The hunt was a 7 day affair and we had killed a Good buff on Day one (see the inyate cubwa sana post)101 inch total SCI minus 3 inches of horn that I shot off of him while he was down (Insurance shot from the rear all the way through the chest out the neck and through the tip of his left horn 
) Oh well things happen.
So in any case we couldn't put it toghether on a large buff for the rest of the hunt either the wind was wrong the puku would spook and scare the buff or we'd jump them in the long grass and not get a shot or we'd do a perfect stalk only to find no good buff in the herd.
While we were pursuing the buff we got way to close to a cow and calf elephant ,as in 25 feet and had to retreat post haste. We got into the middle of a herd of sleeping buff at midday once without us realizing it and had to reatreat post haste. We just about stepped on a Hippo and had to retreat post haste.
Needless to say the long grass is not your friend in hunting and the rains were late this year so we had lots of grass to contend with. Finally on the last day we had given up packed our bags and loaded into the boat for the 4 hour trip back to base camp. My PH Wyane suggested that we keep our rifles handy just in case. 2 hours into the trip I was resigned to the fact that I'd killed a good buff and should be happy with that. When Denbigh our apprentice PH called out from the top deck Inyate' Cubwa Sana (Very big buffalo) We beached the boat and started a stalk from the beach.
Aprroximatley 1000 yds of crawling and belly slithering later we were 35 yards from the nearest buff in a herd of about 45 animals the wind was perfect we had 2 hours of light left, the hunting gods were smiling on us that day. We imediatly spotted two good bulls one was a supper wide younger bull he would have gone well over 40 inches. I told wayne that I was going to shot him but he talked me out of it. He thought we should wait for an ancient wide big bossed bull that was lying down in the very rear of the herd. In any case to make a long story short we waited for nearly an hour and a half untill a younger bull finally pushed Mr Bad boy to his feet and he gave me a perfect standing broad side shot at about 60 yards.
What occured next is a prime example of why the Inyate' has a reputation of being a though customer. The first shot was a good punch, a 500 gr Woodliegh soft point low through both shoulders and both lungs. At the shot Inyate buckled regained and took off at his typical lumbering gait. I stood up and gave him 3 rear to forward raking shots with solids each one a thumping whoop of a hit that raked him from his hip and flank all the way through his chest.
As I was reloading he went out of sight into a small dorongo (Draw) as we approached , I first saw him he was standing broad side at about 170 yds. Wyane asked me if I could hit him from here. The first shot was a whumping pump through the chest the second missed. Inyate ran into a thick Metette' clump and turned to face us with his head down and swaggering from side to side we cautiously approached and at roughly 50 yards I shot him in the chest his reaction was to throw up his head and give us the ole evil eye, my next shot I tried for the nose but pulled the shot slightly right hitting him in cheek and through the massive muscle of his neck. The shot turned him and he retreated into the thickness of the metette thicket. We circled and finaly made a visual contact after about 5 minutes of searching. he was standing facing us at about 20 yards but he was mostly concealed.
We waited for awhile and finally made the decision to go in after him as it was getting dark. Three of us slowly advanced safeties off guns shouldered two .458 Lotts and one .375H&H. A tense situation to say the least. Fortunatley the bull was near the end of his rope. At about 15 feet he stuck his head up just enough that I was able to put a 500gr solid just below his right boss fliping the bull nearly over as the 6000 ft lbs of energy scrambled his brain and neck. The battled scared old veteren was officially in retirement. He had soaked up 4000 grains of .458 bullets and over 40,000 foot pounds of bullet energy.All of which were good hits except the cheek shot all of which had hit the vitals.
When we skinned the cape Denbigh found a festering wound and dug out a large musket ball the bull also had a scar all the way around his neck from an old snare. Needless to say this old vetern had lived a tough life. He will have a proud place in my heart in my memories and on my wall.
This bull will score well in the record book but I haven't measured him out of respect. The memory of our battle will be record enough.
) Oh well things happen. So in any case we couldn't put it toghether on a large buff for the rest of the hunt either the wind was wrong the puku would spook and scare the buff or we'd jump them in the long grass and not get a shot or we'd do a perfect stalk only to find no good buff in the herd.
While we were pursuing the buff we got way to close to a cow and calf elephant ,as in 25 feet and had to retreat post haste. We got into the middle of a herd of sleeping buff at midday once without us realizing it and had to reatreat post haste. We just about stepped on a Hippo and had to retreat post haste.
Needless to say the long grass is not your friend in hunting and the rains were late this year so we had lots of grass to contend with. Finally on the last day we had given up packed our bags and loaded into the boat for the 4 hour trip back to base camp. My PH Wyane suggested that we keep our rifles handy just in case. 2 hours into the trip I was resigned to the fact that I'd killed a good buff and should be happy with that. When Denbigh our apprentice PH called out from the top deck Inyate' Cubwa Sana (Very big buffalo) We beached the boat and started a stalk from the beach.
Aprroximatley 1000 yds of crawling and belly slithering later we were 35 yards from the nearest buff in a herd of about 45 animals the wind was perfect we had 2 hours of light left, the hunting gods were smiling on us that day. We imediatly spotted two good bulls one was a supper wide younger bull he would have gone well over 40 inches. I told wayne that I was going to shot him but he talked me out of it. He thought we should wait for an ancient wide big bossed bull that was lying down in the very rear of the herd. In any case to make a long story short we waited for nearly an hour and a half untill a younger bull finally pushed Mr Bad boy to his feet and he gave me a perfect standing broad side shot at about 60 yards.
What occured next is a prime example of why the Inyate' has a reputation of being a though customer. The first shot was a good punch, a 500 gr Woodliegh soft point low through both shoulders and both lungs. At the shot Inyate buckled regained and took off at his typical lumbering gait. I stood up and gave him 3 rear to forward raking shots with solids each one a thumping whoop of a hit that raked him from his hip and flank all the way through his chest.
As I was reloading he went out of sight into a small dorongo (Draw) as we approached , I first saw him he was standing broad side at about 170 yds. Wyane asked me if I could hit him from here. The first shot was a whumping pump through the chest the second missed. Inyate ran into a thick Metette' clump and turned to face us with his head down and swaggering from side to side we cautiously approached and at roughly 50 yards I shot him in the chest his reaction was to throw up his head and give us the ole evil eye, my next shot I tried for the nose but pulled the shot slightly right hitting him in cheek and through the massive muscle of his neck. The shot turned him and he retreated into the thickness of the metette thicket. We circled and finaly made a visual contact after about 5 minutes of searching. he was standing facing us at about 20 yards but he was mostly concealed.
We waited for awhile and finally made the decision to go in after him as it was getting dark. Three of us slowly advanced safeties off guns shouldered two .458 Lotts and one .375H&H. A tense situation to say the least. Fortunatley the bull was near the end of his rope. At about 15 feet he stuck his head up just enough that I was able to put a 500gr solid just below his right boss fliping the bull nearly over as the 6000 ft lbs of energy scrambled his brain and neck. The battled scared old veteren was officially in retirement. He had soaked up 4000 grains of .458 bullets and over 40,000 foot pounds of bullet energy.All of which were good hits except the cheek shot all of which had hit the vitals.
When we skinned the cape Denbigh found a festering wound and dug out a large musket ball the bull also had a scar all the way around his neck from an old snare. Needless to say this old vetern had lived a tough life. He will have a proud place in my heart in my memories and on my wall.
This bull will score well in the record book but I haven't measured him out of respect. The memory of our battle will be record enough.
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If I were in your shoes and was seriously considering a .375H&H I'd go and buy a Winchester model 70 Stainless synthetic. There is no better value on the market in my opinon.