SOUTH AFRICA: Buffalo With Craig Boddington

[Altitude sickness]

The head on that bull is ridiculously large

Love the bosses

 

[Green Chile]

I never post fast enough for everyone. You should have seen the guys reading my 14 day leopard hunt! I only post 1-2 days at a time. Hey, that's faster than it happened for me!

 

[Art Lambart II]

great Buff, i'm looking foward to the rest of the story.

 

[Elkeater]

That things is what my dreams are made of. Just a tank of a bull with a broken horn that’s lived his life.

Congrats on a awesome bull!

 

[Mekaniks]

Great Buffalo!!! Congratulations

Cheers

 

[JerBear8]

Great write up! Looking forward to the rest of your hunt (and will track down the leopard write up!)

I love going after the old bull with character. Congratulations!!

 

[abnhog]

What an awesome bull. Congratulations.

 

[Datchew]

you BROKE the trailer?!?!

In Oregon, the fellas would say that buff is a real toad.
Well done.

 

[Green Chile]

Yea we broke the eland trailer of all things. Crazy.

 

[Rare Breed]

Sometimes hunts ramp up quickly and sometimes they run all the way up to the closing buzzer. This was an interesting trip that did both! On the first day, we got into the hunt area around 7am after about a 30 min drive. The truck cab was full this morning as it was colder (about 40 F) and we had crammed as many people as we could inside the truck. The trackers get cold easily and it looked like they had on every layer they could find!

Right away we started seeing buffalo in small groups and all bulls. We saw a few that had great potential in a year or two…then we drove around a corner and the truck just came to a stop immediately. All the binos came up at the same time and we were looking at 3 good bulls off to the right at less than 50 yards. The one on the left was at least 42” but still young…the one on the right was very wide but with a smaller boss and kind of flat looking with no drops…the middle one though…Shazam…he had it all…great bosses, good drops and was 42 plus with a lot of mass. Chico said what do you think and I said, hey that’s a shooter any day of the week.

We drove past them and down the hill to a place where we could pull off the path. We started gearing up and I thought wow…first hours of first morning and we might be shooting. No time for jet lag…time to get serious. Craig and Chico loaded their doubles and I loaded the 416 as the trackers lined out in front of us. We worked back up the hill and found where they had crossed the road after we left them. Within 10 minutes we were on the sticks but they were just behind some trees so we waited. Waiting can turn out or not…this time the wind swirled and they moved. Twice more we stalked, crawled and got back on the sticks and each time the wind switched again as the day warmed up and thermals started moving around. The third time busted, they joined a larger group of bulls so we backed out to let them relax and we moved on. Chico says, plenty of bulls…let’s keep going.

We walk back to the bakkie and drive further into the ranch. I asked the size of this place and Chico said about 15k acres but we would be looking at multiple ranches of 25k plus throughout the week. About 1 hour later, we see some dark shapes moving through the trees just in front of us. The buff cross the road right in front of us and both of them were easily shooters. Nothing was said…nothing needed to say in this truck as we bailed out and checked the wind. Our group is pretty large with PH, myself, 2 trackers, Craig and his intern who is visiting to film hunts. Chico and I go forward quickly into the trees with 1 tracker and the rest stay behind.

Within 5 min, we have caught up to the pair which is now standing in an opening in the trees. As I’m looking at them about 40 yards away, I whisper to Chico…these bulls have huge bodies! He nods at me and we kneel quietly to get a better look at them. One is broken on the left side but is heavy horned and giant in the body. What looks like his brother is behind him with even more of a broken horn and almost as big. At this point, I know I like the bull closest to us but there is no shot with his buddy right behind his vitals. From previous experiences, I know this 400 grain TSX going 2350+ will almost always exit on broadsides and usually on quartering shots. So we wait….and wait…but the wind is strong in our face so there is no rush.

After what seemed a long time but was about 10-15 min, the bull behind adjusted his position and the sticks went up. Chico whispers if he doesn’t fall to your shot, I will follow up since he is on the edge of heavy cover…I nod and get into position. I run through my little pre-shoot routine quickly and settle the reticle 1/3 up and just behind the front leg. The shot breaks and the bull dips down heavily and then turns from the shot….the double 500 nitro goes off beside me and seems to almost accelerate the bull…my 2nd shot is on the way…a hard quartering angle, which turns the bull again to our right. Now he is walking slowly…very sick…I shoot again and he drops. I reload…and we watch…his head comes up and I shoot again without prompting. Now we are on the move and getting behind him…he is done. Wow…11am first morning and the main goal is down.

As many of you know, at this point you stand there looking at him and thinking about the events that have quickly run their course. I see all of my shots have exited and I can’t tell about the 500 nitro..later we recover that bullet in the skinning shed. We look up and his buddy is standing there waiting for him to get up and join him. It’s one of those moments as a hunter that makes you reflective. He stands there the whole time we are recovering the bull…watching…waiting for something that cannot happen. We keep our rifles loaded and close at hand in case he returns.

At this point, Craig, intern and the 2nd tracker join us. I’m looking at the bull as Craig walks up and he says what the hell?!? I turn to him and he says I’ve seen a lot of buffalo dead and alive in over 40 years of hunting Africa and I’ve always said there is NO buff in Africa that weighs a ton. This one does! It’s at LEAST 1/3 bigger than the buff I shot here last week.

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Awesome bull my friend!!!! Congratulations!!! Well done!!!