It was the start of the Buff season for me and I had a couple of mates along with me for the first week so we could suss out the quality of game in the area. We had worked out all the Buff movements and now it was time to go and roll a couple if we could. Steve & Andy headed off along one side of the river and I crossed over to follow a couple of Buff as they moved off the plain. Steve & Andy had John as backup with his 458 Winchester mag (Now that's a Buff stopper), I was on my own not really looking to arrow one but see where they were going during the heat of the day.
As I crossed over I told the boys I wouldn't be long and would keep radio contact just in case I saw something realy big.
Well now the fun starts...I am following the couple of buff along until they get to the second river branch and cross over, it took me a couple of minutes to find a spot for me to get across and follow them up. Well do you think I could find them again they just disappeared out into the following floodplain which had grass up to 8ft high in places. Next best thing is to climb a tree and see which way they went....struth what you can see from a vantage point. Out on the floodplain there must have been about 30-40 Buff cruising around feeding.
I decided to go out and check them out as they were scattered around and feeding quitely. Not a lot of cover out there except the high grass patches and the odd 10ft tree... I finally noticed a lone Bull about 400m away feeding in some grass about 3 ft high so giving me a good look at him when he lifted his head. He looked Ok so I thought I would take a closer look and radioed the boys to let them know what I was doing. The reply came back as usual "Don't do anything stupid Mick".
Everything was going well, I got into about 80m and could see he was well and truly Trophy Class. What do I do now-I know- I'll go over to that tree he is walking towards and climb it and see if he gives me a shot, can't be any safer than that. I go over climb the tree and yes it is a good one but the Buff had disappeared, Oh well better luck next time, I'll just go over to the edge of that depression and see where he went.
I sneak over and I am standing there looking out over the plain he was just on, CRUNCH, well that sounds a little close.
I look around just in time to see the big fella come out of the depression right in front of me at about 15m. I hit the deck thinking this is not a good spot to be right now. He is feeding along without a care in the world moving slightly to my right but closing the gap and heading into my scent path, what will he do when he hits that, what do I do, stay still, shot him or just sh"t myself.
Well this is how I came to my decision as what to do. Every Buff that we had shot always ran about 30-50m before looking around to see what had hit him, by then we were flat on the ground and in a safe place....great theory hey. So I used it.
He was totaly oblivious to me being there and continued to feed along, 8m this is it another 10ft and he hits my scent it's now or never. his head down I draw the 67lb Longbow to 42" or it seemed that far...then the words echoed back in my mind "Don't do anything stupid Mick". No not me as the arrow left the Bow and angled forward into the boiler room.
I hit the deck and looked up...yeah looked up into the eyes of the Bull just staring straight back at me at 8m, why he didn't run I DON"T KNOW but I think I could feel a bowel movement coming on. This is when all my hunting instincts suddenly kicked in. Mick don't move, be a small as you can anything smaller than the Bull is no threat, he didn't see me put that little shaft in him did he. I slowly nocked another arrow, I don't kow why cause it wasn't going to do anything at that range, I think I also stopped breathing and said goodbye to most of my family, just then the wind changed.
He smelt me it's all over I thought, no, he threw his head in the air and bolted going about 40m and falling over (Geez maybe the shot is good), he got up again and ran another 60m down he went again, up he got again and just stood there.
He stood there for a few minutes and then slowly walked into the 8ft grass giving me no view of him. Now I might add at this stage I was feeling a lot better than the previous 5 mins, so my brain facilty was coming back. "Go get the Backup rifle Mick" I could hear myself saying. I finally listened to me and headed off to get John and the 458 just in case the Buff was going to play. Unfortunatly John was 2km away and by the time I got him a good 45 mins had passed.
We got back to the fringes of the grass where I last saw him, pushing John along, as he knows what a charging Buff can do at close quarters. As we got to the spot I could see some blood with the trail heading into the grass. There not 5m from where I saw him last he lay stone cold dead. The arrow had entered just behind the last rib and lodged in the off shoulder taking out the back of one lung and the centre of the other. I was so relieved but vowed not to do that again without backup.
So here he is, not huge but Trophy Class. 84 SCI
Also managed to pick up a large Trophy Class Cow SCI 82 with the curve.
Both Bows where Balck Widows shooting 820GR Carbon Express Heritage 350's with Magnus 160gr broadheads and 190gr Grizzly's.
Longbow 67 lb @ 28
Recurve 61 lb @2 28.
Good Hunting All
Mick
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Topic: Longbow Buff (Read 4211 times)
