SOUTH AFRICA: A Couple Canucks Hunting Buffalo With DAVE FREEBURN SAFARIS Aug 22-29, 2024

[BC Tal]

@Just a dude in BC (Matt) and I had been talking about doing a hunt in Africa for a couple years now. He has family in South Africa and Zambia so that helped shaped the choices. We did some research online, but after a recommendation from one of Matt's uncles and a chat with Dave, we felt really good hunting with @DAVE FREEBURN SAFARIS in Limpopo. Papers were signed and we were booked for an 8 day buffalo hunt from Aug 22-30 with plains game add-ons.

From the beginning we knew we wanted to take our own rifles. We talked endlessly about what rifles and calibers. We both wanted classic calibers and unique / classic rifles that would be at home in Africa. Matt naturally went with a custom Ruger No 1 in 500 NE and a custom Krieghoff Optima in double 9.3x74R with a 20 GA tube strapped to the bottom. I, being a lefty had a little more interesting time finding what I wanted, but landed on a Ruger No 1 in 416 Rigby and a left hand Winchester Model 70 Safari Express that I had re-barreled to 300 H&H. We worked up our reloads and hit the range. The 500 NE and 416 Rigby were both ok off the sticks, but doing any shooting off the bench we quickly learned to add a small sandbag behind the recoil pad when shooting multiple rounds... ugh. Most of the range visits ended with a trip to the pub to review the day's shooting and discuss the upcoming hunt. Looking back, it was a great time, full of optimism and dreams of Africa.

We booked our flights with Jenn and Darren at @TRAVEL EXPRESS, can't say enough good things about our experience, top notch comms all the way. WestJet from Victoria to Vancouver to Atlanta and Delta to Joburg. Our guns were booked all the way through and we never saw them again until Joburg. Interesting note, we declared our rifles at the airport in Victoria, did up the paperwork and then over to the oversized luggage area. The security folks had a table and then did a cool thing by pulling a screen on wheels over to shield us from nosy travelers, nice! Surprisingly rather pleasant exchanges and off we went. Flights were on time and non-eventful, but that Atlanta to Joburg leg was a killer at 15.5 hrs! There were a number of obvious hunters on the Joburg flight - middle aged men wearing their khakis and tans, so naturally we talked to them. Once we landed we grabbed our luggage off the carousel and then to our surprise the rifles cases came down them too! Ok, off to meet our point of contact from Afton who asked, "why do you have your rifles already?" We shrugged and headed over to the police station. They didn't seem to phased when we rolled up to their office with our rifles. Opened the cases, confirmed the serial numbers matched the paperwork and we were off to Afton Lodge to store our rifles while we visited Joburg and Zambia for a week.

So glad we flew in a week early: we got a chance to visit Matt's family, see the country and perhaps most importantly get over the jetlag in order to be fresh for the hunt. Among the highlights was a trip to the courts to watch a dog beater get sentenced with a fine and jail time (Matt's cousin works with the SPCA), eat African street food of beef rashers and pap - and survive, visit with some Canadian troops from the Boer War buried in Pretoria, watch South Africa play Australia in a rugby match at a pub and had a number of braai. We did a quick couple of days to visit more family that farm in Zambia. I can now say I've had my clothes coal iron pressed. Amazing experiences seeing the country, the people, the food.

Day 1

The morning of Aug 22, we returned to Afton Lodge where we were met by Dave's apprentice PH, Keenan. Grabbed our rifles, loaded up the Land Cruiser and off to Dave's farm on the border with Botswana in Limpopo. We met with Dave and his family and had lunch - the first of many wonderful meals, got our gear stowed away in our rooms, signed some paperwork and off to the range to confirm zero on the rifles. My No 1 was good and the Winchester only required two clicks right. Of course the show only started when Matt pulled out his rifles with their magnificent stocks.

Once the rifles were good to go it was immediately off for the afternoon hunt. Matt and I took up our positions in the back of the Land Cruiser with Keenan, Damian (Dave's son) and Tracker John. This would become the crew for the rest of the hunt and a good crew it was. Apparently, Matt went behind my back and contacted Dave before we left Canada with instructions that I would be first in the breech for a buff. That first afternoon we saw Guinea fowl galore, impala and warthogs. Getting close to the end of the day we glassed wildebeest and buff at a waterhole. Dave, myself and Damian stalked through the thorn bushes to get closer. My heart was pounding furiously. Slowly we got into position behind some trees and brush and Dave set up the sticks. Instructions were whispered and up I go on the sticks with the Ruger. A tree was in the way. Then it happened... I went to point to the buff I couldn't see and through gritted teeth Dave instructed me to get my white ass Canadian arm down and moved the sticks to the right. Unfortunately, bush was now obscuring the buff and I was too slow to communicate this to Dave... the buff moved on. Hard lessons for me how to be behind the sticks and that I needed to communicate better with Dave. Last light came quickly once the sun was down and that was the end of day 1. The pre-dinner drinks around the fire and the dinner were great, but in my heart I was reflecting that I needed to tighten it down quickly.

 

[IdahoMo]

Alright! I'm looking forward to this report!

 

[V.Veritas]

Keep it coming....

 

[Datchew]

Love the pithy hat pictures. Looks like fun!

 

[Papa72]

I just gotta get me one a them piths!

 

[Just a dude in BC]

Good day Gent’s,

Post #2

Firstly, the pith hats were bought from Robertas hats in Victoria BC, if any Canadian AHF people are looking to pick one up.

Day two:

Each day hunting started with breakfast at 6:00am, chased with a cup or two of coffee. Dave has a great chef, and meals were always well presented. The first morning we sorted out the back of the land cruiser and started heading out for the hunt.

Obviously the first order of the day was to poke a bit of lighthearted fun at the South Africans, who had bundled themselves up for the cool morning. As we were representing Canada, we did not wear jackets due to the presence of antifreeze in our blood… But perhaps that was leftover alcohol in our system from the night before?

The morning was spent checking cameras and looking for buff track crossing the road. Though we each had our list of desired species, obviously buff was the focus, with the plan to take other species al la cart once the buff had been taken. Both Tal and I had our original lists of what we wanted to take in an ideal scenario.
Tal:

• Buff
• Gems
• Zebra
• Impala

Matt:

• Buff
• Kudu
• Gems
• Zebra
• Springbok

Let’s so how close we get to our list! Full of optimism we had a great time that first morning getting a feel for the size and layout of the farm, with the odd pause to get out and look at spoor.

It was just one of these stops, while we were looking at track, when ahead we spotted a small group of sable off to the right in a clearing. Three to four cows and a nice bull. Now, I must admit that I did not really want to take a sable. Or more accurately, that I wanted to take a sable very badly, but was thinking along the lines of: “If I have a great time here on this buff hunt, then I can come back for one of Dave’s Sable packages”… So, what to do? While I was pondering this, Dave was on his glasses scoping out the bull.
Dave “he is a good sized bull, but one his horn tips is cracked off, so his horns are not perfectly symmetrical”
Matt: *internally wanting to shoot the sable but also preserve a future trip, mulling over the possibilities*
Dave: “he is probably around 40ish, maybe 41”
Matt: *trying to remember if that is good or bad*
Dave: “Since he is not symmetrical, I can give you a bit of a deal”
Matt: *pulled out of existential crisis* “Oh? How much”
Dave: -= this sentence has been redacted due to PH client privilege=-
Dave: “Do you want to take him”?

Well, my decision was made up then, that I could always come back and hunting something other than sable, so we started moving up the left-hand side of the road, to get a better angle on him. At present he was ass on to us and had only been looking over his shoulder intermittently, to keep an eye on what we were doing. We closed to around 100 meters (103 by Dave's range finder), and I put my gun on the sticks. This also caused me a bit of consternation, as I did not have my plains game rifle with me, we had after all been looking for buff. So here I was with my 500 NE pointed at this poor doomed sable, waiting for him to give me a better angle. All the while lamenting that my custom Krieghoff was back in the truck. The 10-20 seconds it took for him to notice something was up and turn to get a slightly better look at us, seemed to stretch for epochs. But eventually he turned into a steep quartering away position. Enough that I figured a shot to break the far shoulder would end up hitting both the near and far lung. “Take him when you are ready” said Dave, and the 500 NE took its first shot at live game.

Coincidentally, for this trip I had opted to shoot 600gr North Fork cup point solids. And in the Ruger no.1 spits these out at 2160 fps for a little over 6100ft/lbs. Remember kids, there is no such thing as over kill, because being dead is digital, you are or you aren’t.

As intended the bullet went through both lungs and broke the offside shoulder. Then skipped off into bushveld to live out its days as its sees fit, for all I know it is currently vacationing in Venice. On being hit the Sable tipped back a bit, lifted his offside leg and started to lope away, only to collapse after about 40 yards. And with that, we had our first game! In the end the sable made SCI, and was 40.5” with an excellent look about him with that cracked off tip.

We then headed to the skinning shack to drop off the sable, grab lunch, and have a nap.

The evening was relatively uneventful, we continued to look for tracks, saw more game, and of note Tal almost had an opportunity on a Zebra. However the Zebra gave him the slip when they were still about 260 yards out.

That night we celebrated the first kill with some 1984 Chateau De Laubade Armagnac. We had brought a bottle, and decided that it would be rationed out at the end of any day in which we had success. It turned into a wonderful tradition while in camp, and I highly recommend this practice.

The Sable

Also the Sable... I like it a bit rare.

The very fine Armagnac

 

[BC Tal]

That armagnac was pretty damn good!

 

[BC Tal]

Day three:

Yesterday breakfast started with bovril on toast for good luck, but apparently not everyone had it... @DAVE FREEBURN SAFARIS (Dave). This can be the only explanation for why we didn't get a buff on day two. Anyway, no bovril on toast for day three. But energized from Matt getting that Sable on Day 2, hopes were high for todays hunt. We bombed up the Land Cruiser with gear and the crew and headed out. We checked for buff track on the road and a couple of times piled out of the Land Cruiser following tracks through the thorn bushes. Those trips through the thorn bushes following tracks was a good work out and generated what I believe was one of the few compliments from Dave on how Matt and I were able to move quietly through the bush. I'll take what I can get. Tracker John was again a tracking machine, but no luck getting in shooting range of a buff.

We were always on the look out for plains game opportunities, but again, the main effort was the buff.

An hour or so before last light, we split up with Dave, myself and Dave's son Damian walking through the bush to get close to a waterhole while Matt and Keenan went to another waterhole. Dave was on the glasses and off we went as quickly and quietly as possible through the bush. We pulled up approximately 150m from a couple of bulls and ever so slowly moved into a position 100m off. From a kneeling position, Dave slowly pushed the sticks out from behind the bush and trees into a clearing and then from almost under them bowed his head a couple of times and we all remained perfectly still when the buff looked our way. After some time Dave motioned for me to crawl directly behind him. Ever so quietly he whispered that I would move either very quickly or slowly and deliberately up to the sticks and take the bull on the left... I still hadn't seen the bulls from behind the bush and wouldn't until I was actually up on the sticks. I took a deep breath, exhaled and slowly but continuously moved out and on the sticks. I located the left bull, 101m off (Dave lazed him with his binos), standing broadside and now looking at me. I took another deep breath and pulled the trigger on the Ruger No 1. I sent the first round - a North Fork 400gr semi spitzer (bonded lead tip and remainder pure copper) slightly low and back of the shoulder. Disappointment, but no time to think about it. Reload, the remaining rounds were North Fork 400gr cup point solids. I remember Dave yelling to keep firing. For whatever reason the buff didn't try to run right away, but turned towards me, now a full frontal. I took the second shoot, seemed good and the buff appeared to shudder. Later we identified it hit the top of the heart and lungs, a killing shot, but I didn't know it at the time. The buff still stood there! Reload. At some point I moved forward off the sticks and braced the rifle against a tree. A third shot at the frontal was a raking shot high and to the shoulder. Reload. At some point I hear Dave yell there is blood on his nose and to keep firing. The buff now turns to run away and I got the fourth shot directly under his anus. Reload. He turned to the left and laid down. Dave yelled to put another one in him and so I put a fifth and final round in him. That was enough, he let out his death bellows and died. I'd like to think the second shot was the first fatal shot and if he had run then, he would have died 5 mins later and some short distance off. But he was still standing and moving so I kept putting rounds into him until he was down for good.

I approached the buff from his back and behind. He wasn't moving. A poke to the eye for confirmation. Dave shook my hand. I thanked him for putting me in a good position and for allowing me to finish the buff myself. He said he was prepared to shoot if need be. We called Keenan and Matt on the radio to bring the Land Cruiser to us. Took photos just before last light and headed back to camp to get help to load the buff in the Land Cruiser. Once loaded, we headed to the skinning shack to drop off the buff and then head to the lodge for supper. Drinks tasted pretty damn good that night and so did dinner. After dinner we celebrated the first buff kill with more of the armagnac around the fire. What an amazing feeling. What an adrenaline dump.
The buff was 40" and made SCI. I really like the bosses. He will taste good over a charcoal grill in two nights.

Tal's Buff

Dave and Tal

Loading the Buff on the Land Cruiser under the Watchful Supervision of the Dogs

At the Skinning Shack

One of the North Fork 400gr Cup Point Solids. The Cup has Mushroomed Perfectly Creating a Slightly Larger Wound Channel While being Pushed by Solid Copper.

Tasty Tal's Buff Tenderloin with Scalloped Potatoes... Yummy!