THE CAPE BUFFALO

The Cape Buffalo is perhaps the most sought after of all African hunting trophies. Buffalo normally live in large herds of mixed age and sex.

T he really old bulls, although some remain with the herds all their lives, have a tendency to lead solitary lives away from the hustle and bustle of the herd, or to form bachelor groups of 2 to 10 bulls.

These bulls are called ‘dugga-boys’, and are the challenging, bad-tempered trophy animals so desired by the trophy hunter.

The classical way to hunt Cape buffalo is to track down a lone bull or a group of ‘dugga-bulls’ and the selecting the most mature, hard-bossed animal within the group. Accurate shot placement is of utmost importance, as buffalo are extremely tough animals and can become very dangerous when wounded. The shot should be placed into the heart-lung complex.

Neck shots should be avoided, as the likelihood of missing the vertebral column is rather big. Buffalo should only be hunted with a minimum of .375 cal. Either very hard soft-nosed bullets or even FMJ-bullets should be used. In Namibia buffalo can be hunted in the Zambezi Region. The Mamili area, west of the Kwando River, and the Mahango Game Park, offer good possibilities. A few licenses are also available in the Otjozondjupa Region (Waterberg Plateau and Bushmanland).