Well my second trip to South Africa came to an end earlier this week. I have just now had some time to report a bit on it. Last year was my first trip to Africa and first experience hunting with White Lion Safaris and its' owner PH Ricus de Villiers. Based on that experience I decided to go for round two this year and try for a bigger buffalo. I was hesitant at first, as last years trip was absolutely flawless and I thought completely unrepeatable. Well I was wrong, this year turned out even better.
When I returned home last year I contacted Ricus and asked him to put another hunt together for this year and we would go from there. He sent me a deal and I told him I was going to wait and see what happened in the November elections before making any big commitments. Anyway I was satisfied with the election results and told Ricus that the hunt would be a go. We met in Augusta, GA in January while he was in the US doing some promotional work and got the major hunt details worked out and a contract signed.
Fast forward to April 14 and I was wheels up on Delta 200 headed to Joburg. Ricus met me at the airport on the evening of April 15 right on schedule for the ride up to the Limpopo province where the buffalo hunt was take place. We got in about 9:30 and once the baggage was put in our rooms we were served an excellent dinner. Our host PH Neil Barnard was a very gracious host as was his lovely wife Debbie. After dinner it was off to my very comfortable room to try and get some sleep.
Next morning after a nice breakfast we were off to the rifle range so I could take a couple of practice shots with the CZ .416 Rigby I was borrowing from Ricus. After a couple of shots I assume Ricus was satisfied I could still shoot because we then drove off in search of buffalo sign to give us a starting point for the hunt.
We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon doing a lot of looking and some walking before the hunt was to get serious the next day. While driving and walking the area proved to hold quite a bit of different game species all looking to be in prime condition.
Next morning we were out at daybreak looking for fresh buffalo sign to follow. The buff seemed very elusive and were not easy to locate. Finally late in the morning we did spot three from the truck, more or less by accident. Although they were on the move Ricus got a fair glance at them and determined they were not what we were looking for. That afternoon we were back at it with no results. We did manage to jump 3-4 out of where they were bedded but could not see them. The day ended with a great meal back at the lodge and some time by the fire.
The next day we were back at it as the sun was rising. Finding any fresh spoor was very difficult during the morning and things moved along slowly. We went back out in the mid afternoon and Ricus saw two young buff take off in the distance. We decided to follow and see if there were any others that may have potential. We finally jumped a group of 7-8 and saw a couple that looked like what we were looking for as they thundered off. We spent the rest of the day until nightfall playing bump and run with that group.
The beginning of the third day started of much as the second for the first hour. We looked for sign of the group we had chased the afternoon before. Finally after about two hours we got on the group again. The wind was really giving us problems. They spooked a couple of times and broke down into smaller groups. After seeing one nice bull about 40 yards they again winded us and were off. We got on the track of a group of three and lost them on the rocky ground. At that point we decided to parallel their last known position and try and get ahead of them to get the wind right. We had been moving for probably 700-800 yards and we spotted at least two to our left at about 60 yards standing in the trees/bushes watching their back trail. At this point we were crosswind and had a little time to look them over despite the heavy cover. Ricus finally told me the one on the left was what we were looking for. I looked at him thru the scope and searched for a path for the bullet to travel. The bull was not quite facing us and had his head down. The shoulder was available but there was too many branches and trash to risk a deflection. I believe at that point both buffalo were looking at us trying to decide what we were. Anyway with his head down and the window I had to shoot the only shot available was the spine. I took it and he went down right where he stood, the bullet catching him square in the spine. At that point Ricus is shouting reload as the other bull acted like he may want to get to know us better. He ran 50 feet to the left and then turned and looked like he wanted to come right at us. Thru the scope I was looking at him and in the edge I could see the one I had shot still thrashing on the ground. The second bull then decided he had other things to do and ran on off to the left. We quickly approached the one I had shot and he was down for the count, but I administered one more shot to the chest from 6-7 yards and he sounded the death bellow. At this point I was able to finally breath again and could feel my blood pressure start to return to normal.
Ricus slapped me on the back and congratulated me and said I had done it again. Well I guess I did the shooting, but Ricus must be congratulated for all of his hard work for putting me in that position.
When I returned home last year I contacted Ricus and asked him to put another hunt together for this year and we would go from there. He sent me a deal and I told him I was going to wait and see what happened in the November elections before making any big commitments. Anyway I was satisfied with the election results and told Ricus that the hunt would be a go. We met in Augusta, GA in January while he was in the US doing some promotional work and got the major hunt details worked out and a contract signed.
Fast forward to April 14 and I was wheels up on Delta 200 headed to Joburg. Ricus met me at the airport on the evening of April 15 right on schedule for the ride up to the Limpopo province where the buffalo hunt was take place. We got in about 9:30 and once the baggage was put in our rooms we were served an excellent dinner. Our host PH Neil Barnard was a very gracious host as was his lovely wife Debbie. After dinner it was off to my very comfortable room to try and get some sleep.
Next morning after a nice breakfast we were off to the rifle range so I could take a couple of practice shots with the CZ .416 Rigby I was borrowing from Ricus. After a couple of shots I assume Ricus was satisfied I could still shoot because we then drove off in search of buffalo sign to give us a starting point for the hunt.
We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon doing a lot of looking and some walking before the hunt was to get serious the next day. While driving and walking the area proved to hold quite a bit of different game species all looking to be in prime condition.
Next morning we were out at daybreak looking for fresh buffalo sign to follow. The buff seemed very elusive and were not easy to locate. Finally late in the morning we did spot three from the truck, more or less by accident. Although they were on the move Ricus got a fair glance at them and determined they were not what we were looking for. That afternoon we were back at it with no results. We did manage to jump 3-4 out of where they were bedded but could not see them. The day ended with a great meal back at the lodge and some time by the fire.
The next day we were back at it as the sun was rising. Finding any fresh spoor was very difficult during the morning and things moved along slowly. We went back out in the mid afternoon and Ricus saw two young buff take off in the distance. We decided to follow and see if there were any others that may have potential. We finally jumped a group of 7-8 and saw a couple that looked like what we were looking for as they thundered off. We spent the rest of the day until nightfall playing bump and run with that group.
The beginning of the third day started of much as the second for the first hour. We looked for sign of the group we had chased the afternoon before. Finally after about two hours we got on the group again. The wind was really giving us problems. They spooked a couple of times and broke down into smaller groups. After seeing one nice bull about 40 yards they again winded us and were off. We got on the track of a group of three and lost them on the rocky ground. At that point we decided to parallel their last known position and try and get ahead of them to get the wind right. We had been moving for probably 700-800 yards and we spotted at least two to our left at about 60 yards standing in the trees/bushes watching their back trail. At this point we were crosswind and had a little time to look them over despite the heavy cover. Ricus finally told me the one on the left was what we were looking for. I looked at him thru the scope and searched for a path for the bullet to travel. The bull was not quite facing us and had his head down. The shoulder was available but there was too many branches and trash to risk a deflection. I believe at that point both buffalo were looking at us trying to decide what we were. Anyway with his head down and the window I had to shoot the only shot available was the spine. I took it and he went down right where he stood, the bullet catching him square in the spine. At that point Ricus is shouting reload as the other bull acted like he may want to get to know us better. He ran 50 feet to the left and then turned and looked like he wanted to come right at us. Thru the scope I was looking at him and in the edge I could see the one I had shot still thrashing on the ground. The second bull then decided he had other things to do and ran on off to the left. We quickly approached the one I had shot and he was down for the count, but I administered one more shot to the chest from 6-7 yards and he sounded the death bellow. At this point I was able to finally breath again and could feel my blood pressure start to return to normal.
Ricus slapped me on the back and congratulated me and said I had done it again. Well I guess I did the shooting, but Ricus must be congratulated for all of his hard work for putting me in that position.
