Back from Africa with stories.

[pdk25]

I just got back a few days ago from a hunt in Africa that was orginally booked as a Buffalo hunt, but became a buffalo/plains game hunt when my wife expressed interest in going.

This hunt was booked several months ago when I  saw an advertisement from the same outfitter that a friend of mine had booked with last year. Over the last 2 years I have been doing the work of 2 people ever since my partner retired, and have only have had a total of 7 days off of work , including weekends, so I decided that I needed a mental health break and booked the hunt. I knew that I wasn't getting any younger and between decondioning  due to my job, and advancing age, there was a limited time period for me bing able to do a hunt like this,

There were some unfortunate circumstances shortly after booking the hunt, including partially tearing the rotator cuff on my bow arm doing farm work which kept me shooting heavy bows for several month, followed by 3 weeks of tickborne illness(although I didn't miss any work, which I am proud of), followed by breaking a rib in a tractor mishap 3 weeks before the hung.

The time for the hunt came, and after work on July 30th, we drove 3 hours to DFW airpport, took a 9 hour flight to London, 7 hour layover, another flight over 11 hours to Johannesburg, and then a 5 hour drive to the ranch.   We were pretty tired by the time we got to the ranch, because neither of us slept during the flights, but there was still a few hours of daylight left and I only had 4 days of buff hunting scheduled. 

I brought 2 seperate heavy bows in different bags in case one got lost, and one light bow for plains game.  I had a Morrison ILF with carbon foam longbow limbs close to 80# @ 30", and Morrison Max 1 limbs 73-74# @ 30".  Both shot the same arrows due to sideplate differences, but the longbow was considerably faster.  Since I hadn't been able to shoot heavy for awhile, I opted to take the recurve, because I didn't have time to shoot before heading out to hunt.  The arrows were gold tip kinetic 200 with 165 grain footed inserts from ethics archery.  I was using 300 grain tuffheads with 125 grain broadhead inserts for arrows around 950 grains with over 590 grains up front, although I also had 190 grain tuffheads with 200 grain broadhead inserts along that also flew well.

[pdk25]

We were no sooner in the blind(they call a blind a hide) than the buff showed up.  It took the full four days for my friend to get a shot at his buff, so when my target bull turned broadside and then slightly quartering away, my PH(professional hunter) incredulously unttered "That's the shot"

A little background information now. A day before the hunt, my outfitter send me a pic of the vitals and desired shot location.  When I arrived at the ranch, I showed this to the PH, because my online search showed vitals located further forward. The PH has guided primarily gun hunters in the past, and we decided to aim a little further forward than the outfitter recommended, which comes into play somewhat later.

The PH picked out a spot on the shoulder and told me that the sweet spot and to aim for that.  I was very calm, possibly owing to our elevated position as well as jet lag,  and came to full draw and let loose the arrow.  It flew true and hit just where I was aiming.  We both felt it was a good shot, and got just under a half arrow of penetration.

We gave it a half hour before picking up the track and hoped for a quick recovery, but blood was scant and it was getting dark so we picked up the track the following day.  We hoped to quickly find a dead buff or a weakend bedded buff, but that was not to be.  With the help of the ranches extremely skilled tracker we finally found the bull laying down over 9 km from the shot,  Autopsy showed the broadhead had gone through one lung completely, but not the far side lung.  Incredibly tough animals.

[pdk25]

The outfitter and guide realized that I was not entirely satisfied with the long track on the bull and made me a very generous offer on a cow, which I took.  I asked for the oldest cow that they had to increase any penetration difficulties.  I used the heavier bow, and shot further back on a quartering away shot.  Penetration was up to the fletching and It took out the entire offside lung and a portion of the closer lung. 

The cow went down in around 60 yards, with the herd around her obscuring our view.  After 30 minutes we got out of the blind and scuttled the herd, but realized the cow was still alive and darkness approaching.  Policy would dictate not leaving a wounded buff until morning if it could be shot to minimize the risk of a dangerous wounded animal on the ground, even though we thought that she would expire quickly.  The guide allowed me one attempt to put another arrow in her.  I got within 30 yards, with some brush in the way, but knew that I had to try to thread the needle or else she would be finished off with a gun.  She was broadside, and I managed to thread the shot perfectly into the crease to take out the closer lung with an arrow tipped with a cutthroat, having used up my tuffheads.  Apparently she didn't like that at all.  She came to here feet, and spotted us, and began to charge, as we backpedaled quickly.  She hit a thick thorny bush after 10 yards, and realized that she doing very poorly and stopped the charge.  She went down shortly after and rolled a few times, and left out a death bellow.  Somehow, after the bellow she had enough left to call back the herd, then she died.  In came the herd, with the herd bull, who had recently deposed the bull that I shot, with his head down, followed by the rest of the herd.  We started trotting back to the blind looking over our shoulders, both out of self preservation and so that the PH wouldn't have to put bullets into the breeding bull.  We called in a tractor to load the cow and a landrover to help disperse the herd.  This worked,but they didn't go far.

The PH wanted pics, which I didn't really want so as not to put the PH or ranch workers in harms way, but he insisted, even though to get them meant multiple jumps back into the back of the landrover as the buff came closer an menaced throughout, and us only seeing their eyes in the flashlights.    The followed us on our way out in the landrover.  Pretty exciting.

[Friend]

You had several obstacles that could easily have ended the dream.

Looking forward to reading the the rest of your story.

[Friend]

Splendid harvest...Congrats!

[pdk25]

I am including pictures of the lung autopsy.  One pic shows a slice in the top of the other lung which was the result of offside carcass testing.  I shot two arrows and the offside as the bull was laying mostly on it's side.  First shot with the cutthroat demolished the proximal humerus and the broadhead was unscathed.  Second shot a little higher with a tuffhead penetrated about 2/3 the shaft length, but was angled upwards due to the postion of the bull.  Pretty decent performance. 

There are multiple pieces of arrow that were put in the hole to show were the penetration was.  The arrow was intact until the bull went down, and it broke in 3 places.

A few things that would have Likely made for better penetration and a shorter track.

1. Using my heavier bow, which I could handle fine, but didn't have time to be sure on the first day.

2. Orienting the nock so the broadhead would impact vertically at the expected shot distance. I didn't have time to do that on the first day, and never really got around to that on the second day.  The broadhead hit the small gap between 2 ribs, having to cut both ribs which had considerable drag on the wings, and there was no opportunity to split the ribs with the singel bevel.

3.  Listening to the outfitter and shooting a little further back and not going through the heavy shoulder muscle and loosing momentum.

[Dave Lay]

Awesome adventure , one I always wished I could have made. I hope there’s more write up coming. Thanks for sharing

[pdk25]

Here are a few pics of a nice impala and waterbuck that I shot.  My wife shot a beautiful kudu, sable, gemsbok, and a monster waterbuck, but I can't post pics because they weren't trad kills.  She also shot a warthog and wildebeest.

[Jayrod]

Well done pat on a Hunt of a lifetime that's one specimen of a animal and as  always you get er done!!

[pdk25]

Now, I would just like to make a few comments, and they are not intended to make anyone angry.  Just my perspective and experience.

I have previously read the Ashby studies, and have done my best to adhere to the advice when building arrows for dangerous game, but it is too easy to believe that the arrow is a bullet.  There are definitely some limitations to his studies, which I believe he would acknowledge.

Testing was done on dead animals, which cannot duplicate the energy loss on a living moving animal.

Testing was not done on large old breeding bulls, which are as different from younger bulls as a small hog is from a thickly shielded hog.  Actually much more so.

There are probably other factors in play as well. I know of multiple other people that have shot large buff with similar, or worse, experiences regarding penetration than I have had.  This is despite using energetic equipment and well tuned high or extreme foc arrows using Ashby recommendations.  I hear it said that you can kill any buff with a 45# bow as long as you use the proper arrow.  This is patently false.  I never care what anyone uses to hunt.  I only get annoyed when people spread this misinformation that sets people up for disappointment or danger.

[Bow man]

This is awesome congratulations on the great hunt and Memories.  This gets me excited, Tracey and I leave for SA in two weeks for Plains Game hunt

[cacciatore]

Congrats Pat, 2 buff are anyway better than 1 lol.

[Blueridge]

Congratulations Pat! Well done. That’s a great hard bossed Bull and a fantastic  hunting trip.

[GCook]

Congratulations on some nice trophies.  Yeah the light bow with heavy arrow argument makes no scientific sense but there is no convincing some people. 

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[Bisch]

Way to go Pat!!!! Those are awesome critters!!!!

Bisch

[ESP]

Congrats!!!!  so how would you compare the cape buffalo to Water Buff?  Toughness, Size, tackle

[Orion]

Quite an experience.  Thanks for taking us along.  One observation.  In my experience, there's no way one can orient the nock to ensure that the broached will impact vertically.  Even arrows that are straight fletched spin, and the orientation of the broacdhead at impact is determined by rate of spin and distance to the critter.  As far as i know, there's no way to know what those factors are in advance of the shot, and one would need a real time computer program to make the appropriate adjustments. 

On the other hand, shoot enough weight (bow and arrow) and put the arrow in the right spot, and you'll get the job done, as you demonstrate. 

[pdk25]

Actually,  if you know the distance,  it is very easy to tune your arrow for a certain broadhead orientation,  but you must be very close to exact with the distance.  Just rotate the nock until you get what you want. There is a very consistent spin rate for a given arrow/ broadhead configuration.

[TradBrewSC]

Awesome Pat, congrats!

[Chumster]

Pat,
 
So glad to see that you turned your adversities into opportunities, good for you!!
What a wonderful hunt for both you and your wife, how special and deserving!
 
Great buff, it will be a great addition to your other mount. Glad to see that smile on your face, speaks volumes about your adventure!

Take care!

Rick