Cape Buffalo are herd animals concentrated on the open Savannah where grazing and water is plentiful. They tend to graze from early evening into the night and then the cooler parts of the day, seeking shaded cover as it gets hotter. Both sexes have horns, with males developing the much desired gnarled bosses as they get older. Their eyesight and hearing is quite poor but their sense of smell is excellent. It is much harder to get close to a herd of buffalo than solitary bulls.

The lonely, old buffalo bulls are often referred to as “Dagga boys”. Dagga means mud in Zulu and these old bulls spend a lot of their time wallowing in mud to keep the parasites at bay. They have been kicked out of the herd by younger, more virile males.

Cape Buffalo are hunted on foot, which makes this hunt extremely exciting. You will start out by scouting for fresh tracks or fresh Buffalo dung, that are normally found at waterholes or on gravel roads on the area. You will then use caution to track down the heard or “Dagga boys” and stalk your trophy carefully in order to put you in the right position to harvest your bull. Most of the time you will get with in 20 to 30 yards. Older bulls tend to separate from the herds and are solitary or form small bachelor groups often called Dagga boys.

The best shot placement for buffalo is to hit vital organs, hopefully breaking bone somewhere in the process. Any experienced PH should advise to go for the “boiler room”.  If hit properly, the animal will grunt at impact and take off at a gallop, usually signaling death with a characteristic bellow. Very few shots, regardless of caliber will pull a mature bull to the ground unless the shot hits the spine. If in a herd, the wounded animal usually breaks away and heads to thick cover.

DO NOT BE FOOLED – each situation is unique and buffalo are one of the most dangerous animals when wounded. Despite their size they are extremely quick and cunning at camouflage, as they remain absolutely still until one is right upon them.

Please scroll down on the page to see more info regarding the Cape Buffalo hunting areas

Cape Buffalo are thick-skinned animals and the minimum safe caliber is the .375 Magnum.

However, with Cape Buffalo you can never have too much gun. Most PH’s swears by the .375 Magnum as a starting point, with the .416s & .458s being a good compromise on price and power. Some hunters will load a soft-nosed round for the first shot, followed by solids as the animal moves off. Personally I think that the soft point bullets that are being manufacture today, is all you need. Remember, your goal is to to do as much damage as possible with your first shot and a heavy grained, good quality soft-nosed bullets are essential.

A good set of horns starts with a thick heavy wide boss, running outwards and downwards (the deeper the curl the better) well past the ears before curling upwards and back in again. The points then raise upwards and backwards, the higher the better. As a rule, the further past the ears the outer upward curl of the horns is, the better the trophy. In fact, Rowland Ward measurement is based upon the spread of the horns while SCI uses this measurement as supplemental information.The sheer menace and presence of these bad-tempered old bulls make for an excellent hunt and well-deserved trophy.                     

Which country is best suited for your for Cape Buffalo hunt?

You should ask yourself the following questions:

• What can I afford to spend on my buffalo hunt?
• What experience do I want out of my buffalo hunt?
• Is it the experience or the quality of trophy that matters most?
• Will I be hunting other plains or dangerous game while I am on my buffalo hunt? Example: Buffalo / Elephant; Buffalo /Plains game; Buffalo Exotic Species; Buffalo /Leopard; Buffalo / Elephant and Leopard etc.
• Am I going alone or will there be other joining me on my hunting experience? What expectations do they have?

The above questions are not always easy to answer, but at the end of the day, it is a good thing to narrow down the options you have!