My fiancé, Tom Opre and I will soon embark on a Cape buffalo hunt in Zimbabwe with Martin Pieters Safaris. Alongside us will be Extreme Huntress winner, Jackie Gross and her fiancé. I’ve personally hunted 3 buffalo in Africa and so the duty is up to Tom and Jackie to bring down the infamous ‘Black Death’. Tom’s already been-there done-that, but in preparing Jackie for this challenge, I’ve given her some tips and thoughts on how to train.
By law it’s required to use a .375, but it’s important to be quick on your feet and be capable of making accurate and deadly shots.
Something I’ve learned prior to taking a shot is to see the “boiler room” (vital organs) of the animal from any angle. It’s best to study the anatomy of animals by looking at books with illustrations or photos. For a reference in animal-anatomy specific to Africa I refer to Kevin Robertson’s book ‘The Perfect Shot’.
To train, I like to set up water-filled jugs (a milk-jug is the size of a Cape buffalo’s heart), load my .375, run toward the jug(s) and take shots off both shooting sticks and off-hand. When hunting Cape buffalo it is very likely that your heart rate will be elevated from running or adrenaline -simulating this will help give you confidence in your rifle/ammo and in your ability to react quickly under pressure.
When the time comes and he’s looking at you like you owe him money, place that bullet perfectly and stand steady with the assumption that he’s going to charge. If he drops, always expect that he’s still alive because the most dangerous Cape buffalo is the one that’s seemingly dead. My motto: fill him full of lead until he’s dead!
Do you have any tips for preparing to hunt Cape buffalo?
-
- secantogive - Sep 19, 2012 at 2:10 AM
-
A great New Zealand hunter/author whom I had the pleasure of meeting was a bloke by the name of Keith Severinsen of Dannevirke.He hunted the big 5 prior to 1962.one of his books ‘hunter climb high’ mentioned the most dangerous animal on the planet in his opinion was a wild friesian steer.
Not much of a trophy but I can definitely see why he made this statement.When I was employed as a government culler many years ago we were deployed for 10 days in a remote state forest and were told to close with and shoot some wild cattle that were destroying the native flora and fauna.
At the time I was shooting goats and had an old BSA .222, upon encountering these animals in dense bush where visability was down to a few metres armed with a pea shooter was very disconcerting to say the least! I was lucky to survive as these massive beasts displayed their sheer power by carving instant tracks through solid native timber as if it were balsawood.
I guess the point is it’s not the size of your quarry but its temperament under duress that will get you a ticket to your reward.My advice is simply this,make the first shot count.
