]

I agree with the above, I shot mine in waist high grass and it disappeared, the guide was swinging his 8x68 around at anything that moved, I felt like we were tracking a wounded lion!. I thought he was joking about how dangerous they are until I saw their fox terrier they use for tracking, it had been gored 3 times over the years. Its belly looked like a road map it had that many old stitch lines. I got mine early afternoon as the sun came out after raining all morning. My one regret is not getting it fully mounted. The shoulder mount looks great but when I see the speckled backskin I really wish he was still in one piece. If you have the cash I would look at it, I know I now regret it.

 

[seattlesetters]

All this talk of bushbuck hunting has me chomping at the bit. I must get over to Africa and have a go at these amazing animals!

 

[BigBullet]

Beware, bushbuck hunting may become addictive! Where ever I hunt now, I add bushbuck to my wishlist. They are just a wonderful animals to hunt. The very first year I included bushbuck in my hunt I didn't see one, so they are elusive as well. Below is the eastern cape bushbuck I took in natal province last year. Used my 7x57 with 160gr Accubonds. I was hunting riverine bush looking for nyala, when we caught this fellow sneaking through.

 

[seattlesetters]

Beware, bushbuck hunting may become addictive! Where ever I hunt now, I add bushbuck to my wishlist. They are just a wonderful animals to hunt. The very first year I included bushbuck in my hunt I didn't see one, so they are elusive as well. Below is the eastern cape bushbuck I took in natal province last year. Used my 7x57 with 160gr Accubonds. I was hunting riverine bush looking for nyala, when we caught this fellow sneaking through.

I absolutely love your bushbuck, John. Id love to match him someday!

 

[yotehunter]

wow those are some great looking bushbuck.

 

[nsok]

Nice Bushbuck Bigbullet...and rifle

 

[BigBullet]

Thanks for the kind words. These are two other bushbuck I have been fortunate to take. The top one is a Chobe bushbuck we hunted in the Gwai(sp?) River of Zim. the place was loaded with bushbuck. I actually missed one much bigger then this one, of course my wife got it all on film. (why is it she always gets my misses on film)Then took this buck the next morning (while she was still sleeping).

The bottom picture is a Limpopo bushbuck (there is talk of merging the Limpopo and Cape subspecies into one catagory). We hunted this fellow over soy bean fields in the evening, kind of like whitetail. I hit him too far back and he ran off into the reeds. We went back to camp and got the little jackie and the PH grabbed a Rem 870 with buckshot and we went back after it. Fortunately upon our return the jackie lead us to a dead ram.

 

[Bushbuck]

Great photos guys! You boys are really making me not want to skip going over this year. I can take looking at trophy photos of everything except Bushbuck..

 

[nsok]

This is the one I hunted last August in the Eastern Cape. And this next August I hope to get the Limpopo one

 

[BRICKBURN]

You guys have managed to move this wily little creature up on my list. He started as the bottom of the spiral horn list and now he is going to be a must, not in the hope to see him on my trip.
The colors on the Limpopo Bush Buck you have Bigbullet is just gorgeous.
It look like I am going to be getting scratched up in some bush looking for these little guys.

 

[BigBullet]

Seattlesetters, Funny thing about this Cape bushbuck, I almost didn't shoot it! It was only about 35 minutes into our hunt and the brush was very thick. I could barely makeout the head and from what I could see, he was OK, but I didn't beleive that good. So I took a chance and shot and he went right down, and as we walked closer I was estatic by the ram.

The bushbuck, nyala and kudu for some reason will hide their head in the thickets, while their body is in plain view thinking they are hiding. And while it makes getting a shot off somewhat easy, sometimes you have to take your best guess at the trophy size as their horns are all mixed in with the branches.

The PH had photos of larger bushbuck in this area, but I was quite pleased and this allowed us to spend the next three days concentrating on nyala. Which we ended up needing.

Brickburn, they are beautiful little buck, IMO only second behind nyala. And yes plan on taking a few scratches for your efforts. I have pictures of my legs after just 4 days in that riverine brush. Not pretty! But worth it.

 

[Bushbuck]

Another interesting fact about Bushbuck is they are all wild. Please feel free to correct me any of you guys from RSA if I am wrong here. I do not believe there are any Bushbuck available at the animal auctions. I just double checked a couple sites and still do not see any listed. I have always been told that all the places that have Bushbuck reguardless if they have a fence or not only have wild native Bushbuck. I believe that would make it the Only spiral horn in RSA that is not available as a raised animal.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Another interesting fact about Bushbuck is they are all wild. Please feel free to correct me any of you guys from RSA if I am wrong here. I do not believe there are any Bushbuck available at the animal auctions. I just double checked a couple sites and still do not see any listed. I have always been told that all the places that have Bushbuck reguardless if they have a fence or not only have wild native Bushbuck. I believe that would make it the Only spiral horn in RSA that is not available as a raised animal.

Correct me too if I'm wrong, but I've been told Bushbuck are about as dangerous as anything else when you chase a wounded one into the bush. Perhaps because they're all wild.

 

[Bushbuck]

Good point phil. The funny thing is when you read the old stories of Africa prior to farming animals the Bushbuck always had that bad potential danger written about it.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

In Mr. Boddington's "Tracks Across Africa", he writes about making a bad shot on a Bushbuck. His outfitter sent in his Jack Russell. The Bushbuck turned on the little dog and durn near killed it. Fortunately the dog survived, although the dog apparently let Craig have it in the cheek for his poor shot.

My PH last year warned me about this too as we unsuccessfully hunted them. I wasn't sure if he was serious or just trying to yank a first timer's chain just a bit.

 

[enysse]

According to my knowledge, the only animal in Africa, that has not been sucessfully transplanted with any success is the Vaal rhebuck.

But there is nothing wrong with giving the bushbuck a lot of credit...he is a slendid animal to hunt!