Inyate Cubwa Sana 2

[H&H,hunter]

The hunt was a 7 day affair and we had killed a Good buff on Day one (see the inyate cubwa sana post)101 inch total SCI minus 3 inches of horn that I shot off of him while he was down (Insurance shot from the rear all the way through the chest out the neck and through the tip of his left horn ) Oh well things happen.

So in any case we couldn't put it toghether on a large buff for the rest of the hunt either the wind was wrong the puku would spook and scare the buff or we'd jump them in the long grass and not get a shot or we'd do a perfect stalk only to find no good buff in the herd.

While we were pursuing the buff we got way to close to a cow and calf elephant ,as in 25 feet and had to retreat post haste. We got into the middle of a herd of sleeping buff at midday once without us realizing it and had to reatreat post haste. We just about stepped on a Hippo and had to retreat post haste.

Needless to say the long grass is not your friend in hunting and the rains were late this year so we had lots of grass to contend with. Finally on the last day we had given up packed our bags and loaded into the boat for the 4 hour trip back to base camp. My PH Wyane suggested that we keep our rifles handy just in case. 2 hours into the trip I was resigned to the fact that I'd killed a good buff and should be happy with that. When Denbigh our apprentice PH called out from the top deck Inyate' Cubwa Sana (Very big buffalo) We beached the boat and started a stalk from the beach.

Aprroximatley 1000 yds of crawling and belly slithering later we were 35 yards from the nearest buff in a herd of about 45 animals the wind was perfect we had 2 hours of light left, the hunting gods were smiling on us that day. We imediatly spotted two good bulls one was a supper wide younger bull he would have gone well over 40 inches. I told wayne that I was going to shot him but he talked me out of it. He thought we should wait for an ancient wide big bossed bull that was lying down in the very rear of the herd. In any case to make a long story short we waited for nearly an hour and a half untill a younger bull finally pushed Mr Bad boy to his feet and he gave me a perfect standing broad side shot at about 60 yards.

What occured next is a prime example of why the Inyate' has a reputation of being a though customer. The first shot was a good punch, a 500 gr Woodliegh soft point low through both shoulders and both lungs. At the shot Inyate buckled regained and took off at his typical lumbering gait. I stood up and gave him 3 rear to forward raking shots with solids each one a thumping whoop of a hit that raked him from his hip and flank all the way through his chest.

As I was reloading he went out of sight into a small dorongo (Draw) as we approached , I first saw him he was standing broad side at about 170 yds. Wyane asked me if I could hit him from here. The first shot was a whumping pump through the chest the second missed. Inyate ran into a thick Metette' clump and turned to face us with his head down and swaggering from side to side we cautiously approached and at roughly 50 yards I shot him in the chest his reaction was to throw up his head and give us the ole evil eye, my next shot I tried for the nose but pulled the shot slightly right hitting him in cheek and through the massive muscle of his neck. The shot turned him and he retreated into the thickness of the metette thicket. We circled and finaly made a visual contact after about 5 minutes of searching. he was standing facing us at about 20 yards but he was mostly concealed.

We waited for awhile and finally made the decision to go in after him as it was getting dark. Three of us slowly advanced safeties off guns shouldered two .458 Lotts and one .375H&H. A tense situation to say the least. Fortunatley the bull was near the end of his rope. At about 15 feet he stuck his head up just enough that I was able to put a 500gr solid just below his right boss fliping the bull nearly over as the 6000 ft lbs of energy scrambled his brain and neck. The battled scared old veteren was officially in retirement. He had soaked up 4000 grains of .458 bullets and over 40,000 foot pounds of bullet energy.All of which were good hits except the cheek shot all of which had hit the vitals.

When we skinned the cape Denbigh found a festering wound and dug out a large musket ball the bull also had a scar all the way around his neck from an old snare. Needless to say this old vetern had lived a tough life. He will have a proud place in my heart in my memories and on my wall.

This bull will score well in the record book but I haven't measured him out of respect. The memory of our battle will be record enough.

[clown714]

good story!

nice reading,TOUGH critters for sure

clown

[ckurts]

and a wonderful narrative. Taking a creature like that after a 1000 yard stalk must release an adrenaline torrent.

Unbelievable- a pound of lead!

[H&H,hunter]

Ckurts,
Words alone cannot explain the adrenaline release. I've been on the adrenaline DT's for the last 3 days. It was the most exciting thing I've ever done in my life, period much like loosing your virginty during a plane crash I'd imagine.
The stalk was exciting but the waiting for over an hour and a half for a clear shot was mind blowing all the while laying in the grass not more than 25 or 30 yards from the nearest buff in the herd. Makes my hand shake just thinking of it.

[Art Eatman]

Truly fine!!!

Art

[ojibweindian]

H&H

This may be a stupid question, but can one eat cape buffalo? If so, what is its flavor like?

[ronin308]

Congratulations on a successful hunt!

[H&H,hunter]

Ojibweindian,
Actually that's a great question that I'd asked many time and had gotten many different answers for. The Answer is an unconditional yes!!! The meat is fantastic. Tastes just like a fine beef just a little more stringy. None of either of these bulls were wasted. On the first bull several locals showed up and were rewarded with every part of the buff minus the back straps and one hind quarter which we ate in camp for the rest of the week. The natives carried out the head and cape in return for the meat.

When I say every part of the buff I mean these guys even took the guts!! The buff that we ate was superb. We had Ox tail soup, Cape Buaffalo stroganoff, Filets mignot, pizza made with buff sausage, and hamburgers. All of which were 4 star.

H&Hhunter.

[ojibweindian]

Sounds great! Were you able to take any meat home?

Saw the pictures of your buffs; they're both huge! Did you use a .375H&H to take the buffs? The reason I ask is because there is a .375H&H at a gunshop I frequent in Huntsville. The shop is asking a little over $500.

[H&H,hunter]

Ojibweindian,
No I used a .458 Lott as my primary gun but I brought a .375H&H over as back up gun. I wouldn't hesitate to use a .375 on Buff. I would venture to guess that more people shoot Buff with the .375 than any other caliber.

What make and model of .375 is it? If it's a controlled feed Winchester in good condition I'd snap it up. If it's one of the push feed Winchesters I'd leave it alone. Let me know I'll give you some idea as to what it's worth.

If you get a chance to go hunt Buffalo do it.

[SnakeLover]

Karibu! asili

Jamili mbiu msasi!!

(loose translation - Welcome home. Nice buffalo horn Hunter!!)

Between getting my hides/horns from my safari and your stories/pictures, I'm getting that African itch again!! Thanks.

[Al Thompson]

Buff is very good eating. My two were sliced down for jerky/biltong and the fillets were camp meat.

Ditto in Botswana for the locals and meat. Ours scarfed up a couple of zebra like there was no tomorrow. The large intestinal worms made me very lleery of the zebra meat though - my PHs agreed.

[H&H,hunter]

Snake lover,
Asanti Sana!

[ojibweindian]

H&H

Not sure what make the rifle was, but it was push-feed. It may have been a Winchester, but that is just a guess. They were asking in the neighborhood of $500, give or take a few dollars.

I'd love to hunt buffalo, but I am a somewhat inexperienced hunter. It will be some time before I felt capable to go to Africa.

[H&H,hunter]

Ojibweindian,
Well there's only one cure for that. Hunt and hunt often. If I were in your shoes and was seriously considering a .375H&H I'd go and buy a Winchester model 70 Stainless synthetic. There is no better value on the market in my opinon.

The first thing that you do after purchase is install a 1.5 inch soft decelerator pad and a 1/4 inch soft foam stick on cheek pad. You won't be disapointed. And remember it's always a good time to buy a new rifle.

[ojibweindian]

H&H

This year, I'll be hunting bunnies and squirrels with a Marlin 25MN. Would love to go deer hunting, but the only place that I will be able to go will be Skyline WMA in Jackson County, Alabama and I hear that place is CROWDED!

[H&H,hunter]

Oji,
I'll tell you what. Bunnies and squirrels are about the best practice a hunter can get. Elmer kieth once said that he owed a whole lot of his shooting ability to running Jack rabbits. I'd have to agree.

[Rick R]

H & H Hunter,

Not to belittle your achievment and it sounds like you made good shots. But, shooting a critter that much sounds like you pestered him to death! Gads, minimum caliber to hunt one of those things should be an RPG...

Capstick allowed us all to go to Africa through his eyes, thanks for the peep through yours.

Rick

[ojibweindian]

H&H

I showed my wife the picture of your buffalo, then said that someday I would like to do the same thing. She looked at me with a rather quizical (sp?) look and said "I thought you had more sense than that".

Haven't told her of my desire to hunt bear with a .54 cal front-stuffer.

[H&H,hunter]

Oji,
Sounds like your married to a sharp cookie.

[H&H,hunter]

Rick,
Unless you disconnect the brain these things are unbelievable tough. A heart shot also does the trick however. (And this is hard to believe but it's been proven) 1. A buffalo has one of the highest adrenaline release levels of any mamal on earth. Once they get jazzed up a body shot even with a cannon such as what I shoot has little apparnt effect on them. If one is pissed enough to charge the only way to stop it is a head or high spine shot. It doesn't matter caliber your shooting either .600 .570 .700 will not stop a buffalo with a body shot!

2. It has been documented that a Buffalo with a perfect heart shot from a heavy caliber rifle. I am talking a destroyed heart can run for over 350 yards at full speed and still turn and have enough left for a determined charge. There is a theory that they store enough oxegynated blood in their shoulder and neck muscles to keep them going and the action of running will pump it to the brain.

Some individual critters are tougher than others. This one was just not going to give up. On both of my Buff, I watched the dust fly off the shoulder/neck at the shot if they had been an elk or a moose they would have done an instant nosedive.

It's just a wee bit intimidating to hit something perfectly with a heavy rifle and his only reaction is a slight flinch and to run away like he just shooed a fly.

A case inpoint, One of the guys in our camp was shooting a .500 Jefrey. He hit his second buff high in the shoulders getting both lungs. The bull ran about 500 yds and backed into a Mettete' thicket. Unlike my sitiuation they had good daylight left so they had a smoke a water and waited about 30 minutes. As they approached the thicket at about 20 feet the buff jumped up and ran he took two .400/450 nitro rounds from his PH's gun through the shoulders with no apparent effect and it still took a brain shot from the .500 at close quarters to end it.

You've got to see it to believe it! Maybe an RPG would be better but I'd recomend a head shot

[H&H,hunter]

If you look closely you can see my first and last shot on this buff. The guy holding up the head is Denbigh he is an apprentice PH who spotted these buff.

The first shot is the one low on his shoulder the buff was slightly quatering towards us so you can see that, Bullet went through both shoulders/ lungs we found it perfectly mushroomed on in the skin on the off side. He also had muliple solids that had made it to the chest cavity. Also notice the color of the blood on that hole. It's a pink froth, pure lung blood.

The last shot is just visable under the right boss. That one did the trick.