Florida Buffs

[falcon]

I was on the 'puter and at the same time watching the hunting channel the other day,(I know, I know, I'm sorry 'bout it) when a show came on about hunting Asian water buffs in Florida. Anyone else see it? J&R Outfitters has a 4000 acre ranch on the edge of Ocachobee down there with several species including water buffalo. Showed a guy take one of 4 or 5 that had gotten loose, with a rifle. Then they did a stalk on another with a bow.(compound) They are some big ole dudes. The guide talked about them some, echoing alot of what I'd read here. One of the better things that I've seen on the hunting shows as far as actually going after something instead of sitting in a shack and sticking a rifle out of a slot. Just thought I'd ask, It sure wouldn't take the place of hunting OZ. Glynn

[CT Bowhunter]

Any more info???? I'm looking for some where to hunt in February. Would be interesting with my longbow.

[LBR]

CT, read the other posts about the water buffalo.  Seriously, I don't think you have nearly enough time to prepare--you need a heavyweight bow, and some real heavy arrows for these critters.  It's going to be another 3 years or so before I get to go, and it will probably take me most of that to get everything together and be comfortable with the equipment.

Chad

[Rick McGowan]

Does anyone know how much they charge for this? I have seen those ads somewhere. I wouldn't think the trophy quality could be very high, since a good trophy bull is probably at least 15 years old. Personally the big part of a hunt to me is visiting exotic places, meeting the local people and the whole experience. Its worth saving up to visit Australia, even if you didn't hunt there. Rick

[Ray Hammond]

I heard about this some time ago...the buffalo look different than the ones Ive seen come from Australia...the horns are just shaped differently...dont know if its another subspecies or what...but they are different looking..the hunts run from 750 bucks to 4000..but I don't know the details. Think the website is  www.jroutfitters.com  or something like that

[Rick McGowan]

Yeah, those are way smaller in body and the horns are much smaller and a different shape than the Aussie buff. What the heck is a barasingha? Rick

[Rick McGowan]

Clint, yeah I did a search after I posted that. They are pretty neat looking deer, I'd like to hunt wild ones somewhere. Rick

[waterone]

Rick;

I believe you will find that the barishinga is a species that is not open to hunting in its native environment - India, Nepal, Bhutan and some of Bangladesh (I believe.) This is due to some of the same reasons the blackbuck is nearly extinct in it's native India.  

Unfortunately, this just means that many of the animals we hunt, even in Australia, were introduced to that area.  The water buffalo in Australia is in fact an introduced species, as is the pig, camel, wild cattle, rabbit, cat and so on.

All in all the barishinga looks to be a pretty neat animal.

chuck

[Rick McGowan]

Chuck, yep I know all that, but some of those animals from India and such have been released in areas where they can be hunted, even in the states. Sika, fallow and sambar deer are free range in some areas. Rick

[waterone]

Rick;

Believe me, I felt a little faint   :D   mentioning that to you.  BTW, I say that as I really, really enjoy your posts and the stuff that I have seen written about you and your adventures.

The point i think I was heading to, without hijacking the thread was that a lot of the stuff that we now hunt and fish for that matter, seems as if we humans transplanted them to where we want them.  

For example, where all my kin are from, in the mountains of western NC, there were no deer written about by the earliest of my ancestors, just Elk and Woodland buffalo and something they called "small deer" or squirrels.

The only thing left of the Elk and the Buffalo are the names of creeks, rivers, mountains, etc.

I think the thing that I am most interested and probably others is the idea of fair chase.  I haven't the experience that you have, but I think without a doubt, buff hunting in OZ IS fair chase.

I wonder is hunting the buff in Florida fair chase.  I lived in Clewiston some 25 years ago and helped "hunt" some feral pigs with some insane cowboys with dogs, horses and ropes!!  That was a fair chase.  If the buff are on those big ranches that are located in South Central Fl that I remember, it may be fair chase.  This may be a good bargin for some of those that currently afford a trip to OZ.

BTW, saw a program on mysterious animals and they talked about a giant monitor lizard in Australia, called it the "Lizard of OZ".  No kidding.  A 15 to 25 foot long Goana might be cool, but how would you bring it down?

      chuck

[Rick McGowan]

No worries Chuck, jump in anywhere you have something to say    I have some serious reservations about how fair chase the FL buff hunts would be. 4000 acres really isn't much for animals of that size and from their photos it looks like pretty open country. At any rate it is behind high and I am sure strong or electric fences. The ranch that I hunt buff on most of the time in OZ is bigger than Pennsylvania! Lots of times we spot a bull we never see him again the rest of that season. There are a few cattle fences, but those mean NOTHING to water buffalo. In fact on some stations they shoot every buffalo they see since they damage so many fences. A big bull buffalo has several ways to deal with cattle fences. Ususally they just slide between the wires, since they have a skin more than an inch think barbed wird dosn't impress them. Sometimes they hook their horns under the bottom wire and with a toss of their head, pop the posts on either side right out of the ground, then they just walk over the fence. Believe is or not a 2200# buffalo will sometimes just jump over a three strand fence like a whitetail. Last of all, if they are in a hurry, they just run right through it. A high electric fence is the only thing that will hold them. Buffalo also will adjust to people being around quite easily, sometimes that isn't good, when they lose their fear of people. Rick