Hunting buffalo
Hunting in Africa – where we cut our teeth on buffalo hunting!
Hunting Cape Buffalo (Syncerus caffer)
Back to: Hunting dangerous game
Description:
Often referred to, as the Black Death this member of the bovine family is one of the most sought after of all African trophy animals. Considered to be one of the Big 5 it is a customer not to be taken lightly, especially when wounded. It was Peter Capstick who paraphrased Robert Ruark and made the phrase “he looks at you like you owe him money” internationally known. Hunting Cape buffalo in Africa is the ultimate in dangerous game hunting!
The buffalo is a heavily built animal with the bulls ranging from dark brown to mostly black. They have relatively short legs with the front hooves invariably being larger than the rear hooves. In the case of the bulls, the horns are heavy and very well developed at the bosses on the top of the head. The cows have much slighter bosses. Large ears hang beneath the horns. The tail is rounded off with brown to black hair right at the tip, similar to that of a head of beef.
When hunting the Cape buffalo, make sure you have enough gun. It can come at you like a train with no breaks. A well placed shot can ensure not only your safety, but also that of the whole crew.
Habitat:
Preferred habitat has enough grass, water and cover. Open areas can be utilized as long as they have access to sufficient cover.
Reproduction:
A single calf is born seasonally, but usually in the wet summer months (November – January) Dominant bulls will mate with cows that are in season.
General:
Gestation period About 340 days
Average shoulder height 56”
Average weight: mature bull 1200 lbs – 1400 lbs
Average weight: mature cows 1000 lbs – 1200 lbs
Horns Both bulls and cows have horns
Hunting notes:
Cape buffalo are part of the bovine family, are endemic to South Africa and are notorius for conveying the dreaded foot-and-mouth disease to domestic cattle. Therefore it is required to have a State Vet permit to transport the trophy between certain areas. It is also forbidden to transport live animals across certain boundaries without a permit from a State Vet.
The best suggested caliber for hunting Cape buffalo is from the 400 caliber and up. It is law in most African countries that the minimum required caliber for hunting dangerous game is a 375. Shot placement is ultimately what puts a dangerous game animal (or any other animal for that matter) down and the larger the caliber the larger the chance of putting it down permanently.
To walk-and-stalk these animals is the traditional way of going about it. Larger herds can be more difficult to stalk for obvious reasons, and solitary bulls can be extremely aggressive and may charge unprovoked. Bachelor herds of between 3 and 10 animals are common and are equally as difficult to stalk.
The average shooting distance on Cape buffalo will be between 20 and 60 yards depending on the terrain.
The bulls are distinguished from the cows by the incredible amount of mass that the bulls have on the boss of their horns.